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The study presented in this paper is part of the European Project "Benthis". It is aimed to analyze costs and benefits of the substitution of otter boards built with traditional technology with innovative and more sustainable ones in bottom trawl fishery, in the Central Mediterranean Adriatic Sea (Italy). The bottom trawling fishing is highly impacting for the environment and high energy intensive, with important fuel costs for the sector. The growing public awareness on those two topics leads to the development of various experimental technologies which can bring both low environmental impacts and fuel efficient fishing activities: in the case here are analyzed, innovative otter boards. Their performances can be further improved matching them to wireless acoustic technologies for bottom trawling gears monitoring. The purpose of the research was to assess whether innovative otter boards, which are able to permit a reduction of the impact on marine ecosystem, would also result economically sustainable for fishermen, in order to assess the possibility of implementation of such innovations in the fishing industry. The data collected in technical tests carried out on a vessel have been re-elaborated in a statistical survey in order to obtain suitable information for the cost-effectiveness assessment of the innovative gear implementation. The methodology used for this study is based on the construction of a Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) often used to evaluate various options for investment in the fishery sector. It has been estimated the net present value (NPV) of the hypothetic investment of the tested gears in a private investor view. The CBA has been used to assess whether the change in technology with the implementation of an innovative otter boards could be a feasible and profitable investment. It has been considered the substitution of the old technology with the new one, and all its related costs and benefits, in terms of actual cash flows generated in a time period of 10 years. The results of the CBA indicate that, standing at the data of the testing period with the hypothesis of no other factors occurred in the reduction of fuel purchasing per day at sea, the innovative otter boards are cost effective for the vessel studied. The benefits in swapping the technology are enough to exceed the cost of the investment operations. Based on the estimation of this study the whole cost in swapping the technology would be returned with a pay back after 100 days at seas, so already during the first year of the new technology implementation. Notwithstanding the good results of tests and CBA, these new efficient technologies need to overcome "human behavior barriers" to be implemented massively in the sector. Difficulties in implementing technological improvements in the fishing sector could be related to some barriers; i.e. absence of information on technology themselves, such as lacks in gear performance results, fuel savings and environmental benefits, but also to a low capacity of management these new technology. The present study intend to gather new information useful to overcome these kind of barriers.

Italian fishing fleet is second in Europe for number of vessels and total power and fourth for gross tonnage. The bottom trawling fishing with otter boards represents the 19% of the Italian fishing fleets and is the most impacting for the environment because is both a high energy intensive, with important fuel costs, and a high environmental impact fishing method. For this reason, starting from the European Project "Benthis" (WP7, Subtask 7.4.4. - Innovative management scenario's) the present paper extends the results of the Costs and Benefits Analysis (CBA) concerning the substitution of traditional otter boards with innovative ones, carried on a singular vessel, to all the Italian fleet, designing new scenarios where all the trawling vessels would implement the same more sustainable technology, namely a new kind of new otter boards. They could bring both low environmental impacts and fuel efficient fishing activities, and their performance can be further improved thanks to a digital technology, matching them to wireless innovative acoustic technologies for bottom trawling nets monitoring, to control fishing gears performance and the amount of fish caught. The main purpose of this paper is to implement and analyze new scenarios for fishing sector where some key factors, impacting on the introduction of the new otter board technology, will be appraised: i.e. the fuel cost saving per day at seas, but also the value of the environmental benefits obtained for example in terms of CO2 reduction. Starting from the results of the CBA analysis carried on the new otter boards technology, through the use of foresight techniques, new scenarios have been implemented and analyzed. The identified scenarios are referred to the variables that will most influence the introduction and spread of new fishing technologies in the coming years. Considering that most of the trawling vessels in Italy have characteristics similar to the vessel where the new otter board technology has been tested, the scenarios have included all the trawling vessels which could implement the same technology in Italy. Besides no more only the impact of direct monetary costs and benefits has been considered, but also indirect environmental cost and effects, as impact of CO2 reduction, trend in oil price and in legislation. From the scenario analysis, the variables that mainly will influence the spread of new fishing technologies in the coming years, have resulted to be the reduction in fuel consumption and the introduction of constraints /incentives at legislative level. Already the Cost Benefit Analysis on one vessel had showed as the introduction of the new sustainable technology was cost-effective and permitted a fuel cost reduction in the short term. The construction of future scenarios, considering also other key factors and including all the Italian fleet, provides new elements in support of the positive future economic and social impact of the introduction of this more sustainable technology. Notwithstanding these results, many difficulties in implementing these technological improvements are still present, related to shortage of information and lack of management in new technology, of this traditional sector.

Studio della ceramica restituita dai contesti del battistero paleocristiano della chiesa di S. Cecilia in Trastevere (Roma) ed in particolare delle produzioni anforarie e della sigillata africana.

Nel presente lavoro si presentano i risultati delle analisi archeozoologiche condotte sul campione faunistico rinvenuto nel corso degli scavi condotti nella Basilica di Santa Cecilia in Trastevere. La fauna, in particolare, proviene dagli strati di interramento del battistero medievale (V sec. d. C.) avvenuto tra la fine del XII e la prima metà del XIII secolo, in occasione di rifacimenti della basilica. Lo studio dei resti faunistici provenienti da S. Cecilia contribuisce a chiarire alcuni aspetti riguardo l’alimentazione e l’approvvigionamento delle derrate a Roma in epoca tardo medievale, altrimenti noti solo da documenti scritti.