Spatial interactions between human activities in the coastal area of the Adriatic Sea

The present study has been developed inside the framework of the EU Project Coexist (FP7-KBBE2009-3), a broad, multidisciplinary approach to evaluate the interactions of human activities with the goal of providing a roadmap for a better integration, sustainability, and synergies between these activities in the coastal zone. Individual processes, as well as their interactions, have been investigated in case studies. The north-central Adriatic Sea is the only Mediterranean case study inside the Coexist Project. The coastal strip of this basin is the seat of several human activities, including commercial and recreational fisheries, and intensive and extensive mussel culture. Among the other human activities, tourism, shipping, and gas extraction are relevant sectors. The combination of these driving forces inevitably results in spatial conflicts and requires an integrated approach to management of the interactions between these multiple pressures. Analysis of interactions have been accomplished by means of GRID (GeoReference Interactions Database), which is a web-based flexible database and tool to analyse conflicts and synergies, specifically developed inside Coexist Project. Interaction matrices evidenced that the most important human activities generate high level of conflicts inside the case study coastal area. Artificial reefs and Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) could mitigate these conflicts, providing efficient management tools. Analysis of future scenarios where a number of new management measures are applied to the actual situation pointed to possible solutions for managing space and allowing coexistence of some coastal human activities.