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COCONET PRESS RELEASE

JANUARY 2013

FIRST COCONET GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Over 100 experts gathered to evaluate the activities of the first year of CoCoNet at the General Assembly held at CNR Sede Centrale, Rome on 29-30 January 2013. The in-depth discussion was made by the Black Sea and Mediterranean experts to achieve the ultimate goal of CoCoNet, the scientific and managerial connectivity of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). The first year was spent mostly to establish the scientific base of the project and to build a collaborative network of researchers in the region, north and south, east and west, through a number of workshops and meetings. These scientific bases will be tried upon for the pilot projects in the Adriatic Sea and the Western Black Sea during the coming two years. Therefore, both Adriatic and Black Sea pilot project teams exchanged information for their surveys for habitat mapping and genetic studies which will take place this summer.

DISCOVERIES IN THE ADRIATIC SEA

In the Adriatic Sea, a deep sea study with ROV (remotely operated underwater vehicle) started during the research cruise on an Italian research vessel Urania. As a pilot project of CoCoNet, experts from Albania, Croatia, Italy, Monaco and Montenegro joined this survey in November 2012. They found assemblages of white corals in the depth of 400-500m for the first time off the coast of Montenegro. Research was made also in Boka Kotorska Bay on a specific habitat "vrulje". Another important finding was chimneys in the deep sea canyons for the first time in the Adriatic Sea.

These discoveries are important in terms of site selection of MPAs in the Adriatic Sea.

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COCONET PRESS RELEASE

2012

The CoCoNET Project (Coast to Coast NETworks of Marine Protected Areas Coupled with Sea-ased Wind Energy Potential) which aims to increase the number of Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in the Mediterranean and Black Sea and to display the potential of the off-shore wind farm in these seas started with the kick-off meeting in Rome on 27-28 February 2012.

A four-year-project CoCoNET is the second biggest marine research project of EU under the 7th Framework Programme with a budget of € 9 million. The project includes 22 countries and involves more than 400 researchers from 39 institutions, covering a vast array of subjects, developing a timely holistic approach and integrating the Mediterranean and Black Seas scientific communities through intense collective activities with stakeholders and the public at large.

Dr. Ferdinando Boero (Project Leader) stated: There are two ideas behind this CoCoNET Project. The first is to develop a network of Marine Protected Areas, which are closed areas where you can protect marine areas and better manage activities instead of having smaller Marine Protected Areas. The idea is to have a network of different protected areas to link them together to be more efficient. The second idea is to combine the project with wind energy as finding renewable energy sources is one of the main challeges of modern societies.

Some of the highlights of CoCoNet activities are as follows.

CoCoNet website was launched in March 2012 (www.coconet-fp7.eu), which features the details of the project, participants, various meetings and workshops. A poster and a brochure were produced to explain the project, mainly its concept and purpose. They were traslated into local languages to be shared by wider range of people in each coutry.

During the first year of the project, several workshops and one summer school were organized.

There are two pilot projects in CoCoNet; one in the Adriatic Sea and the other in the western Black Sea. To harmonize all activities to be realized in the second and third year of CoCoNet, a joint meeting for pilot projects was held in Istanbul, July 2012.

As a desemmination activity, CoCoNet representatives participated to celebrate the Interational Black Sea Day on 31 October 2012 in Batumi, Gerogia.

MedPAN (Network of Marine Protected Area Managers in the Mediterranean) has a strong tie with CoCoNet. It shares the idea of establishing networks of Marine Protected Areas (MPA's) in the whole Mediterranean Sea. In that scope, some of CoCoNet partners participated MedPAN Forum 2012 held in Antalya, Turkey, 25-28 November 2012. Antalya Declaration was made towards a comprehensive, ecologically representative, effectively connected and efficiently managed network of Mediterranean MPA's by 2020.

CoCoNet will continue evolving at full speed, with many activities in the second year, 2013, including two pilot projects.

For more information, please visit CoCoNet website www.coconet-fp7.eu.

December, 2012

Virtual Workshop on Multi Scale Basin-wide Circulations

One of the important CoCoNet workshops on "Multi scale basin-wide circulations" was organized by Antonio Felice Petrillo (CoNISMa) and took place between 26 November and 4 December, 2012. It was attended by 37 researchers from 18 institutions in 9 countries. During this virtual workshop, it was aimed to collect and discuss existing knowledge on multi scale basin-wide circulations in Mediterranean and Black Sea, to collect the workshop participants information on mathematical models of circulation and diffusion of the various parameters on their calibration and their performance, to define the mathematical models best suited to achieve the objectives of the CoCoNet Project. The workshop was organized as four sessions, such as Ocean Circulation Models (OCM), Coupled Transport-Ecological Model (CTEM) - Modelling impacts of climate change and climate variability on ocean circulation and ocean ecological properties. Most suitable models on hydrodynamic and environmental dynamics with respect to present and potential distribution of MPAs were discussed. Data analyses (including long time series of ocean data and satellite remote sensing derived information) of the most important parameters are to be considered in CoCoNet Project.

A wide range of case studies were shared among the participants, focusing such as analysed objectives, domain examined, spatial and temporal resolution; available/required knowledge; parameterization; computational requirement; computation time; input and output data; model calibration by field data.

The state of the know-how on the circulation of the main physical, chemical, biological and geological parameters in the Mediterranean and Black Sea by the expertises of all participants, and a preliminary selection of software on hydrodynamic and environmental dynamics to be used in CoCoNet were discussed.

CoCoNet General Assembly

CoCoNet will celebrate the completion of its first year in January 2013. General Assembly will be held in Rome on 29-30 January 2013. From the beginning of the project up to today, all works will be evaluated to improve the future activities to achieve better results. While the results of CoCoNet Project will be essential to reach the Aichi target by 2020, all Black and Mediterranean Sea scientists, stakeholders and managers should devote themselves to reach this target. The general assembly will be an important step towards our common goal by exchanging opinions and experiences in the first year as well as by motivating participants of the project.

November, 2012

AN IMPORTANT ROAD MAP FOR MARINE PROTECTED AREAS HAS BEEN DRAWN IN ANTALYA-TURKEY AT MedPAN FORUM

MedPAN has a strong tie with CoCoNET. It shares the idea of establishing networks of Marine Protected Areas (MPA's) in the whole Mediterranean Sea. MedPAN Forum 2012 was held in Antalya, Turkey, 25-28 November 2012. Over 300 scientists, managers, stakeholders from 20 countries joined the forum, including CoCoNET partners, and elaborated Antalya Declaration together towards a comprehensive, ecologically representative, effectively connected and efficiently managed network of Mediterranean MPA's by 2020. Dr. Ferdinando Boero, the leader of CoCoNET, explained about CoCoNET at the forum.

The forum hosted principally by the Turkish Government, with the support of international organizations, such as IUCN, RAC/SPA, UNDP-GEF. Improving the MPA network in the Mediterranean will help its riparian countries in achieving the Aichi Targets set under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and in fulfilling their obligations towards the Barcelona Convention, ACCOBAMS, GFCM and Ramsar Convention. In that sense, the commitments made on a regional basis by fulfilling their obligations towards Mediterranean countries provide a solid system for establishing a network MPA's in Mediterranean. Besides, stronger political commitment, more effort on a national level as well as greater cooperation, coordination and mutual assistance on a Mediterranean level is needed. It is already known that the existing Mediterranean network of MPA's is still suffering significant weakness. This is not based only on an ecological representativeness and connectivity, lack of effective management and sustainable financing as well as effective coordination among stakeholders.

Antalya Declaration was drafted as a vision to achieve by 2020 a connected, ecologically representative, effectively managed and monitored network of MPA's which ensures the long term conservation of the key components of the marine biodiversity and gives solid support to the sustainable development of the region. Four strategic objectives have been set to achieve the 2020 targets are as follows.

a) Establish an ecological network of MPA's which is representative and connected;

b) Achieve an effective, efficient and sustainable management and governance in Mediterranean MPA's;

c) Develop territorial and sectorial integrated governance of Mediterranean MPA's while promoting the sharing of environmental and socio-economical benefits; and

d) Increase the allocation of financial resources to establish and maintain an ecological network of effectively managed MPA's.

VIRTUAL FOCUSED WORKSHOP BEST PRACTICES FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF MPAs NETWORK MONITORING AND MANAGEMENT EFFECTIVENESS

Virtual Focused Workshop on Best Practices for the Management of MPAs Network Monitoring and Management Effectiveness took place from 5 to 16 November, 2012. It was organized by Paul Goriup and Melanie Gammon (NatureBureau) and 36 researchers from 18 institutions took part in the workshop.

The aims of this workshop were (i) to review and subsequently agree on the procedures for gathering and sharing MPA management data in the Mediterranean and Black Seas; and (ii) to review international best practice management guidelines, with a view to identifying the methods that can be used to analyze current management systems (including indicator based monitoring) for sites and networks of sites.

The workshop focused on the key components for management and/or monitoring marine protected areas, methodologies can be used to assess the effectiveness of current management systems, information required to produce guidance documents for management and monitoring of networks of MPAs and best practices for managing and monitoring marine protected areas, especially as networks. A wide range of case studies were shared among the participants, ranging from Malta and UK to the Philippines and Canada.

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October, 2012

Connecting To Design Better MPA Networks

The workshop on "Species distribution, beta diversity and connectivity" was held in Castiglioncello (Livorno, Italy) between the 16th and 18th of October 2012.

The main objective of the workshop was to synthesize available information on species distribution, beta diversity, biogeography and connectivity to design better MPA networks.

With the participation of 24 scientists from 9 countries this main objevtive has been discussed from different point of views and very efficient agreements were ensured.

Although the general patterns of species richness and distribution have been synthesized recently for the Mediterranean, it was emphasized that a new contribution on species diversity and connectivity should be based on beta diversity and provide links with potentially important environmental drivers.

A preliminary analysis of data on benthic algae and invertebrates indicated that a 50% decay of similarity in species composition may be expected at the spatial scale of about 600 km for the Mediterranean case study. This figure will be refined with the analysis of additional data to assist decisions on site location and spacing in the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea case studies.

A template for data organization was agreed upon and this will be further refined and circulated among participants for data sharing. It was agreed that the deadline for contributing data for WP3 Task 2 activities is March 31 2013. Policy rules for data sharing and use have been discussed and a general agreement was achieved also.

International Black Sea Action Day

International Black Sea Action Day is celebrated every year on the anniversary of the signing of the original 'Strategic Action Plan on the Protection and Rehabilitation of the Black Sea' in 1996 by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, the Russian Federation, Turkey and Ukraine.

This plan puts forward the commitment of these countries to the rehabilitation and protection of the Black Sea ecosystem and the sustainable development of its natural resources. CoCoNET project has also contributed to the celebration in order to create awareness.

CoConet Project has been presented to the scientific, governmental and non-governmental communities in Batumi, Georgia at the occasion of the day of Black Sea on 31st of October .

The leader of Workpackage Seven, Prof. Bayram Öztürk made a presentation covering the content, the mission and also the targets of the Coconet Project to a large audience. Accordingly, some posters and brochures about activities concerning Black Sea have been distributed to the attending audience.

Besides, National Environmental Agency has been visited by the committee and CoConet posters and brochures have been delivered there as well.

Promotion of CoCoNET by NIMRD

Promotion and dissemination of CoCoNET project has been carried out proactively by NIMRD "Grigore Antipa" through dissemination of fliers and display of the poster at press conference during 27th of October 2012 at a meeting organized by NIMRD "Grigore Antipa", Balkan Environmental Association and the Complex of Natural Sciences of Constanta.

