International Projects

Project title:
Assessing the vulnerability of the Black Sea marine ecosystem to human pressures (ANEMONE)

Programme:
Joint Operational Programme Black Sea Basin 2014-2020, Programme priority specific objective: 2.1. Improve joint environmental monitoring, and will be implemented during 26.07.2018 - 25.11.2020 (28 months).

Budget/EC funding: 991 173.71 Euro (EC funding 911 879.81 Euro)

Countries involved:
Black Sea region - Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey and Ukraine

Partners:

• Coordinator - National Institute for Marine Research and Development “Grigore Antipa” (NIMRD) - Romania
• Mare Nostrum Non-Governmental Organization - Romania
• Institute of Oceanology - Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IO-BAS) – Bulgaria
• Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey – Marmara Research Center (TUBITAK-MAM) - Turkey
• Turkish Marine Research Foundation (TUDAV) – Turkey
• Ukrainian Scientific Center of Ecology of Sea (UkrSCES) - Ukraine

Description of the project
The ANEMONE Project aims to deliver, through collaborative efforts among partners, a common strategy related to the Joint Monitoring of the Black Sea, using the most adequate common agreed assessment criteria and indicators, in order to assess the status of the Black Sea, as a basis for further actions.
The Project’s objectives are:

• Enhanced cross-border contacts within the Black Sea Basin: scientists and stakeholders networking, forums, and establishment of lasting partnerships;
• Enhanced knowledge and skills: the exchange of experience and good practices, innovation, harmonized methodologies, and joint research;
• Concrete and visible outputs: pilot projects, information and communication technologies shared tools, online open-access resources.

The specific project results will contribute to an increased level of availability of environmental data and information, being related to:

• improved understanding of the knowledge gap and further needs;
• common agreed methodologies for monitoring, new tools and indicators for integrative assessment of the ecological status, based on Harmonized Black Sea Monitoring and Assessment Guidance (BSMAG);
• quality controlled and comparable data sets for the Black Sea environmental status assessment, collected in the framework of specific pilot monitoring studies in selected study areas;
• collected new data on chemical contamination of aquatic organisms and potential risks, thus filling knowledge gaps identified for Black Sea region.
• case studies on beach litter and dolphins will represent the ground of the educational and awareness raising campaigns

Link to online information / website:
https://www.anemoneproject.eu/ / https://www.facebook.com/Anemone.project.bsb319/

Deliverables:

Coordination of Marine and Maritime Research and Innovation in the Black Sea (Black Sea CONNECT)

Official site: connect2blacksea.org

Coordonating research in support to application of Ecosystem Approach
to Fisheries (EAF) and management advice in the Mediterranean and Black Seas

(KBBE20101.4.08 - Contract no. 265648 - 20112014)

(Coordinating and Support Action - Grant agreement no. 265648)

The Project has a 22 international institutions partnership. It is a - 2011 EU FP7 PROJECT - Commission of the European Communities, FP7 - Collaborative Projects. External Advisory Committee: FAO, GFCM, ICCAT, UNER RAC/SPA, BSC.

Project Duration: 2011 - 2013

Project coordination: Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Zaragoza, IAMZCIHEAM (Spain)

Contact: iamz@iamz.ciheam.org; Official site: www.cream-fp7.eu

Main Beneficiaries: The Ministry of Environment and Climate Changes, National Agency for Fisheries and Aquaculture

General Objective To set up the basis for the NETWORK OF RESEARCH organizations for future to coordinate fisheries research for the Effective Application of the EAF in Mediterranean and Black Seas, including: Harmonization of Data collection and exploitation Harmonizing the assessment methodologies Dialog scientists / international bodies Developing recommendations cooperation improvement Dissemination Anticipated Results Exhaustive diagnosis on the data and methodologies currently available and used for the EAF implementation in the Mediterranean and Black Seas, by: Identification of knowledge gaps and opportunities to improve research coordination. Proposals for the harmonization of methodologies for data collection and analysis. Integration in the network of the regional bodies and the national organisations responsible for fisheries management in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Fisheries researchers, technicians and decision makers trained in the EAF and project results disseminated. Exhaustive diagnosis on the data and methodologies currently available and being used for the implementation of the EAF in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Identification of knowledge gaps and opportunities to improve research coordination

GFCM Meeting for the Black Sea CREAM International Team Work

Towards COast to COast NETworks of marine protected areas (from the shore to the high and deep sea), coupled with sea-based wind energy potential (COCONET)

Starting date: 01/02/2012

Duration: 48 months

Contract No: 209EU/09.07.2013

The Contracting Authority: CE(funding) / UEFISCDI(cofinancing)

The project has two main themes: Identify prospective networks of existing or potential MPAs in the Mediterranean and the Black Seas, shifting from a local perspective to the regional level (network of MPAs) and finally the basin scale (network of networks). The identification of the physical and biological connections among MPAs will elucidate the patterns and processes of biodiversity distribution. Measures to improve protection schemes will be suggested based on maintaining effective exchanges (biological and hydrological) between protected areas. Explore where OWF might be established, producing an enriched wind atlas both for the Mediterranean and the Black Seas. OWF locations will avoid too sensitive habitats but the possibility for them to act as stepping-stones through MPAs, without interfering much with human activities, will be evaluated.

