Established in 1992, the National Marine Park of Alonissos, Northern Sporades (NMPANS), is Greece’s first marine park and one of Europe’s largest marine protected areas, with a size of approximately 2,200 square km. Located within the Park is the inhabited island of Alonissos; to the northeast of Alonissos lies a complex of uninhabited islands that provide refuge to many rare species of flora and fauna both marine and terrestrial.

Since its establishment, various research efforts have been carried out in the NMPANS targeting a wide range of factors. However most of these have been sporadic and uncoordinated while regular monitoring of factors other than the monk seal population is not currently happening in the protected area. Furthermore, despite its protected status, this lack of monitoring and enforcement has allowed certain uncontrolled human activities and illegal fishing to continue in the area.

Thalassa Foundation is supporting a project that contributes to the safeguarding of NMPANS in order to provide a strong level of protection against various threats, in particular illegal fishing, through a system of remote and in situ surveillance. This will be accomplished by controlling all activities within the marine area of the NMPANS through:

• Establishing an effective patrolling system supportive to enforcement activities of the MPA's management body and of the port police
• Testing new technologies as complementary tools of surveillance