Italian Coast Guard Research Articles

Helminths of the Bluntnose Sixgill Shark, Hexanchus griseus (Bonnaterre, 1788), from the Strait of Messina (Sicily, Southern Italy).

Bluntnose sixgill shark, Hexanchus griseus (Bonnaterre, 1788), is a little-known elasmobranch in the Mediterranean Sea. Given the lack of information about H. griseus, the aim of our study was to describe the helminth fauna of this species. In March 2023, one H. griseus juvenile female specimen was found off the coast of Messina (Italy) and referred by the Italian Coast Guard to our laboratory for necropsy and parasitological evaluation. After necropsy, the specimen's gills, stomach and spiral valve were investigated for parasite presence. All collected parasites were stored in 70% ethanol for routine parasitological analysis. No lesions due to parasites were found in the gills or skin. Three species of helminths were found in one studied female specimen of Hexanchus griseus, namely, two cestode species (Phyllobothrium sinuosiceps and Nybelinia sp., larvae) and one trematode (Otodistomum veliporum). Among them, five Trypanorhyncha plerocercoid larvae were found attached to the stomach mucosa, and six adult cestodes and one digenean trematode were collected from the spiral valve. No other parasite taxa were found in the celomic organs. This study reports new information regarding the parasitic fauna of H. griseus from the central Mediterranean Sea.

Behaviour of a social unit of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) entangled in a driftnet off Capo Palinuro (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy)

Driftnet fishing is notorious for being the major source of fatal entanglement of cetaceans and for its devastating impact on some pelagic species of the Mediterranean fauna. Of all the large cetaceans, the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) is most affected by this fishing technique. On 9 August 2004, a group of five sperm whales, two adult females and three juvenile individuals, was found trapped in a driftnet 40 miles southwest off Capo Palinuro (Italy). Their tails were totally immobilised by the net and one animal was completely entangled. All the animals showed numerous lesions on their bodies. The group was freed by the Italian Coast Guard scuba-diving team during a two-day rescue operation. This exceptional case of sperm whale disentanglement was a unique opportunity to study the group’s acoustic and general behaviour during a particularly stressful event. Out of a total video/acoustic recording of 110 minutes, 91 were examined. During the rescue procedures, the whales’ behaviour was described as open mouthed, sideways roll, agitation of fluke and pectoral fins, head rubbing, fluke contact (with head, flippers and back by the liberated animals) and defecation. As expected, the entangled individuals produced different patterns of clicks, identified as ‘usual clicks’, ‘codas’ and ‘creaks’. Each pattern was associated with specific behaviour. Despite international and national regulation banning fishing with driftnets in the Mediterranean Sea, driftnets continue to be used illegally in this sperm whale habitat, posing a constant threat to the species’ survival in the region.

Mediterranean migration governance and the role of the Italian coast guard: varying political understandings of maritime operations in the 2010s

ABSTRACT Situated on the EU’s Mediterranean borders, Italy provides the setting for a case study aimed at understanding Mediterranean migration governance in the 2010s. We adopt an actor-centred approach to explore how the Italian coast guard’s humanitarian agency was constrained and reshaped in a changed environment. We draw upon the sense-making of Italy’s political leaders and its impact on the humanitarian practices of the Italian coast guard. Migration politics is marked by political discourses framing interests and priorities according to the sense-making of the political leadership. In the last decade, Italian political leaders have constructed and reconstructed discourses on migration, providing a different understanding of the technical capacity to respond to crisis situations. In a few years, the Mare Nostrum operation was dismantled and replaced by a restrictive ‘closed-ports’ strategy to guarantee border control. Humanitarian operations at sea, a pillar of migration governance in the mid-2010s, were de facto constrained. Focusing on the pivotal role of the Italian coast guard in conducting maritime operations, we explain why its role of vanguard in developing humanitarian practices was marginalized over time.

An Operational Supporting System for Oil Spill Emergencies Addressed to the the Italian Coast Guard

Oil spill models are used to simulate the evolution of an oil slick that occurs after an accidental ship collision, malfunctioning of oil extraction platforms, or illegal discharges intentionally released by ships into the marine environment. We present an integrated operational oil spill prediction system that improves capacities in preventing and mitigating maritime risks from oil spills. The objective is to provide forecast information about the transport and the fate of a hypothetical oil spill under Nearly-Real Time hydrodynamic conditions in the western and central Mediterranean Sea. This complex forecast system is developed in the framework of the project SOS-Piattaforme & Impatti Off-Shore to the needs of Italian Coast Guard and other institutions, such as the Ministry of the Environment. This service has been operational since July 2020. The innovative aspect of this work is a graphical user interface (the GUI), which allows to select properties, time, and location of a potential oil spill and show the evolution of oil slick concentration and oil fate parameters. This platform represents the first component of a future Decision Support System aimed to identify the risk assessment of oil spills in order to better manage emergencies and minimize economic damages.

