Coast Of Libya Research Articles

Craniometric Relationships of Migrant Victims of the April 18, 2015 Shipwreck Off the Coast of Libya

One of the most tragic events involving African migrants’ attempts to get to Europe was the 2015 shipwreck off the coast of Libya. More than 300 crania were recovered and are currently in the Laboratory of Forensic Anthropology and Odontology, Milan, Italy, where attempts are being made to identify them. This paper analyzes the cranial morphometrics in relation to what is known of African cranial variation. It also addresses questions of population subdivision on the ship as well as secular changes that may be reflected in cranial morphology.Crania were digitized using the 3skull software, which also computes Howells measurements from the coordinates. Migrant crania were compared to African reference samples consisting of both 19th-century sub-Saharan West Africans and East Africans. Statistical procedures were discriminant and canonical variate analysis and Mahalanobis distances. K-means unsupervised clustering was also used.Results showed that the migrant samples differed from the 19th-century samples systemically; the differences consisted mainly of lower facial projections and higher cranial vaults and bases. Position on the ship, whether on the deck or below in the holds, showed subdivision. Holds had a higher proportion of West Africans, and the deck had a higher proportion of East Africans. K-means clustering also found groups contrasting between the deck and the holds. Comparing migrant cranial morphology to 19th-century Africans using variables that respond to secular change showed that migrants reflect changes that have occurred in Africa over the past 200 years.We conclude that morphometric analysis can provide useful information concerning the composition of unidentified victims of tragic events such as the 2015 shipwreck.

A New Maximum Size Record of Striped Red Mullet Mullus surmuletus Linnaeus, 1758 From the Coast off Benghazi, Libya (Southern Mediterranean)

A specimen of Mullus surmuletus with 33.6 cm in total length and 398.3 g in total weight was captured with trammel nets along with other Striped red mullet fish by fisherman off the coast of Benghazi, Libya (Southern Mediterranean) on November 14, 2022. It had the longest length and heaviest weight ever recorded for a Striped red mullet in the Southern Mediterranean off the coast of Libya.

Searching for Silphium: An Updated Review

From luxury spice to medical cure-all, silphium was a product coveted throughout the ancient world and occupied an essential place in the export economy of ancient Cyrene. The mysterious extinction of the silphium plant in the 1st century CE leaves us with little evidence as to the exact nature of this important agricultural product. In this paper, an historical background on the kingdom of Cyrene is provided, evidence for the nature of the silphium plant is reviewed, how and why it was consumed and traded is discussed. Possible causes of extinction are considered in the context of plant genetics, biometrics, and soil geochemistry. Next, we demonstrate how modern medical studies conducted on possible living relatives can inform us about claims made by ancient authors as to the medical uses of the silphium plant, including its use as a contraceptive and abortifacient. Finally, methods for recovering silphium are explored. We show how underwater archaeology and the search for ancient shipwrecks off the northern coast of Libya may offer our best chance for the recovery of botanical remains of ancient silphium, and how ancient DNA may be able to establish the genetic makeup of this elusive plant.

Framing community in motion in the transregional Mediterranean: Madeleine Leroyer’s #387 disparu en Méditerranée and Merzak Allouache’s Normal!

Leroyer’s documentary, #387 disparu en Méditerranée (2019), tracks the attempt to reconstruct the identity of migrants lost off the coast of Libya whereas Allouache’s metatextual Normal! (2011) captures elliptically the effects of the Arab Spring in Alger. Through the lens of both films, the relevance of adopting a transregional approach in order to analyze communities in motion becomes apparent: Leroyer’s documentary shifts both in its geographical coordinates around the Mediterranean and in its inclusion of individuals working together across different languages whereas Allouache’s film explores the “connected differences” (Audre Lorde) of individuals associated with Algeria, sub-Saharan Africa and France and caught in the thrall of the Arab spring. Allouache’s and Leroyer’s films, screened at Montpellier’s annual Cinémed, clearly do contribute to the transregional network of Mediterranean cinema. The juxtaposition of the two films, which track migration at different points along the spectrum, brings to light the potential for community solidarity and resistance beyond a national scale without glossing over the shadow sides of transregionalism. Drawing on recent geo-political assessments of transregionalism (for instance, James W. Scott and Hans-Joachim Bürkner), this article investigates how the potential and the limits of transregional solidarity are imagined in Leroyer’s documentary, #387 disparu en Méditerranée, and Allouache’s docudrama, Normal!.

