How is the Mediterranean? We will know soon: the 2025 stage of the M.A.R.E. project concluded.

The Marine Adventure for Research and Education(M.A.R.E.), sponsored by the Caprera Sailing Center Foundation, concluded in July, completing the mapping of the Mediterranean’s health status.

After the data study what happens?

The project, which began in 2021 under the scientific supervision of One Ocean Foundation, has returned a very clear and sharp snapshot of the health of the Mare Nostrum: persistent pollutants, trace metals, and endangered marine species have been analyzed and synthesized by a pool of biologists who have also returned a complete picture of the Mediterranean’s biodiversity. This is not an end, but a beginning: the next step, in fact, will be the communication of the results, which will be the beginning of a new season of awareness of the state and protection of this sea. This will allow, after years of fragmented and difficult to compare information, a precise understanding of the current level of pollution in our sea, among other things filling an important gap in the scientific literature.

Navigation and its role in the project

“The M.A.R.E. project represents a virtuous model of an alliance between sailing, scientific research and education,” comments Paolo Bordogna, President of the Caprera Sailing Center Foundation, “and one that has been able to unite the values of the Caprera Sailing Center and its environmental commitment with those of our partners. This edition then was particularly challenging: 1950 miles of perimeter for 10 weeks of sailing through two countries, often in very strong winds. We managed to complete the perimeter perfectly on time and on schedule, and this speaks of uncommon organizational skills and seafaring expertise-the same ones we bring to bear in running our School.”

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On a scientific level, what was discovered?

Also Riccardo Bonadeo, President of One Ocean Foundation, comments on the work done so far as follows, “With the completion of the mapping of the entire Mediterranean basin, including the seas of Greece, an important chapter of the M.A.R.E. project closes, but at the same time a new phase of discoveries and collaborations opens. After four years of intense work, we can proudly say that we have achieved an unprecedented scientific milestone, accompanied by increasing citizen involvement in activities to raise awareness and protect the marine environment. Research is essential, but without widespread education and awareness there can be no real conservation.”

A scientific level, the data collected during the M.A.R.E. mission in 2025 confirm, once again, the high scientific value of the project: with more than 80 individuals sighted, 10 environmental DNA samples, 54 zooplankton samples, and 52 acoustic recordings, the material collected provides a solid and valuable basis for future analysis; Ginevra Boldrocchi, a biologist from Milan, is the scientific coordinator of the project and told us, “This edition concludes the first cycle of an ambitious project: for the first time we will have up-to-date data, collected homogeneously in almost the entire Mediterranean. This will allow us, after years of fragmented and difficult-to-compare information, to accurately understand the current level of pollution in our sea, filling an important gap in the scientific literature.”

Federico Lanfranchi