Over 40 fliers were distributed among the participants: Junior Ranger group of MPA 2 Mai – Vama Veche, students and teachers taking part in the traditional celebration of the Black Sea Day, alerting the public.

The activity promoted understanding and dissemination of knowledge about the Black Sea environment and contributed to the introduction of CoCoNET to the wider community with emphasize to Marine Protected Areas, in particular to MPA 2 Mai – Vama Veche.

Promotion of CoCoNET among NGO partners

The NIMRD has disseminated the information about the CoCoNET Project to the Balkan Environmental Association network which is address to the academia, research institutes, local authorities and NGO partners of the Black Sea and Mediterranean region.

The Environmental Committee of the Alexander Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki, Greece will organize the 2nd International Conference on the New Generation of the Green Infrastructure by the 8th and 9th of November 2012.

The main target of this conference is the updating technology of the renewable energy resources and relating Green Infrastructure. The topics of the conference are focused on Green infrastructure construction; sustainable development and green economy and environmental management and protection.

"Towards Future Sustainable Development" conference will take place at the Faculty of Natural Sciences between 16-18 November 2012 in Albania. Also the annual meeting of the Black Sea Commission Advisory Group on Development of Common Methodology for Integrated Coastal Zone Management will be held in the 3-4 December. With this opportunity the promotion and dissemination will be carried out with presentation and leaflets of CoCoNET project the for Advisory Group members of the six Black Sea riparian countries. The presentation will be done by the representative of the Romanian Focal Point on ICZM, Dr. Mariana Golumbeanu.

For further information please visit www.coconet-fp7.eu

September, 2012

The Virtual Workshops Focusing On

The Mediterranean and The Black Sea

Workshop on Socioeconomic impacts of MPA Networks

The virtual focused workshop 'Socioeconomic impacts of MPA Networks in The Mediterranean and the Black Sea', organized by Marta Pascual and Elena Ojea from the Basque Centre of Climate Change, was held on 17-21 September 2012.

The main objective was to understand the existing evidences of socioeconomic impacts of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in both regions. Four sessions were designed for this purpose. The first session focused on the the socioeconomic impacts of MPAs; the second on the methodologies for socioeconomic assessment; the third was about the drivers of change and the fourth session was on the MPA networks and policies.

The objectives of the workshop were to review the evidence of socioeconomic impacts of MPAs and MPA Networks, to share case studies, and to identify the main gaps in knowledge and future improvements in the management of such areas for the Mediterranean and Black Sea.

A total of 90 participants from 12 countries were involved in these sessions, which included CoCoNet researchers, PERSEUS partners and external experts from the institutions in the Mediterranean, Black Sea and other areas, with specific interest in the topic of the virtual workshop.

Sessions were moderated by Paco Melià and Marisa Rosetto from CONISMA (Italy), Melanie Gammon from NBC and Nataliya Milchakova from IBSS. A panel of 10 external advisors has been consulted from international organizations such as UNEP, Conservation International, CIESM, the World Resources Institute, MEDPAN, and Boston University.

As a result, a significant exchange of materials and guidelines on the topics was realized online and the main gaps and future research directions in the field were agreed. The socioeconomic impacts of MPAs were discussed and the group decided to update the existing experience with a review for the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Evidences of socioeconomic impacts of MPAs were gathered for the regions of interest, with special focus on the isolation and the geopolitical context of the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. Case studies were exchanged and reviewed, with the aim of providing new evidences on the performance and methodologies of socioeconomic analysis.

The main drivers for changes in the MPAs were identified with a special emphasis on the potential marine wind energy as a major player interacting with marine protection. Finally, the potential and limitations of MPAs networks were examined. A final report will be produced with the inputs from the advisory board

Workshop on Seabed Mapping

The virtual focused workshop on Seabed Mapping, led by D. Sakellariou (Hellenic Center for Marine Research), took place between 3 - 7 September 2012 in the frame of CoCoNet WP 8. The main scope of the workshop was to exchange experience and ideas on seabed mapping methods & techniques.