Partners: 3E (BELGIUM), CLU (ITALY), CNR-ISMAR (ITALY), CNRS (FRANCE), COISPA (ITALY), CoNISMa (ITALY), CSIC (SPAIN), DTU AQUA (DENMARK), GEOECOMAR (ROMANIA), HCMR-IOO (GREECE), IBER-BAS (BULGARIA), IBMK (MONTENEGRO), IBSS NASU (UKRAINE), IEO (SPAIN), IH Cantabria (SPAIN), INAT (TUNISIA), IO-BAS (BULGARIA), IOLR (ISRAEL), ISRABAT (MOROCCO), ISTANBUL UNIVERSITY (TURKEY), METU (TURKEY), MHI (UKRAINE), NatureBureau (UK), NEA (GEORGIA), NENUPHAR (FRANCE), NERSC (NORWAY), NIMRD (ROMANIA), OBIBSS (UKRAINE), RSHU (RUSSIA), SINOP UNIVERSITY (TURKEY), SIO RAS (RUSSIA), UkrSCES (UKRAINE), UNIVERSITY of MALTA (MALTA), UNIVERSITY of ROSTOCK (GERMANY), UNIVERSITY of the AEGEAN (GREECE), UNIVERSITY of ZADAR (CROATIA), UniZKM (ALBANIA), USOF (BULGARIA), USTV (FRANCE)

Core project team: Dragoş Micu, Mariana Golumbeanu, Victor Niţă, Alina Spînu

Official site: www.coconet-fp7.eu

EU-FP7 Project PERSEUS
Policy oriented environmental research in the southern European Seas - PERSEUS

PERSEUS official web page: www.perseus-net.eu

Grant agreement no: 287600

Project duration: 1.01.2012 - 31.12.2015

54 parteners:
Leading research Institutes and SMEs from EU MemberStates, Associated States, Associated Candidate countries, non-EU Mediterranean and Black Seacountries, will join forces in a coordinated manner, in order to address common environmental pressures, and ultimately, take action in the challenge of achieving GES.

Objectives:
The overall scientific objectives of PERSEUS are to identify the interacting patterns of natural and human-derived pressures on the Mediterranean and Black Seas, assess their impact on marine ecosystems and, using the objectives and principles of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive as a vehicle, to design an effective and innovative research governance framework based on sound scientific knowledge.

Results and outputs:

• Well-coordinated scientific researchand socio-economic analysis will be applied at a wide ranging scale, from basin to coastal. The new knowledge will advance our understanding on the selectionand application of the appropriate descriptors and indicators of the MSFD.
• New tools will be developed in orderto evaluate the current environmental status, by way of combining monitoring and modelling capabilities and existing observational systems will be upgraded and extended.
• Moreover, PERSEUS will develop a concept of an innovative, small research vessel, aiming to serve as a scientific survey tool, in very shallow areas, where the currently available research vessels are inadequate.
• In view of reaching Good Environmental Status (GES), a scenario-based framework of adaptive policies and management schemes will be developed. Scenarios of a suitable time frame and spatial scopewill be used to explore interactions between projected anthropogenicand natural pressures.
• A feasible and realistic adaptation policy framework will be defined and ranked in relation to vulnerable marine sectors/groups/regions in orderto design management schemes for marine governance.Finally, the project will promote the principles and objectives outlined in the MSFD acrossthe SES.

Areas for demonstration of the MSFD principles and development of Adaptive Policy Framework(APF); Demonstration of MSFD principles: yellow rectangles=EU studies; green rectangles=non-EUstudies. Areas for development of APF=shaded rectangles

Industrial Symbiosis Network
for Environment Protection and Sustainable Development
in Black Sea Basin (SymNet)

SYMNET is funded with the support of the European Union (EU) under Priority 1. Supporting cross border partnerships for economic and social development based on common resources, of the Joint Operational Programme “Black Sea Basin 2007-2013” (http://www.blacksea-cbc.net).

Project duration: 13 July 2011 - 12 July 2013

Objectives
Industrial Symbiosis Network for Environment Protection and Sustainable Development in Black Sea Basin (SymNet) aims to minimize the environmental degradation in response to climate change effects while maximizing economic and social development in the Black Sea Basin by new and innovative approach called Industrial Symbiosis Strategy.

Results and Outputs The expected project results are addressed to: decision-makers of local/regional governments and development agencies in Black Sea Basin, energy, logistics, manufacturing and tourism sector organizations located in Black Sea Basin, chambers of Trade and Industry in the partner regions, university and research institutions, manufacturers, enterprises and industries locating in Black Sea Basin, inhabitants of Black Sea Region.