Morphological feature of Pelagia noctiluca (Forskål, 1775) (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa) in western Libyan coast, Tripoli

The Jellyfish cnidarians are important consumers of zooplankton in the Mediterranean Sea previously known. The aim of this study is to classification this species of jellyfish and examination morphological structure. The samples were collected from the Tripoli coast of Libya in September 2018 by scoop net. The number of samples was 31 individuals, collected to study the morphological structure measurements and wet weight. The results of the morphological structure showed the diameter of medusa 2.3 - 13.4cm, while the total length was 4.5 - 17cm, and the length of four oral arms was 2.4 - 12.9cm, the length of eight tentacles was 1.8 - 15cm and wet weight was 2.0 -73g. Based on morphological features and classification, the species was identified as Pelagia noctiluca (Forskål, 1775), but the differences between individuals in medusa size and wet weight indicate refers to different ages. So, this species is considered the first appearance on the Libyan coast.

Italy, the second Libyan war, and the Frontex Irini Operation

In 2011, Libya plunged into a civil war after the outbreak of the Arab Spring, a revolutionary movement characterized by massive civil protests which tried to build democratic societies in the Middle East and North Africa and put to an end the old repressive political regimes. After several months of civil war and bombings over Libya, longtime Muamar Ghaddafi’s dictatorial regime fell. Although the U.S. did not directly intervene in Libya, it supported the overthrow of Ghadafi through the intervention of NATO, providing aerial support and airstrikes for the opposition force (it also established a no-fly zone over Libya, authorized by the United Nations). In 2014, contested parliamentary elections led to the formation of two rival political power centers — one in the east, based in Tobruk and backed by military commander Khalifa Haftar, and another in the west of the country, an UN-supported administration in the capital of Tripoli. Each side was supported by a variety of militias and foreign powers, who competed for influence and oil resources, raising fears that oil-rich Libya could become the theater of a regional conflict. In April 2019, Haftar and his forces, backed by Russia (the Russian military contractors of the Wagner Group), Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates launched an offensive to capture the capital. His campaign collapsed after Turkey and Qatar offered their military support to the Tripoli government with hundreds of Turkish troops and thousands of Syrian mercenaries, belonging to the Free Syrian Army. The outbreak of violence in Libya in April 2019 severely affected the institutional reunification and stability of the country. Warning that the situation in Libya could become "a second Syria", with a new large wave of refugees directed towards the EU, Germany offered to call a peace conference for the conflicting sides, held on 19th January 2020 under the auspices of the United Nations. The aim was to stop the military support for the civil war parties and uphold an existing UN arms embargo, re-launching the peace process for a political settlement, after nine months of fighting over the capital. Operation EUNAVFOR MED IRINI was launched by the European Union on 31 March 2020, as part of the European Union's contribution to the Berlin conference. The core task of the Operation is the implementation of the UN arms embargo on Libya through aerial, satellite, and maritime assets, an embargo that had been decided in 2016 by the United Nations Security Council Resolution. This ongoing mission replaced the Sophia Operation, which had been in place for five years, combating the organized crime and trafficking of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. In June 2016, the European Council decided to extend Sophia’s mandate until July 2017, adding two supporting tasks: training the Libyan coastguards and contributing to the implementation of the UN arms embargo on the high seas off the coast of Libya. This paper attempts to analyze the response of the European Union to the Libyan crisis by launching the Irini operation, a military-naval Joint force, setting out to secure the Berlin Conference’s commitments. Finally, we try to explain if Italy which seems to have preferred to stay on the sidelines, succeeded in reinserting itself into the Libyan equation, a significant diplomatic area for the Chigi Palace.

Guilt by association? The criminalisation of sea rescue NGOs in Italian media

ABSTRACT The non-governmental organizations (NGOs) rescuing migrants off the coast of Libya have been increasingly criminalised. We investigate the discursive underpinnings of this process by analyzing all the articles on sea rescue NGOs published between 2014 and 2019 by two major Italian newspapers located at opposite sides of the political spectrum: Il Giornale and La Repubblica. Our discourse analysis shows that the media salience of non-governmental sea rescue increased enormously following the first public allegations against humanitarians and peaked in 2019 after some standoffs between some NGOs and the Italian government, when the number of migrants rescued at sea had already dropped to a minimum. This inflated and heavily politicised media coverage contains both direct and indirect criminalisation discourses. Though sometimes directly accused of colluding with human smugglers and profiting from irregular migration, sea rescue NGOs have more often been indirectly criminalised through the same framing devices typically used to stigmatise irregular mobility at large, namely associational links, metaphors, frame-jacking, and othering.

