Sant'Anna Institute Sorrento, Fall 2019
Interning Abroad
Location
Punta Campanella | Ieranto Bay
Punta Campanella is marine protected area that surrounds the end of the Sorrentine Penninsula. The MPA has 3 areas of zonation with different levels of protection, and I primarily worked in Ieranto Bay, a yellow zone with intermediate protection. This means there are restrictions on boat traffic, anchoring, and fishing, primarily due to the prsence of high biodiversity and posidonia meadows. Our job was to approach non-auhtorized boats to have them leave, while passing on information about the MPA. We also recorded information about all boats that visitied, such as type, size, and number of passengers. On office days, we worked from the MPA office in Massa Lubrense either preparing materials for educational events or working on other projects..
Staff
Structure | Supervisor
The staff that I mostly interacted with were the other two American interns, Nicole and Anne Marie, and the six Erasmus+ volunteers: Daniels, Laura, Lidija, Erica, Etienne, and Ala. My supervisor was Domenico Sgambati, who is also a professor at the Sant'Anna Institute. We also worked with people from FAI in Ieranto Bay, and with people from the Anton Dohrn Zoological Station.
Projects
Project MARE | Sea Turtle Nests
During the month of September, Project MARE volunteers assisted the Anton Dohrn Zoological Station and Turtle Research Center with monitoring sea turtle nests in the Cilento area. This consisted of taking shifts to watch the nest, and because the nests didn't hatch when we expected, we opened them to assess the hatch success of the nests by completing egg counts and other measurements. We found 10 baby turtles still trapped in the nest, which were measured and released.