The project aimed to answer several important questions related to the efficient management and adaptive management of protected areas on the Romanian coast, such as: How much do we know about the vulnerability and resilience of MPA ecosystems? What are the natural and socio-economic pressures exerted on MPAs? How do the systems evolve? What are the benefits offered by MPAs in certain sectors of the “blue economy”.

In line with the global goals agreed under the Convention on Biological Diversity, the number of marine protected areas (MPAs) is rapidly increasing, but their socio-economic benefits remain difficult to predict and are still under debate. The challenge is to demonstrate to users of the “blue economy” that MPAs are essential tools for protecting, maintaining and enhancing marine ecosystems and to assure them that marine protected areas can provide optimal and sustainable ecosystem services to society. The project proposed pro-active conservation measures necessary to achieve the “favourable conservation status” of species and habitats and the “good ecological status” of the entire marine ecosystem. Obtaining new field data, in line with EU policy principles (DCA, DCSM, etc.), contributed to the development of an assessment of ecological pressures on MPAs and to the establishment of the status of ecosystem services.