The specific results of SymNet are: Developing the Black Sea Industrial Symbiosis Platform to provide a medium for the stakeholders of the region to come together and work on the efficient use of natural resources in the manufacturing, logistics, energy and tourism sectors for contributing to better environmental protection in Black Sea Basin; Developing a database to create a platform for opportunities for the region's companies to network and cooperate; Romania, Turkey, Bulgaria and Moldova. Developing online programs like carbon foot-printing and trade networks optimisation to support the above mentioned cooperation; Developing an industrial symbiosis strategy that contributes to the development of strong local economies and strengthen social and cultural interaction between decision-makers, producers, traders and consumer communities in Romania, Turkey, Bulgaria and Moldova.

Core project team:

• Margarita Stancheva, Institute of Oceanology - Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Varna, Bulgaria
• Pinar Ozuyar, Özyeğin University,Center for Energy, Environment and Economy, Istanbul, Turkey
• Alina Spinu, National Institute for Marine Research and Development “Grigore Antipa”, Constanta, Romania
• Roman Chirca, Agency for Innovation and Technology Transfer, Academia of Science of Moldova, Chisinau, Moldova
• Fikret Kasapoglu, Istanbul's EU Pioneers Association, Istanbul, Turkey

EU-FP7 Project SeaDataNet II
Pan-European infrastructure for ocean and marine data management
www.seadatanet.org

Project duration: 1.10.2011 - 31.09.2015

Partners: The SeaDataNet II consortium includes 44 partners

The overall objective of the SeaDataNet II project is to upgrade the SeaDataNet infrastructure into an operationally robust and state-of-the-art Pan-European infrastructure for providing up-to-date and high quality access to ocean and marine metadata, data and data products originating from data acquisition activities by all engaged coastal states, by setting, adopting and promoting common data management standards and by realizing technical and semantic interoperability with other relevant data management systems and initiatives on behalf of science, environmental management, policy making, and economy.

SeaDataNet is a standardized system for managing the large and diverse data sets collected by the oceanographic fleets and the automatic observation systems. The SeaDataNet infrastructure networks and enhances the currently existing infrastructures, which are the national oceanographic data centres of 35 countries, active in data collection. The networking of these professional data centres, in a unique virtual data management system provide integrated data sets of standardized quality on-line. As a research infrastructure, SeaDataNet contributes to build research excellence in Europe.provision capacities in close cooperation with MyOcean, EuroGOOS, its Regions (ROOSes), and other oceanographic monitoring agencies and systems.

Bio-Optical Characterization of the Black Sea for Remote Sensing Applications

Partners:

• Institute of Marine Sciences, Middle East Technical University, Erdemli, Turkey
• Institute of Oceanology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Varna, Bulgaria
• Marine Hydrophysical Institute Sevastopol, Ukraine
• National Institute for Marine Research-Development, Constanta, Romania
• Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Moscow, Russia

NATO Science for Peace Project # 982678

Objectives:
The proposed project, within the framework of the environmental security research topic, aims at the implementation of a tool to support remote sensing applications for operational environmental monitoring and climate studies in the Black Sea. This final objective is expected to be achieved through the implementation of new models and algorithms in a processing chain for ocean color imagery. The new models and algorithms for the quantification of the concentration of seawater optically significant constituents (mostly chlorophyll a, total suspended matter and yellow substance), will result from the analysis and application of comprehensive in situ bio-optical measurements of optical properties (inherent and apparent) and concentration of seawater optically significant constituents performedduring two major oceanographic campaigns.

Milestones
Milestones of the project are:

1. the completion of field activities scheduled during the second and third year (during the third year the field activities should be preferably completed within the first semester);
2. the data analysis and modeling (starting from the second semester of the second year); and iii.the distribution of assessed ocean color product (including maps of chlorophyll a, total suspended matter and yellow substance from the second semester of the third year). Accordingly deliverables are: i. tested equipment for field work (by the beginning of the second semester of the first year); ii.assessed measurement protocols for field measurements (by the end of the first year);
3. quality assured bio-optical data from two field campaigns (by the middle of the second and third year);
4. regional bio-optical algorithms (during the first semester of the third year);
5. advanced ocean color products of the Black Sea accessible trough web interface (from the second semester of the third year).

Core-team:

• Dr. Temel Oguz
• Dr. Atanas Palazov
• Dr. Michael Lee
• Drd. Viorel Malciu
• Dr. Oleg Kopelevich

Consultancy Services for the coastal area in from of Danube Delta

(Contract for Consultancy nr. 395.1/ 2010
To the Contract nr. 395/2009 (Grant Agreement nr. 244170)

The Contract was signed under the Coordination of the “Danube Delta” National Institute for Research and Development, Tulcea, the Romanian partner of the PEGASO Project. The Project has a 24 international institutions (21 countries) partnership. It is a FP7 Collaborative Projects - Large scale integrating project, accepted at the Call: FP7- ENV.2009.2.2.1.4 Integrated Coastal Zone Management.

Project Duration: 01/02/2010 - 31/01/2014.

