A multilevel approach for the environmental management of small marinas

Mauro Fabiano, Chiara Paoli, Valentina Marin, Mariapaola Moreno, Paolo Vassallo , Luigi Vezzulli

University of Genova (IT)

This research activity has been developed in the context of LIFE PHAROS project, aiming to test the adoption of EMAS registration in tourist facilities (such as golf courses and marinas) and to implement sustainability level in these structures.
The presented study, in particular, leaded to the implementation of a multilevel survey on marinas arranged in a three levels analysis. At each level corresponded a specific spatial scale and a different analysis detail degree, addressed to the achievement of different purposes. First analysis level was focused on the proposal and application of a set of ecological indicators for the assessment of the sediment and water column environmental state. The second level was represented by the evaluation of the environmental sustainability level of marinas while, finally, the third level consisted in defining a methodology useful to evaluate the interactions among a marina and the adjacent coastal area.
In this speech, particular attention will be devoted to the second analysis stage (evaluation of the environmental sustainability level of marinas). In order to assess the sustainability level the emergy analysis, a methodology considering both environmental and economic aspects of sustainability, was applied. Emergy is a thermodynamic based function defined as the available energy of one kind previously used up directly and indirectly to make a product or service. The emergy concept was used to evaluate the sustainability of the activities related to the management of the marinas setting up a schematic model for the application of this kind of analysis to a typical Mediterranean tourist harbor. The approach has been applied to a couple of study cases: the "Marina degli Aregai" and the "Portosole" small harbors, both located in the western Ligurian coast (Italy, Northwestern Mediterranean).
The adaptability of the analysis allows further comparisons with other marinas both placed in the same geographical area in order to detect the relevance of different management practices and with marinas situated in geographical areas characterized by different environmental or economical conditions in order to detect changes due to the variations in external constrains.