United to rescue? Humanitarian role conceptions and NGO–NGO interactions in the Mediterranean Sea

ABSTRACT The large number of asylum seekers dying off the coast of Libya has turned the Southern Mediterranean Sea into a new humanitarian space, prompting 11 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to launch maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) operations between 2014 and 2017. These NGOs engaged in a complex web of interactions, ranging from rare instances of hostility, competition and mistrust to coordination, cooperation and integration. Drawing on role theory, I argue that organisational role conceptions are key to shaping NGO–NGO interactions. The humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence serve as action scripts that inform NGOs’ role in the humanitarian space. Sea rescue NGOs have upheld different interpretations of humanitarian principles, developing supportive, neutral, or confrontational approaches vis-à-vis European governments’ border control policies. By leveraging content analysis and semi-structured interviews, I show that organisations with matching role conceptions have engaged in tighter forms of cooperation; charities with divergent role conceptions, by contrast, have shown a tendency to develop mistrust and engage in more competitive interactions. These frictions inhibited NGOs from forming a united front vis-à-vis policy restrictions and criminalisation, hindering the legitimacy and viability of non-governmental sea rescue.

Humanitarians at sea: Selective emulation across migrant rescue NGOs in the Mediterranean sea

ABSTRACTBetween 2014 and 2017, no less than 10 different non-governmental organizations (NGOs) conducted maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) operations off the coast of Libya. By rescuing over 100,000 migrants in three years, these NGOs became the largest provider of SAR in the Mediterranean. The theory of institutionalism suggests that organizations conducting similar activities are likely to converge in a process of mimetic isomorphism, deliberately imitating one another to increase their effectiveness and cope with uncertainty. These 10 SAR NGOs, however, developed two different rescue models: While some rescued migrants and disembarked them in Italian ports, others only simply assisted those in distress until the arrival of another ship transporting them to land. They also cooperated with Italian and European authorities to different degrees. Why did SAR NGOs imitated many elements of existing non-governmental rescue models, but discarded some others? This article argues that differences in material capabilities and organizational role conceptions are crucial to explain why newer SAR NGOs have imitated most but not all of their predecessors’ policies, engaging in a process of “selective emulation.”

New insights in the taxonomy of MediterraneanDiodora(Mollusca, Gastropoda, Fissurellidae)

The taxonomy of Mediterranean populations ofDiodorais assessed based on new molecular (COI and 28S) data. The recently describedDiodora demartiniorumBuzzurro & Russo, 2005, is found to be a valid species restricted to the Gulf of Gabès (Tunisia) but possibly occurring also on the coast of Libya. However, specimens from the Aegean Sea previously identified asD. demartiniorumare molecularly (and morphologically pseudocryptically) distinct and represent a previously unrecognized species here described asD. giannispadain. sp. It is hypothesized that the current distribution of these two species corresponds to glacial refuges during Pleistocene climate changes.

Factors controlling the changes and spatial variability of Junipers phoenicea in Jabal Al Akhdar, Libya, using remote sensing and GIS

The Junipers phoenicea, which covers 70 % of the Jabal Al Akhdar (Green Mountain) in Cyrene on the northeast coast of Libya, has deteriorated over large scales. To deal with this problem, the images of the Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) in conjunction with the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) digital elevation model (DEM) were used to map factors controlling the J. phoenicea mortality using a set of automated algorithms and tools. These factors include altitude, slope, aspect, curvature, drainage pattern, seawater intrusion, and land cover. As a first step, changes of J. phoenicea and land cover during the period from the year 2000 to 2015 were mapped. The results showed a sharp decline in J. phoenicea covering an area of 396 km2 (22 %) of the total area. The result also showed that areas at a lower elevation with steep slope and faced to the south and southeast directions have a higher probability of J. phoenicea distribution. The spatial analysis showed a positive correlation between wetness and the intensity of J. phoenicea mortality. The results also show that altitude and slope have the most influencing power on the J. phoenicea morality. This study is of great help for decision makers and agriculture engineers and permits a better understanding of ecological and biomass changes in the Jabal Al Akhdar, Libya, over a regional scale.

Population genetic structure of Epinephelus marginatus in the Central Mediterranean Sea (Gulf of Gabès and the coast of Libya)

In the present study, mitochondrial DNA sequences from the cytochrome b (cytb) gene and seven nuclear microsatellites were examined to assess the genetic diversity of Epinephelus marginatus inhabiting Tunisian and Libyan coastal waters. Based on 940 base pairs of the cytochrome b segment, we found low level of genetic variability for the two samples analysed (h = 0.294 ± 0.097and h = 0.274± 0.142 respectively in Tunisia and Libya). An analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed significant pattern of genetic structure based on nuclear data (7 microsatellite loci) (ΦST= 0.28487; P < 0.001). Conversely, no genetic structuring was found for mtDNA (ΦST = -0.0121). In summary, this study provides preliminary assessment of geographical patterns of differentiation of E. marginatus in this region for conservation, management and stock identification.