Project coordination: UNIVERSITAT AUTONOMA DE BARCELONA, Spain

Contact person: francoise.breton@uab.cat; Official website: www.pegasoproject.eu

Main Beneficiaries: The Ministry of Environment and Climate Changes, “Danube Delta Biosphere” Reserve Administration, Romanian Waters National Administration

General Objective
The main objective of the PEGASO project is to build on existing capacities and develop common novel approaches to support integrated policies for the coastal, marine and maritime realms of the Mediterranean and Black Sea Basins, consistent with the frameworks of the Barcelona and Bucharest Conventions, wishing:

• to facilitate the application of the ecosystem approach to Mediterranean and Black Sea coast
• to support the implementation of the ICZM Protocol - for both coastal land and waters
• to construct the shared Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Governance Platform with scientists, users and decision-makers linked with new models of governance
• to create ICZM (Protocol) National Focal Points (representatives from ministries of environment) responsible to create stocktaking of ICZM Science capacities
• to build a functional network of geographical sites (geonodes) with all partners, supporting training and capacity building in the Mediterranean countries and Black Sea countries
• to develop a web portal to help in managing communication and dissemination of results amongst partners and the shared ICZM platform components

Planned Results. INCDM - Consultancy for:

• coastal and marine common threats identification
• specifical ICZM Tools implementing,
• ICZM indicators contribution,geoportal function, services, data/metadata harmonization,
• Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) development,
• SDI maps and spatial data support, pilot Danube Delta zone/Sulina City,
• support for understanding and practicing ICZM in the Black Sea basin,
• experience sharing from the Plancoast project, pilots Sulina, Constanta and Maritime 12 m/EEZ,
• Scenarios and Participatory method,
• Integration work: towards an interactive toolbox.

Spatial Planning in Sulina City (PUG-Urban General Plan) for the
monitoring of the natural resources and human activities of coastal
and maritime areas, under PEGASO Project (Fig.1,2)

PEGASO Capacity Building, project meetings and results dissemination (Fig.3-6)

OCEAN COLOR - APPLICATION FOR THE WESTERN BLACK SEA

Partners:
National Institute for Marine Research and Development (NIMRD) Grigore Antipa, Romania
Maritime Hydrographic Directorate (MHD), Constanta, Romania
Research Center of the Navy, Costanta, Romania)
Institute of Oceanology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IO-BAS), Bulgaria, Varna
Joint Research Centre of EC (JRC), Ispra, Italy (through a Letter of Endorsement )

Funding Agencies:
European Space Agency (ESA) within the framework of the MERIS Validation activities.
Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) within the framework of the PECS activities.

Current Status and Objectives:
The project, within the framework of ESA and ROSA coordinated activities, and with the collaboration of JRC, aims at carrying out dedicated bio-optical cruises in the Romanian waters influenced by the Danube discharges. The data collection carried out by the partnership will basically rely on the equipment and methodologies regularly applied by the JRC for mapping the bio-optical properties of the European seas and complying with the MERIS Validation Team protocols. The in situ data collected during these cruises will then be applied: i. to verify the consistency of the models utilized for the atmospheric correction process in sediment dominated waters with specific reference to the MERIS bright pixel atmospheric correction; ii. to support the development of regional bio-optical algorithms and models for the determination of optically significant seawater constituents in the form of concentration or inherent optical properties from satellite ocean color sensor data (with the highest priority for MERIS imagery).
The project also aims at operating an autonomous above-water radiometer on an oil platform in front of the Romanian coast. This system will produce data which will be used for the continuous assessment of the atmospheric correction process of current satellite ocean colors sensors (with the highest priority for MERIS). The autonomous radiometer will be provided by the JRC and will be part of the international AERONET-OC network. The long-term operation of the system will be taken over by NIMRD “Grigore Antipa” with the support of the JRC. The system will ensure real - time transmission of data. These will be available to the project partnership without restrictions from the AERONET - OC data base and also from the ESA MERMAID server. The operation of the above-water system will be complemented by an ADCP (Acoustic Doppler Current Profile) operated near the deployment platform to monitor sea currents and wave regimes. The data exploitation will comprise the continuous analysis of in-situ and satellite match-up data, and an evaluation of the sea current effects on them.
The development and execution of this project will befit from complementary activities carried out in the Black Sea within the framework of the project Bio-Optical Characterization of the Black Sea for Remote Sensing Applications (NATO Science for Peace Project # 982678). The project will also benefit from the NIMRD data archive of transparency and sea color produced during different oceanographic cruises from 1971 to 2009.

Strengthening the Regional Capacity to Support the Sustainable Management of the Black Sea Fisheries (SRCSSMBSF) - 88

Joint Operational Program “BLACK SEA 2007-2013”

SRCSSMBSF Meetings

Project duration: November 2011 - November 2013

Priority 2: Sharing resources and competencies for environmental protection and conservation

Measure 2.1: Strengthening the joint knowledge and information base needed to address common challenges in the environmental protection of river and maritime systems

Partnership:

• Institute of Fishing Resources, Varna, Bulgaria (IFR);
• Institute of Oceanography of the Bulgarian Academy of Science, Varna, Bulgaria (IOBAS);
• Southern Research Institute of Sea Fisheries and Oceanography, Kerch, Ukraine (YugNIRO);
• Central Fisheries Research Institute, Trabzon (CFRI);
• Black Sea Technical University, Marine Science Faculty, Trabzon (KTU-MSF);

Overall objective: Cooperation between the Black Sea riparian countries for knowing and rationally managing the marine ecosystem and its resources, carrying out diagnostics of fish stocks status as well as advice on management strategies.

