REPOSIDONIA: Erimitis

Erimitis is a peninsula on the Northeast coast of the Greek Island of Corfu, that hosts a wide range of biodiversity on land, freshwater and sea while also preserving a unique natural scape complexion. For the past 12 years, the local association of Erimitis plous struggles to preserve this natural capital, from development plans with the campaign Save Erimitis.

In this context, and to support this long initiative, in 2021, iSea mapped the Posidonia oceanica meadows in two bays of Erimitis peninsula that according to the development plans would be transformed to a marina. The mapping resulted in 0.157 km², although it is worth mentioning that the meadows expand well beyond the northern and southern borders of the study area. In the same year a biodiversity survey also was conducted, resulting in the observation of 82 different species, compiling a total of marine 107 species in combination with previous studies.

In 2022, iSea visited Erimitis again to assess the conservation status of the meadow and estimate the total Blue Carbon stored in the meadow’s rhizomes. For the conservation status two methods were utilized, one using the conservation index (CI) and one using the PREI index. The results obtained by the PREI index resulted in value of 0.62 which is equivalent to “Good ecological status”, while for CI values ranged from 0.60 to 0.95 (severe regression and very good status accordingly).

For the estimation of Blue Carbon, a total of 4 core samples were extracted by divers from within the study area using PVC corers, while for the estimation an elemental analysis was performed to the samples using the Walkley-Black method. The total amount of blue carbon stored in the substrate of Erimitis meadows was estimated at 563.85 tC for the top 60cm of the substrate, which is equivalent to 35.81 tC/ha. For the future iSea is keen to support any other future efforts to further improve the protection of Erimitis.

You can find the annual reports below: