Towards the harmonization of the fragmented approach to environmental monitoring and conservation: first insights from the marine ecological observatory of the Adriatic Sea

Marine Ecological Observatories (MEOs) are conceived as platforms able to support marine monitoring and conservation strategies, and their design and establishment is fostered at the European level. Indeed, the data and knowledge collected and made available through MEOs can inform policies dealing with monitoring, conservation, and management of the marine environment. This is possible when MEOs adopt a holistic view by integrating and harmonizing long-term oceanographic and ecological research and monitoring programmes according to the ecological connectivity concept. We present and discuss these issues in the context of the Adriatic Sea, where the ecological observatory "ECOAdS" is under development in the framework of the Interreg Italy-Croatia project ECOSS (Observing System in the Adriatic Sea: oceanographic observations for biodiversity). We here evaluate synergies and discrepancies among diverse EU environmental directives in force, notably the Habitats and Birds Directives, the Water Framework Directive, and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, to inform the building of the observatory and to strengthen the cooperation between marine conservation and monitoring at the basin scale. We start assessing how ECOAdS may respond and contribute to the directive requirements, highlighting which are the main gaps that need to be addressed and delivering some hints for its further developments.