Specific objectives:

• Harmonization of methods and tools to assess the present state of fish stocks by scientific surveys, holistic models;
• Alignment of the common methods for sampling, processing and interpretation data from fisheries and stock assessment using analytic models;
• Awareness of the fishery organizations and decision–makers from national fisheries regarding the need to use in the management strategies of the advice from research and joint-regional stock assessment.

Estimated outputs and results:

• Meetings of specialists in assessment from the Black Sea coastal countries;
• Working visits and trainings of specialists;
• A best-practice guideline for stock assessment using scientific surveys realised in the national languages of partners and English (a guideline and standardized protocol which include the sampling gear (feature and handling), the design of the survey, the information collected, and the management of the data as far as the common standard analysis of the data);
• Manual of protocols on international methodology for sampling, samples processing, analysing and discussions of data and results, fishery statistics, stocks assessment by analytical models;
• Report on state of the Black Sea Fisheries;
• Management Plan for Black Sea Fisheries;
• Inventories of the national authorities, focal points, scientists and non-governmental organizations concerned with fisheries;
• Awareness materials.

Contact person:

• Dr. Eng. Simion NICOLAEV - Project coordinator, (INCDM “Grigore Antipa”)
• Dr. Eng. Gheorghe RADU - Project scientific coordinator, (INCDM “Grigore Antipa”)

Towards A Clean, Litter-Free European Marine Environment Through Scientific Evidence, Innovative Tools And Good Governance (CLEANSEA)

Official page of project

FP7 Collaborative project under Theme ENV The Ocean for Tomorrow

Partnership: 17 partners from 11 countries representing the four European regional seas. Project coordinator is VU University Amsterdam, Institute for Environmental Studies (VU-IVM), NL Dr. Heather Leslie

Project duration: 36 months, starting from January 2013

Goal and objectives: CleanSea aims to break down interdisciplinary barriers by synthesizing data and knowledge generated across its 5 research and development work packages, and uses an integrated framework to construct a Road Map for European marine litter reduction.	Marine litter management
Activities: Marine litter monitoring; Identifying of pollution sources; Providing comprehensive characterization and analysis of the marine litter problem (biological, chemical, social, economic, legislative and policy-oriented) in the Eli’s four main marine regions;

Situaţia procentuală a deşeurilor recoltate de INCDM de pe fundul mării (532 Kg, suprafaţa acoperită prin traulare, S = 14,45 Km2), la litoralul românesc, în anul 2012

The result:

• A Roadmap to Good Environmental Status for Marine Litter derived from a transparent, coherent synthesis of natural and social science research outcomes and stakeholder input.

Comparative of Plankton Status Characteristics in Chinese Daya Bay and Romanian Black Sea Coast and the Response to Anthropogenic Modifications

Duration: 2013 - 2014

General objective

The overall aim of this project is to enhance and improve a long-term co-operation between China and Romanian for development both in situ measurements and also the remote sensing technologies on marine ecological research, to better understand the impacts of human activities on marine ecosystem.

Description

The project can be framed in the Research Direction 3: Environment - 3.3. Protection and reconstruction of critical areas and conservation of protected areas from the ”National Plan for Research, Development and Innovation 2007 – 2013” (PN II).
On the other hand, Romania, together with the Black Sea countries are Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection of the Black Sea against Pollution (Bucharest Convention, www.blacksea-commission.org) and its four Protocols, having the obligation to harmonise their environmental protection policies/legislation and to join efforts in preserving and rehabilitating the Black Sea. The Black Sea coastal states have acknowledged also the need for convergence between the policy and legal framework of the Black Sea region with relevant EU acquis, including the MSFD.
In respect of Directive 2008/56/EC (Marine Strategy Framework Directive), the European Parliament and the Council established the framework for community action in the field of marine environmental policy, each Member State should develop a marine strategy for its marine waters in accordance with the established plan of action.
As Member State, Romania shall make an initial assessment of its marine waters, taking account existing data, comprising the following elements:

• an analysis of the essential features and characteristics, and current environmental status of those waters, based on the indicative lists of elements set out in Table 1 of Annex III, and covering the physical and chemical features, the habitat types, the biological features and the hydro-morphology;
• an analysis of the predominant pressures and impacts, including human activity.

