Rio Mare for the Aegadian Islands

We understand the importance in cooperating with public entities to develop new initiatives aiming at protecting our planet. For this reason, since 2014 our brand Rio Mare is partner with the Protected Marine Area of the Aegadian Islands (Italy, Sicily) is Europe’s largest protected marine areas.

Over the years, we implemented four projects to protect biodiversity and encourage the sustainable management of the area’s natural resources.

Posidonia Oceanic and the Master Project (anti-bottom trawl measures for protection and repopulation)

Posidonia oceanica is a marine plant that grows on sandy and rocky seabed. It creates an underwater habitat that offers refuge and food to numerous species.

In addition to acting as a ‘nursery’ and a means of repopulation for marine fauna, Posidonia helps prevent coastal erosion and combats climate change and global warming, producing 2.5 times more oxygen than that produced by the Amazonian forests in proportion to their extension and absorbing large amounts of CO2.

To protect this marine area from illegal trawl fishing, a technique that involves deploying anti-trawl concrete blocks on the seabed, also known as ‘bollards’, has been introduced.

To protect the entire area, in addition to the bollards deployed by the Ministry of the Environment, we have financed the deployment of additional bollards resulting in an 80% reduction of illegal trawl fishing in the area to date.

Furthermore, in 2020, we supported the early planting of about 2,000 new bundles of Posidonia oceanica.

Monk seal observatory management in “Punta Troia’s castle” in Marettimo island

This project, conducted in partnership with the researchers of the Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), involves managing of the Monk Seal Observatory located in Punta Troia’s Castle in Marettimo Island. In 2016, we funded and installed photo traps, enabling researchers to document the return of Monk Seal along the Italian coastline. The presence of this species had not been monitored since the mid-1970s.

Management and improvement of the recovery centre for sea turtles in Favignana

Through this project we supported the management and improvement of the Recovery Centre for Sea Turtles in Favignana, the first of its kind in Western Sicily.

Thanks to our support the Sea Turtle First Aid Center in Favignana became a Turtle Recovery Center, capable of ensuring timely intervention and rescue of injured animals.

The center, housed inside the former Florio factory, rescues and shelters injured or distressed specimens. These are housed in special tanks before being cared for and returned to freedom at the end of their recovery.

The center also serves as a visitor center, environmental education center and educational laboratory, essential functions to raise the awareness of tourists, children and students about respect for protected marine species.

Water defender alliance with LIFEGATE

In 2021, we joined the PlasticLess project promoted by LifeGate, placing a Seabin device in the port of Favignana.

In the period 2021-2023, the Seabin collected about 335kg of floating waste, corresponding in weight to 23,600 0.5l plastic bottles.

The creation of these tiny fragments (2mm in diameter) has a significant burden on the marine ecosystem; being very small, fishes risk mistaking them for food, and by feeding on them, they end up in our food chain.

In addition, thanks to a new solution patented by an Italian company partnering with LifeGate, we will equip the port and fishermen of Favignana with sponge kits that can prevent and absorb hydrocarbons more effectively and efficiently than other solutions in this area. In fact, these sponges are reusable and water-repellent, allowing up to 100 percent of the hydrocarbons that end up in the water to be recovered by the tools placed in the harbors. Each kilogram of these “magic sponges,” in their life cycle, can absorb up to 6,000 liters of hydrocarbons.

Thanks to this project and the renewal of the Seabin device, we will achieve the complete preservation of the Egadi Marine Protected Area from the point of view of preventing and collecting plastic waste, microplastics, and microfibers, cleaning and collecting of hydrocarbons, storage and disposal, and conservation of the local marine ecosystem.

Our support to scientific research

In 2009, we were among the founders of the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF), a global, non-profit organization whose members include the most eminent scientists, marine biologists and various NGOs, including WWF International.

We believe that each fishing method has its advantages and areas of improvement. For this reason, to ensure a holistic approach to tuna supply, we source from different fishing methods: Purse Seiners using FADs

Tri Marine has been our strategic partner for more than 25 years and is the exclusive supplier of the precooked tuna loins processed in our Cermenate plant.

Our commitment to marine

Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is a global, voluntary, and independent body that supports sustainable fishing practices and defines the standards for the responsible procurement of fish resources.

We have been working together with WWF since 2017 to safeguard the health of the oceans and the livelihoods of the communities that depend on them.