Gulf of Gabès Ghost Gear Recovery

Project Description

Recovery of derelict fishing gear and ghost nets from Tunisia's Gulf of Gabès — a Mediterranean biodiversity hotspot. Combines vessel-based net retrieval, side-scan sonar surveys, and benthic habitat restoration. Co-benefits include reef recovery and reduced cetacean entanglement.

1. ✓
   Baseline ecological surveyCOMPLETED

   Establish pre-project ecological baseline using transect surveys, water quality sampling, and remote-sensing imagery analysis.

   Due: 30 May 2026Completed: 1 Jun 2026
2. ✓
   Stakeholder consultation completedCOMPLETED

   Open consultation with coastal communities, fisher cooperatives, and local authorities — minutes archived in project record.

   Due: 29 Jul 2026Completed: 4 Aug 2026
3. ○
   Field implementation kickoffPENDING

   On-site teams mobilised; planting, deployment, or protection-measures begin per methodology specification.

   Due: 27 Sept 2026
4. ○
   First annual monitoring reportPENDING

   Year-one monitoring report compiled and submitted; covers biomass, GPS tracks, photo points, and community indicators.

   Due: 25 Apr 2027
5. ○
   Independent validation site visitPENDING

   VVB lead auditor visits project site, samples evidence, reviews documentation, drafts validation opinion.

   Due: 24 Jul 2027

An AI-assisted analysis was performed on this submission as part of MCC’s review process. AI output is advisory: it never approves, registers or issues, and every decision affecting this project is made by a human reviewer under MCC-850 (AI Governance Standard). The analysis record itself is an internal document and is not published. Programme-level statistics on AI analysis volume, confidence distribution and human override rates are published in MCC’s quarterly AI Transparency Report.

Model version: claude-sonnet-4-5

Sustainable development contributions

The programme has not recorded a host-country position for this project. No issuance can occur until it has.

Rule: FD-2026-08-24 item D8 · Host Country Authorisation Procedure v1.0 · Corresponding Adjustment and Double Counting Prevention Policy v1.0.

Reversal events (0 detected)

No reversal events detected. The buffer pool remains intact.

Source: Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) occurrence search — live polygon query, max 300 records sampled.

Latest least-cloudy Sentinel-2 mosaic of the project area, retrieved live from the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem. Continuous monitoring runs monthly.

Sentinel-1 SAR backscatter (VV polarisation, GAMMA0-terrain corrected, decibels). Open water sits around −22 dB, flooded mangroves −8 to −14 dB, intact dense canopy around −7 dB. Cloud-independent — tracks tidal cycles and detects canopy collapse.

Sample of up to 300 occurrences each. GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility) covers all taxa; OBIS (Ocean Biodiversity Information System, UNESCO-IOC) is the marine subset indexed against WoRMS. Both refresh daily via 24h cache.

Sentinel-3 OLCI 300 m daily revisit. Chlorophyll-a via OC4Me proxy; NDCI (Mishra & Mishra red-edge) is robust in turbid coastal water. Roadmap: live cron alongside Sentinel-2/Sentinel-1.

Sample data shown. Live Spire Maritime AIS subscription required for production traffic monitoring; the backend endpoint is integrated and waiting on subscription activation.

Planet PlanetScope 3 m daily / SkySat 0.5 m on-demand. Used to validate Sentinel-derived signals at sub-Sentinel resolution. Backend integrated; live activation pending Orders API entitlement.

Sample composition shown. Live NatureMetrics workflow ships sampling kits to field teams; lab returns metabarcoded species assignments against WoRMS / GBIF references. Replaces with real lab output on first sampling cohort.