Environmental monitoring and assessment: A multi-scale and multiparameter case study in Campania Region (S Italy) on the recreational seawater quality evaluation

Multiple recreational seawater pollution episodes affected the coasts of Campania region (Southern Italy) during the 2019 summer season (May through September). The region’s population detected evidence of this pollution by a change in the water colour (to green–brown).This pollution was only partially revealed by conventional monitoring and standardized indicators performed by the Campania Region Environmental Protection Agency (ARPAC). Starting with this evidence, a multidisciplinary team that included representatives from both Italian and United States universities, the Regional Environmental Protection Agency, and the Italian Coast Guard, studied the phenomenon and found all three actors of the environmental model source-path-target. The research was performed using the Multi-level and Multi-parametric monitoring (MUM3) framework, following a bottom-up approach, comprising both onsite and remote sampled and sensed data, that begins at the surface level and scales up to determine the extent as well as the source of the pollution. By this approach, the presence of a microalgae bloom (Pyramimonas spp. and Euglena spp.) has been disclosed and it has been related to the higher amount of nutrients loading by river inflows, due to the precipitation anomalies occurred in May 2019 in that site. This study represents the first application of a real testbed of the MUM3 framework that follows a bottom-up approach showing the added value of this multi-scale and multiparameter methodology for environmental monitoring and assessment, where conventional methods often fail.

Anatomy of a crisis: governing youth mobility through vulnerability

ABSTRACT In 2018, the Italian Coast Guard rescued 190 migrants onboard an overcrowded vessel from Libya. Held at sea for five days, the Italian government finally permitted the Coast Guard to dock in Catania, Sicily, yet refused to allow the migrants to disembark. This article begins by dissecting the anatomy of this crisis, tracing the diverse actors and institutions involved in its creation and resolution through first-hand accounts. Multi-sited ethnographic research reveals how a diverse set of actors enlisted a hierarchy of vulnerability to secure the release of migrants onboard, privileging unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in particular. The article examines how this hierarchy has proven effective in legislating specialised protections and services and accessing limited humanitarian aid. However, a hierarchy of vulnerability has two paradoxical yet mutually reinforcing consequences. First, focusing on the vulnerabilities of increasingly narrow categories of individuals, such as unaccompanied children, distracts from examining how state policies produce vulnerability. Second, the humanitarian organisations’ emphasis on vulnerability re-inscribes social boundaries, making state protections and services progressively difficult to access. In so doing, both the state and humanitarian organisations govern youth mobility through vulnerability.

PTSD and post-traumatic stress spectrum in the Italian Navy Operational Divers Group and corps of Coast Guard Divers employed in search and rescue activities in the Mediterranean refugees emergences and Costa Concordia shipwreck

Rescue personnel is at high risk for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) because of the possible repetitive exposition to “cruel details of traumatic events” (DSM-5). Literature reported PTSD rates in combat exposed veterans, although the Italian Navy military personnel has been frequently involved in no-war activities in most recent years, such as Search and Rescue (SAR) activities of civilians involved in catastrophic events. The study aimed at exploring the prevalence of PTSD and its impact on social and work functioning among divers of the Italian Navy employed in the SAR activities for the Costa Concordia shipwreck (2012), the collapsed control tower of the Genoa harbour (2013), and the “Mare Nostrum” and “Triton” immigrant emergency Operations in the Mediterranean Sea. The 85 Italian Navy and Coast Guard Divers on duty for these activities were involved in the study and forty fulfilled the assessments, including the: Impact Event Scale (IES-r), Trauma and Loss Spectrum Self-Report (TALS-SR) and Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS). In the three years before enrollment 77.5% of the sample (n = 31) performed at least one rescue operation, with full and partial DSM-5 PTSD rates being 7.5% and 22.5%, respectively. A correlation emerged between WSAS domains or total scores and TALS-SR score domains for PTSD. Rescue Navy personnel resulted to be at risk for post-traumatic stress symptoms, and these subthreshold PTSD manifestations appear to impact on functioning. Further studies are needed to better investigate PTSD risk and resilience factors in this particular group of workers.

