CESTHA – EXPERIMENTAL CENTRE FOR HABITAT PROTECTION is a non-profit research institution created in 2014, aiming at protecting the environment through programmes for the conservation of endangered species and the promotion of activities of sustainable management. Since 2016, the centre has been housed in the historical premises of the former fish market in Marina di Ravenna.
National excellence in the field of marine conservation, the centre is coordinated by a team of researchers and natural science, marine biology and veterinary medicine specialists, and collaborates with CNR (the Italian National Research Council), the University of Bologna, the University of Padua and various other public and private research institutes.
ACTIVITIES
Turtles, rays and also small sharks often get stuck in trawl fishing nets or get injured by propellers of motorboats and other boats, thus suffering from lung damages, infections or drowning. The main activity of CESTHA concerns the process of rescue, rehabilitation and release of the species that get accidentally caught during professional fishing activities.
CESTHA is one of Italy’s few centres to specialize in the care of elasmobranchi, namely rays, electric rays, some species of sharks, sawfish and common stingrays, which are commonly considered as dangerous to humans and therefore mistreated.
The staff of the centre carries out awareness-raising activities with schools and works on projects involving small and bigger fishing businesses, with the aim of supporting the conservation of marine resources and safeguarding the local economy based on fishing, thus combining the sustainability both of the environment and the economy of the territory.
Along with other institutions of the European Union, CESTHA is also partner of many European projects aiming at environmental protection, such as AdriEATic, raising awareness in consumers about what they eat; PRIZEFISH, contributing to make fishing in the Adriatic more sustainable; S.E.P.P.I.A. sustaining small fishing businesses; TARTALIFE, reducing accidental mortality of Caretta caretta turtles caused by professional fishing activities, and many more.