Conserving and managing mosaics in Libya (CaMMiL): the final project review

AbstractThis is a review of a project aimed at assisting the Libyan Department of Archaeology with the conservation and management of their mosaic heritage. Over the course of a year we undertook an evaluation trip along the coast of Libya and then put on two workshops for the Department's staff to help build capacity. The workshops disseminated complementary content on the protection of mosaics and their management to two different contingents: managers and technicians. The teaching was intended to empower Libyans by giving them the confidence to make simple and sound decisions, and to encourage them to join more formal training courses run by major international organisations. The project was a collaboration with the Department and was supported by the Getty Foundation, King's College London and the Society for Libyan Studies.

Children's Rights as Human Rights

The image of Aylan Kurdi, a three-year-old Syrian boy who drowned on September 2, 2015, as he tried to cross the Mediterranean with his family to seek safety in Europe, may finally shock Europe and the world into offering greater protection to refugees fleeing from war and persecution in Syria and elsewhere. Aylan's death was a tragedy of a kind that has become all too familiar. In 2015 alone, thousands of people have died trying to reach European shores in unseaworthy, overcrowded boats. Many of those who drowned were children—including in a single instance an estimated one hundred children (out of a total of some eight hundred fatalities) lost in a shipwreck off the coast of Libya in April.

The Belgammel Ram, a Hellenistic-Roman BronzeProembolionFound off the Coast of Libya: test analysis of function, date and metallurgy, with a digital reference archive

The Belgammel Ram was found off the coast of Libya in 1964, and examined during 2008–9. The following techniques were used: surface non-contact digitizing using a laser scanner, reflectance transformation imaging using polynomial texture mapping and hemi-spherical harmonics, digital photogrammetry with dense surface modelling, structured light optical scanning, and X-ray fluorescence analysis. For internal structure the ram was examined by X-radiography and 3-D X-ray tomography. Metallurgical composition was studied by micro-drilling and subjecting the samples to scanning electron microscope X-ray micro-analysis, micro X-ray fluorescence and X-ray backscatter. The lead isotope composition was analysed. The alloy has average percentage composition Cu = 86.9, Sn = 6.3, Pb = 6.6, and Zn = < 0.10. The Belgammel Ram is probably a Hellenistic-Roman proembolion from a small military vessel or tesseraria. The archived data are at the Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Engineering Sciences, Material Data Centre, University of Southampton ([email protected]).

The Effects of Sewage Discharge on The Marine Gastropod Gibbula sp., Collected From The Coast of Al-Hanyaa, Libya.

Marine gastropods are known to accumulate high metal concentrations in their tissues especially in the digestive glands. In this study, the accumulation of Cu, Zn, Cd, Cr and Pb in the gastropod Gibbula sp. (Family: Trochidae) has been assessed using Atomic absorption, spectrophotometry graphite Furnace. Animals were collected from rocky shores at Al-Hanyaa region on the north-east coast of Libya. Two groups of animals were studied; one from an area adjacent to a sewage outlet and the second was collected from a relatively clean site. Concentrations of metals in the viscera, of both adults and juveniles, of Gibbula collected from the polluted site were higher than that recorded in the clean site. Thus, there is a tendency for Gibbula tissues in the polluted area to have higher concentrations of metals although the differences are not always statistically significant. The values recorded for adult specimens collected from the polluted and non polluted locations were 0.51±0.27, 15.95±1.28, 0.021±0.017, 0.47±0.18, 0.60±0.17 vs 0.40±0.11, 9.51± 4.82, 0.03 ± 0.02, 0.29 ± 0.09, 0.39 ± 0.09 for Cu, Zn, Cd, Cr and Pb µg ⁄mg, respectively. Whereas, those recorded for juveniles were 0.51±0.09, 17.02±1.13, 0.032±0.01, 0.49±0.15, 0.54±0.17 vs. 0.38±0.22, 8.36±2.05, 0.020±0.01, 0.35±0.25, 0.52±0.12 for Cu, Zn, Cd, Cr and Pb µg ⁄mg, respectively. It is suggested that metals are taken up by Gibbula sp. viscera directly from the water or from the ingested algae. Also, the shell mass was affected with the pollution.