From the Italian Mare Nostrum Operation to the Frontex Triton Operation ( November 2014-February 2018). Italy and Search and Rescue Operations. (SAR operations)

In October 2013, the Italian Coast Guard began an innovative Search and Rescue mission, known as the Mare Nostrum operation, intending to rescue migrants in distress at sea and bring to justice human traffickers and migrant smugglers. In November 2014, after only a year of activity in which all the costs were financed by Italy, Mare Nostrum was officially ended and replaced by the Frontex-led Operation Triton. This paper examines the EU’s decision to implement the European Triton operation, the main objectives of this new European mission, and for a better understanding, points out the differences between these two naval operations led by Italy in the Mediterranean Sea. Launched in the Central Mediterranean, the main focus of the Triton operation was the border management control and to a lesser extent the humanitarian scope. Being a response to continuous Italy’s calls for aid and the expanded Mediterranean migration crisis, Triton functioned in the same line as two other similar European operations: in Spain, the Hera operation, or in Greece, the Poseidon operation (since 2006). Each operation had a member state, as the sole host state which commanded the entire operation. In February 2018, the Warsaw-based Frontex launched a new operation in the Central Mediterranean, the Themis Operation, to assist Italy in the Schengen border control activity, replacing the Triton operation and removing the much-criticized obligation to bring rescued migrants only to Italy.

Non-governmental Search and Rescue Operations in the Mediterranean: Challenge or Opportunity for the EU?

The article analyses the development of Search and Rescue (SAR) Operations in the Central Mediterranean by NGOs as a controversial but efficient practice and aims to discuss its impact on states’ and EU performances in coping with the migrant and refugee crisis. Using empirical data provided by the Italian Coast Guard from 2014 to 2018, it focuses on these questions: Are non-governmental SAR operations at sea becoming a civilian practice to be associated with governmental ones? Can the consolidation of such practice impact (complement) governmental and intergovernmental policies? It is divided into three parts. First, civil society organizations, and specifically NGOs, are analysed within the theoretical studies on migration, to stress their roles and approaches and to understand their relevance. Second, the recent use of SAR operations at sea by NGOs to rescue people in the Mediterranean are discussed as a complementary tool to governmental one. Their potentiality to become more than a temporary solution and instead to constitute an innovative and consolidated practice of ‘non-governmental SAR operations’ is assessed. Last, empirical data are used to evaluate the perception of such practice and to discuss its political and social legitimation.

Application of the empirical line method (ELM) to calibrate the airborne Daedalus-CZCS scanner

ABSTRACTThe present investigation aims at providing a reliable evaluation of the geometric and radiometric accuracy of the airborne Daedalus-Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS), through cal/val techniques. To this aim, on November 2014, we accomplished a remote sensing campaign over the Peligna Valley (Italy). Together with the personnel of the III Nucleo Aereo of the Italian Coast Guard, based at the Pescara Airport, we deployed the Daedalus AA1268EM1 CZCS scanner on board the fixed-wing aircraft type ATR42MP and a ASD FieldSpec spectroradiometer for a simultaneous field survey. We used vicarious calibration and secondary non-parametric geometric correction to achieve absolute atmospheric correction and geometric calibration, respectively. Although the validation and calibration targets used in this study were similar in nature, correlation coefficients of the prediction equations between at-sensor radiance and ground reflectance were > 0.90 for each of the 10 CZCS wavebands and the independent error assessment demonstrate that the empirical line method can be applied to correct CZCS imagery with satisfactory results.

Out of Syria: A process drama in mathematics with change of roles and perspectives

Abstract In this article, we examine the possibility of changing communication patterns in teaching mathematics through the use of process drama, based on a research project themed on the refugee catastrophe in Syria. In the process drama, we applied change of perspective: the students had different roles, such as refugees, traffickers and the Italian coastguard, and they investigated some selected role types or categories in these situations (the authority, the curious one, the sceptic and the mediator). We found that change of roles and perspective may have different effects on the students, but that it can contribute to more student activity and in-depth learning. For teaching mathematics, we revealed the potential for more student activity through bigger attention to questions, explanations and argumentation, and found that the learning process was stimulated by change of perspective and the use of role categories.

