Ezio Amato

ISPRA - ROME ITALY, Centro nazionale per le crisi e le emergenze ambientali e il danno, Retired

University of Tuscia (Università degli Studi della Tuscia, Viterbo), Dipartimento di Scienze Ecologiche e Biologiche, Professore a contratto

ISPRA - ROME ITALY, SEAM, Faculty Member

Followers

Following

116

Co-authors

Mentions

Public Views

Doctor in natural sciences, has coordinated national and international research groups in scientific projects mainly focused on the environmental consequences of persistent pollutants released at sea by man-made “Submerged Sources of Pollutants”, such as dumped waste, shipwrecks and remnants of war. Before his retirement in June 2024, dott. Amato has been Dirigente Tecnologo (senior scientist) and head of the environmental emergencies at sea "Area" at the Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA), a public agency and scientific institute of the Italian Ministry of the environment. From 2010 till 2013, Ezio Amato was recruited as Technical Programme Officer by the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC) to coordinate and oversight the implementation of environmental remediation programme in Kuwait as part of the compensation worked out by the UN Security Council for war damages caused on the environments of Jordan, Iran, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia by the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990-91.
Contracted by the University of Viterbo for six academic years as professor of chemical oceanography, acted as tutor for doctoral theses and held courses and lectures for national and international institutions and universities. The Civil Protection Unit of the European Commission and the UNEP/IMO Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC) have summoned and mobilized dott. Ezio Amato as expert consultant in many cases of marine and coastal pollution by petroleum hydrocarbons and other hazardous and noxious substances in European and Mediterranean seas. In the framework of an agreement with the Italian Stato Maggiore of the Italian Army, he has guided scientific research projects about the effects of dumped or abandoned ammunitions on benthic habitats and species.
Chairperson and advisor in international technical advisory committees, author and co-author of articles, books and documentaries and interviewed, as an expert, in TV shows, newspapers and magazine articles. Tour leader for an eco-tourism Italian organization, passionate SCUBA diver and UW photographer, divemaster PADI since 1990 and licensed as sail and motorboat skipper until 25 GRT since 1976.
Phone: +39 3384859279
Address: Roma, Italy

less

InterestsView All (10)

Uploads

Videos by Ezio Amato

01:54

Extract from "A submerged stockpile" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byiSg8AInUI

War residuals and ordnance have been dumped in every sea and ocean of this planet, an hazard for ... more War residuals and ordnance have been dumped in every sea and ocean of this planet, an hazard for fishermen and others and a persistent source of noxious molecules for marine ecosystems.
The RED COD (Research on Environmental Damage caused by Chemical Ordnance Dumped at sea) project was linvestigating these themes in order to contribute, gathering data and informations, to remediate the "submerged" consequences of firing exercises, conflicts and arsenals renewal.

1 views

03:32

A new species of tubeworm discovered on a deep shipwreck

In year 2009, based on the accounts of a mafia boss that in 1992 took part in the sinking of a ve... more In year 2009, based on the accounts of a mafia boss that in 1992 took part in the sinking of a vessel loaded with toxic and radioactive waste offshore Cetraro harbour, the Italian deputed authorities launched a research on a deep seafloor area. The shipwreck that was found and surveyed, supposed to be one among more than 30 vessels allegedly sunk by the mob in the Mediterranean Sea, revealed being the steamship "Catania", sunk in y 1917 by a German u-boot in an act of war. While exploring the remains of the deck at -500 m, I wondered noticing, on a few spots bunches of tubeworms. Thus, igniting the crew creativity, in its last dive, the ROV arms were provided with a chair transformed in a basket to collect some of them. The following day the sample was dissected in laboratory discovering the first record of Lamellibrachia in the Western Mediterranean. These are gutless marine annelids which are nutritionally dependent upon endosymbiotic bacteria

3 views

Papers by Ezio Amato

An integrated ecotoxicological approach aimed at assessing the effects of chemical unexploded ordnance dumped in the Southern Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean Sea)

In order to gain preliminary knowledge about the threat to marine ecosystems due to leakage of ch... more In order to gain preliminary knowledge about the threat to marine ecosystems due to leakage of chemical warfare agents (CWAs) and other pollutants from rusting bombshells on the seabed, a case study was conducted in a dumping area in the southern Adriatic Sea (depth 200–300 m). Following electroacoustic and magnetometric surveys of the CWA dumping area, an integrated ecotoxicological approach was used. This approach was based on analysis of CWA residues and their metabolites, including arsenic, in sediment and organisms, as well as multimarker methodology including the Health Assessment Index, histological lesion analysis and enzyme assays. Two sentinel species were selected, the blackbelly rosefish [Helicolenus dactylopterus (Delaroche, 1809)] and the European conger (Conger conger L., 1758). Sediment analysis revealed the presence of CWA degradation products, including 1-4-thioxane and 1-4-dithiane. Tissues of fish from the CWA dumping site showed higher levels of arsenic than those from the reference site. Neither CWAs nor their metabolites were detected in fish tissues. Arsenic levels recorded in blackbelly rosefish were well above those reported for other fish species from the southern Adriatic, much higher than the FDA limit for food (2.6 mg kg1) and close to the LD50 calculated for mammals (20 mg kg1 body weight). The presence of pollutants in the CWA dumping site was also confirmed by pathological lesions in both species and EROD activity, two to three times higher than in fish from the reference site (16.45±8.08 and 8.05±5.87 pmol min1 mg protein1 in blackbelly rosefish and 269±24.92 and 78.71 pmol min1 mg protein 1 in European conger, respectively). Cholinesterase activity seemed unaffected in muscle of both species, whereas in brain they were one-third of those recorded in fish from the reference site (14.22±10.05 and 72.87 nmol min1 mg protein1, respectively). This suggests that acetylcholinesterase is sensitive to CWAs. In conclusion, the agreement of all the chemical and biological parameters investigated suggests that the integrated ecotoxicological approach used is appropriate to reveal the presence and biological effects of CWAs in the marine ecosystem

Marine Strategy Framework Directive Task Group 10 Report: Marine litter

Ezio Amato

Uploads

Videos by Ezio Amato

Papers by Ezio Amato

Log In