ESD Operators: Roles and Duties for the Environmental Monitoring Activities of ARPA Puglia

ARPA Puglia (Italy), the Regional Agency for the Environmental Prevention and Protection, has chosen to use the Scientific Diving Operator figure (ESD) in order to meet some of the environmental monitoring activities foreseen by European Directives, such as WFD-Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC and the MSFD-Marine Strategy Framework Directive 2008/56/EC. Regarding the environmental monitoring obligations of the aforementioned Directives, many of them involve underwater operations. For example, both Directives (MSFD and WFD) require Posidonia oceanica monitoring in situ, by collecting data on shoot density and other eco-biometric parameters, also describing the main ecological aspect of seagrass meadows; about Pinna nobilis, the visual census of its distribution and abundance is carried out underwater; the non-indigenous species census provided by MSFD requires the qualitative and quantitative sampling of the benthic communities of hard bottoms in harbors performed by a scratching technique. All the described activities need operations by ESDs, so ARPA Puglia developed a path for the implementation of good practices on the subject: adopting the national Guide Lines "Good practices for the safe performance of the underwater activities” (ISPRA manual n. 94/2013; D.D.G. n.229/2016); identifying the diving equipment as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE); allowing the acquisition or renewal of ESD scientific license for the operational staff; allowing the annual medical check-up for the ESD operational staff; opening of a national call in order to acquire specialized figures, selected according to ESD Panel standards. Details of environmental monitoring activities carried out by ARPA Puglia ESDs are described in this document.