In the Table 1 of the Annex III one of the biological features is a description of the biological communities, including information on the phytoplankton and zooplankton communities, the species and seasonal and geographical variability. Another ones is an inventory of the temporal occurrence, abundance and spatial distribution of non-indigenous, exotic species.
One of the pressures and impacts included in the Table 2, Annex III are the inputs of fertilizers and other nitrogen — and phosphorus-rich substances (e.g. from point and diffuse sources, including agriculture, aquaculture, atmospheric deposition).
That is way the project proposes three specific objectives:

• Current scientific information exchange between Romanian and Chinese researchers regarding the methods and tools for identify the changes in the plankton under the influence of anthropogeninc and climatic factors.
• Strengthening the Romanian-Chinese cooperation in the field of biological diversity at local and regional level as well as of monitoring systems of the biological diversity and ecological dynamics.
• Evaluation of chlorophyll concentrations in situ and by remote sensing analysis.
• Exchange of information on occasional introduction of non-native species (phyto-, zooplankton); ways of penetration.

The new platform will benefit both countries by sharing experience about the anthropogenic pressures such as the land based sources of pollution, shipping and fishery with impact on the evolution of marine plankton.

The project is cofinanced by The Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI), through the Program Capacities (Module III – Subprogram “Cofinancing participation of Romania to the FP7” (contract nr. 270/25.06.2014)

MareFrame seeks to remove barriers that currently prevent a more widespread use of an Ecosystem-based Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM) by developing:

• Novel data based on new tools and technologies;
• Ecosystem models and assessment methods based on indicators of Good Environmental Status (GES);
• A Decision Support Framework (DSF) adapted to the needs of decision makers, managers, operators, and other stakeholders that will support the implementation of the new Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and Habitats Directive (HD).
• MareFrame Project Sheet

Annual Meeting 2014:

• MareFrame 1 Annual draft Agenda 2014.28.11
• Directions to Sir Duncan Rice Library Uni Aberdeen

Intellignet Oceanographically-based short-term fishery Forecasting Applications (GOFORIT)

GOFORIT s a new project supported by the ERANET COFASP and national funding agencies of Denmark, Iceland, Romania and Turkey.

Project duration: April 2015 – March 2018

Participating Institutions:

• DTU Aqua - National Institute of Aquatic Resources - Technical University of Denmark
• CFRI Turcia - Central Fisheries Research Institute, Trabzon, Turkey
• IMS METU Turkey - Institute of Marine Sciences - Middle East Technical University, Erdemli-Mersin, Turkey
• MRI Iceland - The Marine Research Institute, Reykjavik, Iceland
• NIMRD Romania - National Institute for Marine Research and Development “Grigore Antipa”, Constanta, Romania

Project summary:
Fisheries for short-lived species are highly variable because they primarily target irregularly recruiting year-classes. As a result, environmental fluctuations (e. g., temperature, food abundance) which cause major changes in fish productivity can lead to rapid fluctuations in fishing opportunities. Such fluctuations are not foreseen or accommodated by most management advisory frameworks for short-lived species, which generally assume environmental stability and constant productivity. This project will use climatic and oceanographic process knowledge to improve short-term fishery forecasts. Candidate biological responses are recruitment, growth or condition of spawners, mortality, and distribution. The project will identify links between the ecology of short-lived fish species and climatic and oceanographic conditions at time scales relevant to annual stock assessment and advisory cycles, and use this new knowledge in forecasts. Methods will be standardized as much as possible to ease comparison and learning across species/institutes.

GOFORIT is divided into 5 work packages (WP):

• WP 1. Case study - North Sea sandeel
  Lead: National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Denmark
• WP 2. Case study - Icelandic capelin
  Lead: Marine Research Institute, Iceland
• WP 3. Case study - Black Sea anchovy
  Lead: Central Fisheries Research Institute, Turkey
• WP 4. Case study - Black Sea sprat
  Lead: National Institute for Marine Research and Development, Romania
• WP 5. Coordination, mobility and dissemination
  Lead: National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Denmark

Black Sea Sprat CASE STUDY - case study leader dr. Gheorghe Radu Data compilation - Data collection - Training visit - Establish ecosystem relationships - Sensitivity tests determination - Retrospective analysis - Dissemination activity

Dissemination:
GOFORIT at the 16th International Multidisciplinary Scientific Geoconference SGEM 2016
M. Nenciu - Black Sea Sprat Case Study in the Frame of the GOFORIT PROJECT - “INTELLIGENT OCEANOGRAPHICALLY-BASED SHORT-TERM FISHERY FORECASTING APPLICATIONS”
G. Sârbu - IDENTIFYING AND QUANTIFYING MARINE ECOSYSTEM EFFECTS ON THE BLACK SEA SPRAT BIOLOGY
C. Danilov - THE EVOLUTION OF ROMANIAN FISHERIES IN RECENT YEARS
A. Ţoţoiu - THE STATE OF SPRAT (Sprattus sprattus, LINNAEUS 1758) POPULATION IN THE ROMANIAN MARINE AREA, ITS IMPORTANCE IN LOCAL ECONOMY AND AS PREY FOR LARGER FISHERIES
GOFORIT at “International Symposium on Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences” (FABA 2016) - ABSTRACTS
GOFORIT at “International Symposium on Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences” (FABA 2016) - PHOTOS
GOFORIT Leaflet
GOFORIT at the International Conference “Protection of Natural Resources and Environmental Management: The Main Tools for Sustainability” (PRONASEM 2016), 6th edition, Bucharest, Romania, Academy, 11-13 November 2016.

