Policy-oriented marine Environmental Research for the Southern European Seas (PERSEUS)

Description:

PERSEUS is a research project aiming to assess the dual impact of human activity and natural pressures on the Mediterranean and Black Seas. PERSEUS merges natural and socio-economic sciences to predict the long-term effects of these pressures on marine ecosystems. The project aims to design an effective and innovative research governance framework, based upon newly collected, sound scientific knowledge in order to promote better governance and achieve Good Environmental Status across the Southern European Seas (SES). The project aims to assess the current environmental status of the Mediterranean and the Black Seas, in a coherent and integrated manner, fill the existing scientific knowledge gaps and then design and support an ecosystem-based approach to management so that the EU goal of Clean Seas by 2020 can become a reality, while conserving the surrounding marine environment.

The Project's objectives aim far and wide, beginning with a wide-scale study area from basin to coast in the Mediterranean and Black Seas, to identify the changing patterns in marine ecosystems. The toxic effects of land/sea pollution on marine life are a well-known fact. However, for the first time, PERSEUS investigated the interactions between human-induced and natural pressures (including climate change) determined to assess their combined impact on marine ecosystems and what we can expect in socioeconomic terms, if we don't take action. The research results provided the solid, scientific foundation to develop new tools for the policymaker, including scenario-based management schemes, as well as a framework of adaptive policies for implementation by countries in the region to meet the objectives of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

PERSEUS has addressed scientific and societal needs through new multi-platform observing systems, with emphasis on the characterisation of the state of the ocean and its variability, across a range of scales, to support the needs of society to better understand and model the ocean, within the long-term context of climatic change, whilst supporting sustainability initiatives such as the achievement of GES through MFSD. Major scientific findings of the PERSEUS project are distilled in a Policy brief, setting out evidence-based recommendations for policy and decision makers in the Southern European Seas based on work carried out in several areas of the Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea.

Project information

Lead

Hellenic Center for Marine Research (GR)

Partners

Hellenic Center for Marine Research (GR); Middle East Technical University (TR); Institut Francais de Reserche pour l’Exploitation de la Mer – IFREMER (FR); Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas – CSIC (ES); Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze del Mare – CONISMA (IT); Institutul National de Cercetare-Dezvoltare Pentu Geologie si Geoecologie Marina (RO); Plan Blue – Environment and Development in the Mediterranean (FR); COSNAV Engineering srl (IT); University of Malta (MT); EIR Development Partners Ltd (GR); BC3 Basque Centre for Climate Change (ES); Instituto Espanol de Oceanografia (ES); Universitat de Barcelona (ES); Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (ES); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR):; Universite d’Aix-Marseille (FR); Universite Pierre et Marie Curie – Paris 6 (FR); Universite Paul Sabatier Toulouse III (FR); Centro Euro-Mediterraneo per i Cambiamenti Climatici (IT); Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (IT); Agenzia Nazionale per le Nuove Tecnologie, l’Energia e lo Sviluppo Economico Sostenibile – ENEA (IT), JRC – Joint Research Centre – European Commission; Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e Geofisica Sperimentale – OGS (IT); Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (IT); Plymouth Marine Laboratory (UK); University of Plymouth (UK); Stichting Deltares (NL); Universiteit Utrecht (NL); Universite de Liege (BE); University of the Aegean (GR); National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (GR); University of Crete (GR); The Cyprus Research and Educational Foundation (CY); University of Cyprus (CY); Nacionalni Institut za Biologijo (SI); Institute of Oceanography and Fishery (HR); Israel Oceanography and Limnological Research Limited (IL); University of Haifa (IL); Black Sea NGO Network (BG); Sofiiski Universitet Sveti Kliment Ohridski (BG); Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BG); Institute of Oceanology – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BG); National Institute for Marine Research and Development ‘Grigore Antipa’ (RO); Istanbul University (TR); A.O. Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas (UA); Iv.Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (GE); Institut National de Recherche Halieutique (MA); CLU srl (IT); Ecologic Institut gemeinnützige GmbH (DE); Sarost SA (TN).

Source of funding

EC Seventh Framework Programme (FP7)