The threshold value for fishing mortality has not been calculated due to a lack of adequate information on bycatch levels within the MRU. A limit value considering the ecological requirements of the species, could be calculated by applying the Potential Biological Removal (PBR) to the best available population abundance estimate and after regional or sub-regional consultation.

High value of the parameter obatined in the 2021 survey N=14885 (95%C.I =12.70) - 17.437). Data from 2016 N=31444 (95%C.I.=26413 -37433) have been produced in different season, hence a direct comparison is not possible and the differences highlighted can origin from the high variable dispersal patterns of the species in the whole Mediterranean Sea.

The parameter describes the trend in annual nest counts recorded in the index area/s of the subregions with coastal areas characterised by annual, consistent and nationally representative nesting events.The assessment of trend in annual nest counts is a new parameter introduced in the current art.8 reporting cycle in order to improve the assessment of DIC2 as foreseen by the EU MSFD art.8 and IMAP indicator reporting guidelines (UNEP/MAP 2021, EC 2022). The implementation of the IMAP guidelines for Italy involve the evaluation of nesting trends in assessment areas object of: effort correlated monitoring programs, covering 50% of the population and potentially distributed across 4 national index areas so as to guarantee a sufficient sampling representativity. The MIC MRU index areas for which the parameter data are provided include the Pelagie islands (MIC-PEL), the ionian coast of Calabria (MIC-CAL) and southwestern Puglia (MIC-PUG) corresponding to 47% of the nests distributed in the overall MRU during the period 2018-2021. However only a subpart of the MIC-CAL and MIC-PUG index areas (hereon identified as MIC-CAL_1 and MIC-PUG_1) were object of effort-related beach monitoring activities throughout the 4 year period, so only nesting data pertaining to these index area subportions are considered for the purpose of the assessment . The nesting representativity of the considered index areas therefore amounts to 36% of the nests recorded at MRU scale during the four year period (MIC-PEL =4%, MIC-CAL_1=28%, MIC-PUG_1 =4%). Data reported in several bibliographic sources describing the trend in nesting counts and locations observed in the past decades (Mingozzi et al. 2007, Mingozzi 2010,Mingozzi et al. 2016) allow to infer a qualitative increase of the current numbers and locations of nesting events thereby justifying the conclusion, in qualitative terms, that the trend is increasing , in line with what is reported for Italy, for the respective IMAP indicator, in the Barcelona Convention QSR. Information on the datasources, datasets, parameter data, references and index areas extension are indicated in the Summary Report.

The parameters refers to hatchling emergence success (HES), describing the percentage of hatchlings which hatched and reached the surface of the nest to emerge. The percentage is calculated by subtracting the number of dead and live hatchlings found in the nest during post-hatch excavation, from the total number of hatched eggs divided by the total number of eggs laid in the nest. The GES of this demographic parameter is determined using the threshold value defined by UNEP/MAP 2021 in the IMAP demographic indicator; the optimum target to be achieved for C.caretta nests should be an annual HES higher than 65%, with a -10% accepted tolerance resulting in a proposed GES threshold value for annual HES of above 55%. The parameter is calculated by considering the hatching data of all nests in a year for a given assessed area as a single nesting event. Each assessment area must undergo a specific HES assessment for the IMAP indicator application. UNEP/MAP 2021 guidelines indicate (for countries such as Italy) that data should come from areas subject to beach monitoring and representing of 50% of the observed national nesting population and potentially covering 4 national index areas for adequate sampling representativity. The MIC MRU index areas include the Pelagie Islands (MIC-PEL), the Ionian coast of Calabria (MIC-CAL) and southwestern Puglia (MIC-PUG) corresponding to 47% of the nests distributed in the overall MRU during the period 2018-2021. However only a subpart of MIC-CAL and MIC-PUG index areas (hereon identified as MIC-CAL_1 and MIC-PUG_1) were monitored during this period, so only nesting data pertaining to these index area subportions are considered for the assessment. The nesting representativity of the considered index-areas therefore amounts to 36% of the nests recorded at MRU scale during the four year period (MIC-PEL=4%, MIC-CAL_1=28%, MIC-PUG_1=4%). Information on data sources, datasets, parameter data, references and index areas extension are indicated in the Summary Report. The minimum and maximum annual HES values observed between 2018-2021 in the three index-areas combined are above the IMAP minimum threshold value, however, if analysed as stand-alone cases two of the three index areas (MIC-PEL and MIC-PUG_1) have annual HES values generally below threshold. Due to the low representativity of the three index-areas combined (36% of total eggs laid in the MRU), the parameter assessment is considered unknown.

The parameter describes the annual distribution of nesting events with respect to their presence in coastal 10x10km cells of each of the italian MRU sduring the period 2018-2021 (described as annual percent of coastal cells occupied by nests per subregion in the period 2018-2021).The parameter development is line with the indications provided by the EU and regional guidelines respectively for MSFD art.8 and IMAP indicator assessments (EC 2022, UNEP/MAP 2021). Details on the data sets, sources, coverage figures and references are described in the summary report. Since the parameter has only recently entered into the proposed reporting flow there are no data from the previous reporting cycle to allow comparison with the present reported information. However data reported in several bibliographic sources describing the trend in nesting counts and locations observed in the past decades (Mingozzi et al. 2007, Mingozzi 2010,Mingozzi et al. 2016) allow to infer a qualitative increase of the current numbers and locations of nesting events thereby justifying the conclusion in qualitative terms, that the trend is increasing , in line with what is reported for Italy, for the respective IMAP indicator, in the Barcelona Convention QSR. Details on the data sets, sources, coverage figures and references are described in the summary report.

The parameter has been positively assessed by the Range Tool HD (http://discomap.eea.europa.eu/App/RangeTool/) with a 200 km gap distance. Caretta caretta exhibit highly variable dispersal patterns in the Mediterranean, influenced by diverse feeding habitats (Schofield et al., 2013). Long-distance movements of over 200 km have been reported (Luschi, P., & Casale, P. 2014)

A standardized approach for assessing the suitability of the habitat conditions of critical marine turtle areas at sea is not addressed by the EU MSFD or HD guidance documents on reporting. Moreover, a standardized method for quantifying threshold values for criteria D1C4 and D1C5, which are closely correlated, is currently unavailable. No assessment is therefore conducted for the nesting habitat conditions of the italian MRUs while a qualitative judgement is identified as good for the habitat condition at sea based on the combined abundance (D1C2) and distribution (D1C4) trends observed at sea based on which the criteria are considered to be in good conditions.