Distribution and characterization of Lessepsian migrant fishes along the coast of Libya

Background. The Lessepsian migrant ichthyofauna along the approximately 2000 km of the Libyan coastline has been poorly known. A comprehensive study, addressing this issue, was needed and therefore the presently reported research project is intended to close the gap, through identifying the fish species and assessing their dis tribution. Materials and Methods. The catches of commercial fisheries vessels were monitored and examined in a stan dardized procedure between January 2005 and March 2006. The project covered a total of 4273 specimens, com prising 1901 specimens of Siganus luridus , 1885 specimens of Siganus rivulatus , and 487 specimens of fourteen other Lessepsian fish species. Results. Sixteen Lessepsian fish species, representing 14 families, were recently found along the Libyan coast, two of which are considered to be first records for Libya: Herklotsichthys punctatus (Ruppell, 1837) and Liza carinata (Valenciennes, 1836). Approximately 50% of the immigrants were found along the entire stretch of the Libyan coast, 12.5% in the east and central regions, and 37.5% were restricted to the eastern part of the Libyan coast. All were found in the coastal area (1–50 m depth), 12.5% on the vegetation, 31.25% on sandy bottoms, 12.5% on rocks, while the majority of them (43.75%) were pelagic. Regarding the size, 75% were medium, 18.75% large, and 6.25% were categorized as small. Conclusions. The north African coast (west of the Nile delta)—compared with the Levantine- and Anatolian coast of the Mediterranean Sea—was considered to be settled by immigrants from the Red Sea with some delay, due to sea currents. If so, this situation has changed meanwhile at least for fishes. More than 37% of the record ed Lessepsian fish species are of commercial value, especially rabbitfish ( Siganus spp.). The future research should be focussed on monitoring the stocks, especially of the commercially valuable species, regarding the biol ogy and ecology of the Lessepsian migrants. Also, possible further additions to the fish fauna, by new invaders, should be recorded .

Under sail from Tripoli to Derna, 1821–1822

AbstractWhen the Beechey brothers sailed to Tripoli in 1821 in HMS Adventure to begin their survey work along the coast of Libya, a young midshipman, William Robinson, was aboard on his first voyage. He sent home letters describing shipboard life and the Libyan coast as he saw it, reportedly strewn with wrecks, Tripoli and the castle, the ‘Basha’ and Colonel Warrington, Leptis Magna and the ruins which he sketched, Benghazi where the sea had recently eroded the land, leaving Berenice ‘open to view’, Bomba, Derna and the Gulf of Syrtis, the desertification and the wildlife.

The environmental effects of trace elements concentration in sea snails using atomic absorption spectrometry

Water pollution has increased in heavily industrialized areas. Most industrial water wastes end up in the sea. Monitoring the elemental composition in marine organisms, such as snails, provides the essential elements in living organisms and through the food chain to man. 50 samples of each of two kinds of snails have been collected from the west coast of Libya. Samples were digested with nitric acid and the concentration of Copper, Iron, Magnesium and Zinc were determined by atomic absorption spectrometry. The results shows that Mg has the highest value while the Copper has the lowest in both kind of snails. A pattern of the trace elements concentration was investigated regarding the size and kind of snails.

Pelagic tar in the Mediterranean Sea

Floating tar samples were collected, using neuston nets, in 101 stations in the Mediterranean Sea in August–September, 1987, by research vessels of Cyprus, Germany, Israel, and Turkey. The distribution of the tar content indicates that the most tar contaminated sea is in the northeast between Cyprus and Turkey and in the Gulf of Sirte off the coast of Libya, where the mean tar content was 1847 and 6859 μg m −2, respectively. The least polluted areas were the western Mediterranean, 236 μg m −2, and the northern Ionian Sea as far east as halfway between Crete and Cyprus with mean tar concentration of 150 μg m −2. Strongly heterogeneous but overall intermediate mean values of 1347 and 876 μg m −2 were found in the Levantine Basin west and south of Cyprus, respectively. A comparison between pelagic tar data collected in 1969, in 1974 and our data shows a sharp decline in tar concentration with time, from 37,000 μg m −2 in 1969 to 9700 μg m −2 in 1974 and to 1175 μg m −2 in 1987. The geographical distribution of tar may be explained by the severe reduction in the activity of oil terminals in Israel, Lebanon and Syria which causes a reduction in tar content in the southeastern Mediterranean. The increased activity of the oil terminal in Iskenderun Bay, Turkey, and the activity of oil loading at the terminals in Libya still leave a high level of tar pollution in the Mediterranean water off these coasts. However, recent technologies in the oil shipping industry, international conventions on oil pollution of the Mediterranean, and harsher steps to administer the anti pollution laws by various countries in the Mediterranean have caused a general decline of this problem.