A Statistical Model for Vessel-to-Vessel Distances to Evaluate Radar Interference

Maritime traffic has significantly increased in recent decades due to its advantageous costs, delivery rate and environmental compatibility. With the advent of the new generation of marine radars, based on the solid-state transmitter technology that calls for much longer transmitted pulses, the interference problem can become critical. Knowing the positions and the heights of the ships, the mean number of the vessels in radar range can be estimated to evaluate the effects of their mutual radar interferences. This paper aims to estimate the probability density function of the mutual distances. The truncation of the density function within a limited area related to horizon visibility leads to a simple single-parameter expression, useful to classify the ships as either randomly distributed or following a defined route. Practical results have been obtained using Automatic Identification System (AIS) data provided by the Italian Coast Guard in the Mediterranean Sea.

A new search-and-rescue service in the Mediterranean Sea: a demonstration of the operational capability and an evaluation of its performance using real case scenarios

Abstract. A new web-based and mobile decision support system (DSS) for search-and-rescue (SAR) at sea is presented, and its performance is evaluated using real case scenarios. The system, named OCEAN-SAR, is accessible via the website http://www.ocean-sar.com. In addition to the website, dedicated applications for iOS and Android have been created to optimise the user experience on mobile devices. OCEAN-SAR simulates drifting objects at sea, using as input ocean currents and wind data provided, respectively, by the CMEMS and ECMWF. The modelling of the drifting objects is based on the leeway model, which parameterises the wind drag of an object using a series of coefficients. These coefficients have been measured in field experiments for different types of objects, ranging from a person in the water to a coastal freighter adrift. OCEAN-SAR provides the user with an intuitive interface to run simulations and to visualise their results using Google Maps. The performance of the service is evaluated by comparing simulations to data from the Italian Coast Guard pertaining to actual incidents in the Mediterranean Sea.

A multi-model assessment of the impact of currents, waves and wind in modelling surface drifters and oil spill

Validation of oil spill forecasting systems suffers from a lack of data due to the scarcity of oil slick in situ and satellite observations. Drifters (surface drifting buoys) are often considered as proxy for oil spill to overcome this problem. However, they can have different designs and consequently behave in a different way at sea, making it not straightforward to use them for oil spill model validation purposes and to account for surface currents, waves and wind when modelling them. Stemming from the need to validate the MEDESS4MS (Mediterranean Decision Support System for Marine Safety) multi-model oil spill prediction system, which allows access to several ocean, wave and meteorological operational model forecasts, an exercise at sea was carried out to collect a consistent dataset of oil slick satellite observations, in situ data and trajectories of different type of drifters. The exercise, called MEDESS4MS Serious Game 1 (SG1), took place in the Elba Island region (Western Mediterranean Sea) during May 2014. Satellite images covering the MEDESS4MS SG1 exercise area were acquired every day and, in the case an oil spill was observed from satellite, vessels of the Italian Coast Guard (ITCG) were sent in situ to confirm the presence of the pollution. During the exercise one oil slick was found in situ and drifters, with different water-following characteristics, were effectively deployed into the oil slick and then monitored in the following days. Although it was not possible to compare the oil slick and drifter trajectories due to a lack of satellite observations of the same oil slick in the following days, the oil slick observations in situ and drifters trajectories were used to evaluate the quality of MEDESS4MS multi-model currents, waves and winds by using the MEDSLIK-II oil spill model. The response of the drifters to surface ocean currents, different Stokes drift parameterizations and wind drag has been examined. We found that the surface ocean currents mainly drive the transport of completely submerged drifters. The accuracy of the simulations increases with higher resolution currents and with addition of the Stokes drift, which is better estimated when provided by wave models. The wind drag improves the modelling of drifter trajectories only in the case of partially emerged drifters, otherwise it leads to an incorrect reproduction of the drifters׳ direction, which is particularly evident in high speed wind conditions.

Editorial: Vada a bordo

Editorial: Vada a bordo

Get Back Onboard! [Ethically Speaking

I was listening to the news while driving home the other day when I heard a translation of the recording between Capt. Gregorio De Falco of the Italian Coast Guard in Livorno, Italy, and Capt. Schettino of the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia. “Vada a Bordo!” Capt. De Falco shouted while Capt De Schettino repeatedly came up with excuses to not go back onboard his ship. According to Capt. De Schettino, he did not abandon his ship. Instead, he tripped and fell into a lifeboat with his second-in-command. “Listen Schettino, perhaps you have saved yourself from the sea but I will make you look very bad. I will make you pay for this,” De Falco yelled. De Falco became an instant hero. His wife said, “The worrying thing is that people like my husband who simply do their duty every day, immediately become idols, personalities, heroes in this country. That is not normal.” Schettino was certainly a coward, but was De Falco a hero?