GOFORIT Annual Meeting 1-2 March 2017
GOFORIT dissemination activities
International Conference Maritime Spatial Planning in the Black Sea, Constanța, Romania, May 03-04, 2017
International UAB-BENA Conference “Environmental Engineering and Sustainable Development”, 6th Edition, Alba Iulia, Romania, 25-27 May 2017
WAVMA Conference and Annual General Meeting, Current Concepts in Aquaculture and Ornamental Fish Practice, 12-14 September 2017, Târgu Mureș, Romania
International Symposium PROTECTION OF THE BLACK SEA ECOSYSTEM AND SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF MARITIME ACTIVITIES - PROMARE 2017, 8th Edition, Constanta, Romania, 17-9 September 2017
Participation at the Romanian Research Salon, organized by the Ministry of Research and Innovation, 25 - 27 October 2017, Parliament Palace, Bucharest
GREDIT 2018 GREEN DEVELOPMENT, INFRASTRUCTURE, TECHNOLOGY International Conference, Skopje, FYR Macedonia, 22 - 25 March 2018
International Conference Agriculture for Life, Life for Agriculture, USAMV Bucharest, 7-9 June 2018
4th International Conference Water Across Time in Engineering Research - WATER 2018, Constanta, 21-23 June 2018

Expected results:

• The “proof-of-concept” of how ecosystem information can be used innovatively and operationally for short-term advice;
• The increase in scientific understanding of the links between climate variability-zooplankton-fish;
• New ecosystem-based models configured for short-term fishery forecasting;
• Improved forecast quality - e. g. reduced uncertainty, reducing lead-times;
• Identification of data and conceptual challenges impeding uptake of ecosystem information in different short-term fishery forecast systems;
• it is one of the first studies to do a comparative multi-species and multi-region analysis of how to identify and incorporate ecosystem information in short-term fishery forecasts.

More details here

New methodologies for an ecosystem approach to spatial and temporal management of fisheries and aquaculture in coastal areas (ECOAST)

Project duration: March 2016 - February 2019

ECOAST’s general aim is to merge different approaches (ecological, social and economic) within a unified framework to provide overall information for future development of fisheries and aquaculture in coastal areas, also including spatial conflicts with other users and the stakeholders’ point of view. This goal will be achieved by implementing and integrating already existing models (e.g., DISPLACE, GRID, InVEST) some of which have been developed by the partners of this proposal in the framework of previous research projects. The project’s goals will be delivered through the following objectives:

• to map productive marine areas and priority areas for fisheries and aquaculture;
• to assess the interaction of fisheries and aquaculture with other human activities;
• to assess the cumulative impact of fisheries and aquaculture on ecosystem components with special focus on priority/sensitive habitats;
• to measure economic and ecological performance of alternative spatial plans by scenario evaluations including delineating locations and space limits that ensures certain levels of production to local fishers and farmers;
• to develop an operational modelling framework to analyse stakeholders’ behaviour and predict their likely responses to spatial management options;
• to assess common opportunities and obstacles to integrate fisheries and aquaculture in MSP based on stakeholder consultations.

Participating Institutions:

• ISMAR - CNR Institute of MarineScienceoftheNational ResearchCouncil, Italy
• ISPRA,TheInstituteforEnvironmentalProtection andResearch, Italy
• DTU Aqua, TechnicalUniversityof Denmark
• IRIS, InternationalResearchInstituteof Stavanger, Norway
• IMR, InstituteforMarineResearch, Norway
• HCMR, HellenicCenterforMarineResearch, Greece
• INCDM, NationalInstituteforMarineResearchand Development "Gr. Antipa" Constanta, Romania
• ICBAS, InstituteofBiomedicalSciencesAbel SalazaroftheUniversityofPorto, Portugal

Project summary:

ECOAST aims to identify, develop and test new methodologies for spatial and temporal management of fisheries and aquaculture incoastal areas.The overall approach will assess the impact of fisheries and aquaculture on coastal ecosystems, including essential fish habitats and conservation priority habitats, as well as synergies and conflicts between human activities. Building on previous methodologies and experiences the project will evaluate marine spatial planning in seven coastal case study areas having different ecological and socio-economic characteristics: 1)AdriaticSea (ADR), 2)Ionian Sea (ION), 3)Black Sea (BLK), 4)Tyrrhenian Sea (TYR), 5)Baltic Sea (BAL), 6)Norwegian Fjords (NOR) and 7)NE Atlantic Coasts (ATL).The project outcomes willproduce case specific evaluation of the ecological footprints of aquaculture and fisheries incoastal areas, maps of optimal areas for fisheries and aquaculture, evaluation of compatibility between fisheries, aquaculture and other human activities in coastal areas, as well as implementation of holistic methods and an operational modelling framework to evaluate and predict stakeholder responses to coastal spatial management options covering marine crosssector occupation of space. Several methodologies already exist to assess the impacts on the ecosystem and the socio-economic effects of some spatial management measures, as well as to spatially manage some cross sector marine activities, but none of them integrate all relevant management aspects for coastal areas. Therefore, the holistic methodology will cover in a single system different approaches and management aspects, identifying realistic spatial and temporal potentials and limitations for the integration of fisheries and aquaculture in coastal areas, in order to allow policy makers and stakeholders to evaluate management measures from different points of view and share decisions in a transparent manner on case specific basis. ECOAST results will support the EU and national policies through the provision of tools and data for an ecosystem based allocation of space and sustainable use of marine resources in coastal areas on case specific basis.

