Coastal Ecological Assessment

The integrated assessment of the coastal ecological status of Samothraki resulted from the consideration of the following set of parameters:

• Ecological quality, as assessed through the Rapid Assessment of Coastal Ecological Status (RACES) methodology (Salomidi, 2009)
• Macro-Biodiversity records
• Detection of signs of overgrazing or other evident pressures (i.e. invasive species, litter)

Four shallow rocky mild-sloping sites were selected, two of which located within the Natura 2000 area and another two beyond the designated area. These sites were classified among the five distinct Ecological Status categories (Orfanidis et al., 2001). Biodiversity records include all observations within the study sites as well as observations made during a boat trip around the coasts of the island.