Using Advanced Aerial Platforms and Infrared Thermography to Track Environmental Contamination

This study introduces new methods and applications for detecting, evaluating, and tracking signs of environmental contamination using a variety of advanced aerial platforms, a suite of advanced sensors, and new detection software. Aerial platform examples include: manned aircraft and helicopters, unmanned fixed wing aircraft (UAV), and unmanned rotorcraft. The onboard sensors include an array of multispectral and electro-optical infrared cameras. The developed system, which is being used by the Italian Coast Guard, is ideal for detecting illegal and unauthorized sewer and storm-drain environmental policy violations. The methods presented here were developed to detect pollution in rivers and the sea. The results of these current studies show that: (1) infrared thermography is an ideal tool to detect environmental contamination, (2) a variety of aerial platforms ranging from manned aircraft to small unmanned rotorcraft should be used to first globally scan the region and then locally focus on the suspected site, and (3) the measured high resolution database accurately defines the current state of the region which provides a benchmark for future investigations.

The management of the effects of navigation on the marine environment: the case of tributyltin (TBT)

The aim of this study is to review the fact-finding and decision-making process of the international community which, via the International Maritime Organization, has led to a ban on the use of antifouling paints containing organotin compounds. This review focuses on the importance of scientific knowledge supporting the sustainable management of the environment and on the centrality of ecotoxicological studies on the effects of human activities on the enviroment. The Italian Coast Guard Corps guarantees compliance with the regulations, through the action of Port State Control carried out in ports and onboard vessels.

I respingimenti in mare di migranti alla luce della Convenzione europea dei diritti umani

- Italian authorities have recently undertaken a new policy to face migration flows from north african coasts. Since May, 6th 2009 Italian coastguard and financial police vessels have intercepted a large number of boats carrying migrants and returned them to Libya, in force of a readmission agreement between Italy and Libya. These operations, even if they take place on the high seas, have to comply with the European Convention for Human Rights, considering that the migrants fall under jurisdiction of Italian authorities within the meaning of art. 1 of the Convention. In particular, on the basis of the European Court of Human Rights case law, it can be argued that returning migrants to Libya, as long as they can be exposed to torture or inhuman and degrading treatment, is prohibited by art. 3. Moreover, art. 4 or the Fourth Protocol prohibits the collective expulsions of aliens. Notwithstanding, it's uncertain whether forcible return of aliens is consistent with the latter provision considering that the European Court requires that aliens ‘leave the country' in order to apply art. 4. In the end the praxis of Italian authorities is inconsistent with the Convention non-refoulement obligation deriving from art. 3.

Hannibal's Children: Immigration and Antiracist Youth Subcultures in Contemporary Italy

The night of September 14, 2002 was moonless. A stormy sea lashed the rocky coastline at Capo Rossello, a small town near Agri- gento on Sicily's southern coast. Shortly after midnight, the wind carried the sound of screams out of the darkness to the restaurants along the beachfront. The screams grew in intensity and then, sud- denly, stopped. Some time later, bodies began to wash up on the beach. As the townspeople learned the following morning, a Ximsy wooden boat carrying passengers from Liberia had foundered in the rough waves near shore. One hundred twenty-eight people were dumped into the heaving waves near Capo Rossello. At least thirty- six of these people drowned while trying to swim to shore. This mass drowning was not unique. Italy has been experiencing a sharp in- crease in immigration over the last few years. These immigrants are increasingly coming from various points in Africa rather than from Eastern Europe. Every month, hundreds of impoverished people set out in poorly equipped boats from Libya, Tunisia, and other sites along the Northern Africa coast. Every month, dozens die as they try to reach Italy and Spain. The Italian coast guard has contributed to this body count by aggressively pursuing and turning back boats loaded with immigrants Xeeing Africa (Bruni 2002). These horriWc deaths have sparked intense debate concerning immigration in Italy. Although news of immigrant deaths arrives with numbing regularity, the mass drowning at Capo Rossello made a particularly dramatic impact on the controversy surrounding clan- destine immigration to Italy as a result of its date. Five days earlier,