ECOAST is divided into 6 work packages (WP):

WP1 – Project management and dissemination
Lead: ISMAR-CNR, Italy; Responsible: Fabio Grati

WP2 – Description of selected case studies in European Regional Seas. Mapping of productive marine areas and priority areas for fisheries and aquaculture
Lead: ISMAR- CNR, Italy; Responsible: Luca Bolognini

WP3 – Ecological footprint of fish farming in coastal areas: identification and response for improved management
Lead: IRIS, Norway; Responsible: Thorleifur Agustsson

WP4 – Identification of spatial synergies/conflicts between fisheries, aquaculture and other human activities and assessment of cumulative impacts of fisheries and aquaculture on coastal ecosystem components with special focus on priority conservation features
Lead: HCMR, Greece, Responsible: Vassiliki Vassilopoulou

WP 5 – Analysis of fishermen’s behavior to spatial management options and assessment of the economic and ecological performance of alternative spatial plans
Lead: DTU-Aqua, Denmark, Responsible: Francois Bastardie

WP6 – Identification of spatial and temporal potentials and limitations for the integration of fisheries, aquaculture and other activities in the coastal areas-through stakeholder consultation
Lead: IMR, Norway, Responsible: Erik Olsen

Case study 3) Black Sea (Responsible: Laura Alexandrov NIMRD, Romania) – The Black Sea is an Unicum hidrobiologicum because of its specificity and biodiversity. It is considered an internal brackish sea with 17‰ salinity under the Danube freshening, sedimentary and anthropogenic impact. Romanian coast has two main parts: one, in front of Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, and the other, in the central and southern part, which is under human pressures and demography development and activities effects. Not many activities are carried out at sea, comparing with other seas and coasts, due to geographical and climate instability, strong winds and waves, coastal erosion, continental floods and freshening influence, big temperatures, salinity, density variations. As a consequence, the coastal areas are inhabited by aquatic organisms with a high plasticity, resistant to local conditions changes, but enough healthy, with qualities for aquaculture. Valuable and endemic species, like sturgeons, flatfish, shads, mullets have here places for feeding and reproduction. The traditional ways of migrations must be recovered for the most important species. To avoid transboundary conflicts a good management of the fish stocks is necessary, adding legislation harmonisation and control improvement. As an exercise, the main activities of the marine space have been identified and should be up-dated by their geographical coordinates, for mapping. The Romanian coast (in its whole integrity) answers to the ECOAST objectives, and can delineate human activities (tourism, navigation, oil and gas extraction and transport,coastal pressures, etc.) including specifically locations for aquaculture, artificial reefs, marine protected areas, natural resources stocks. All of these can be taken into account for interconnection and conflicts evaluation, also in transboundary way. Recommendations will be elaborated following a good management of fisheries resources, habitats recovery, maritime spatial plans and scenarios approach. As Member State, Romania has to implement all EU Directives regarding marine space and resources.

Expected results and Outputs:

The project outcomes produce:

• case specific evaluation of the ecological footprints of aquaculture and fisheries in coastal areas,
• maps of optimal areas for fisheries and aquaculture,
• evaluation of compatibility between fisheries, aquaculture and other human activities in coastal areas,
• implementation of holistic methods and an operational modelling framework to evaluate and predict stakeholder responses to coastal spatial management options covering marine cross sector occupation of space.

The new methodologies:

• assess the impacts on the ecosystem and the socio-economic effects of some spatial management measures,
• spatially manage some cross sector marine activities,
• integrate all relevant management aspects for coastal areas.

The holistic methodology:

• cover in a single system different approaches and management aspects,
• identify realistic spatial and temporal potentials and limitations for the integration of fisheries and aquaculture in coastal areas, in order to
• allow policy makers and stakeholders to evaluate management measures and share decisions in a transparent manner on case specific basis.

ECOAST results support the EU and national policies through the provision of tools and data for an ecosystem based allocation of space and sustainable use of marine resources in coastal areas on case specific basis first time for the Black Sea coast.

Project Leader/Contact Person
Fabio Grati
National Research Council (CNR)
Institute of Marine Sciences (ISMAR)
L.go Fiera della Pesca, 2 60125, Ancona
Italy
tel: +39 071 2078846
mob: +39 347 8293295
fax: +39 071 55313

More details here: www.e-coast.eu/wp/

Romanian project site: msp-platform.rmri.ro