The workshop was attended by 22 participants from Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Turkey and Ukraine, predominantly marine geologists, biologists, oceanographers GIS-experts, environmental scientists with experience in the use of seabed survey techniques (swath bathymetry, side scan sonar, sub-bottom profiling, etc) as a tool for habitat mapping.

This final outcome of the workshop includes comprehensive description of the various remote sensing, geophysical techniques, most commonly used for seabed mapping, best practices for the use of seabed mapping techniques and metadata maps of seabed surveyed areas in the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Seas.

August, 2012

CoCoNET Project is focusing on the European Union protocols for data sharing

The virtual workshop on existing EU protocols and standards for data and metadata sharing, rules for dataflow between partners and design of COCONET Data Model led by Federica Foglini and Devrim Tezcan took place between 23-30 July 2012, and was attended by 25 participants from 11 countries.

Four experts in Spatial Data Infrastructure implementation, INSPIRE Directive and Metadata Standards joined the discussions: Paola Carrara and Alessandro Oggioni (CNR-IREA), Alessandro Sarretta (CNR-ISMAR and JRC) and Peter Thijsse (data manager at MARIS (Maritime Information Systems AS expert in Metadata implementation and development) Seadatanet representative).

This workshop represents the first fundamental step of the "Data Management and synthesis" to provide a valuable common framework for data management.

The aim of the workshop was to reach an agreement of the entire consortium involved at different levels concerning the EU metadata standards and protocols, the metadata editing tools, the architecture of the Geodatabase and the data flow schema.

Monitoring Marine Invasive Species

"Molecular tools for monitoring marine invasive species in European seas" will be held in September 12-14th 2012, in Lecce, Italy.

This workshop is organized within the 2011-2014 European Community project VECTORS ("Vectors of Change in Oceans and Seas- marine Life, Impact on Economic Sectors") and under the endorsements of two new EC projects (2012-2015): PERSEUS ("Policy-orientated marine Environmental Research for the Southern European Seas")  and CoCoNET ("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)

The workshop is intended to extend the use of molecular tools by European research groups engaged in monitoring changes in the marine environment as a result of the novel success of invasive alien species or of the spread of native species with increasing competitive performance and outbreak potentials.

The aim of the workshop will be to gather world-wide renowned experts to jointly review scientific issues, existing methods, technical difficulties associated with development of sophisticated tools, and to consider the usefulness of DNA-based technologies for variousapplications relevant to invasive species monitoring

Expected outcomes of the meeting include formulation of recommendations and guidelines for marine organisms and the promotion of a samples bank for research and future reference by the research community. The meeting will also offer an opportunity for discussing future collaborations between groups and submission of joint research proposals.

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July, 2012

"Habitats Are More Important than the Species"

The first joint meeting for CoCoNet Pilot Projects was held in Istanbul, 16-17 July 2012.

The details of the PPs (Pilot Projects) in the Mediterranean and Black Seas were discussed with the partners of the PPs as well as WP leaders.

The first pilot project meeting of CoCoNET Project was held in Istanbul on the 16th and 17th of July at the University of Istanbul.

The first day started with the work package leaders presentations on CoCoNET. On the second day of the meeting the discussion meetings took place. There were 3 working groups, one for the Black Sea Pilot Project, another for the Adriatic Sea Pilot Project, and the other for the deep water.

On the first day, Simonetta Fraschetti made a presentation "Pattern of distribution of species and habitats in the pilot area: known and unknown" and Antoni Garia-Rubies's presentation was about "Threats and potential environmental changes in Pilot Areas.

One of the most important roles of the CoCoNET project is the offshore wind farm (OWF). Accordingly, OWF was another important issue at this meeting. The work package leader Takvor Tsoukissian mentioned in his presentation that in one year time, they will be able to speak more specifically about the site selection. He also explained the criteria for site selection, such as wind speed statistics, local wave climate, bathymetry, distance from shore and infrastructure on land, bottom morphology and sediments, assessment of physical constraints and infrastructures, marine and aerial traffic, marine use considerations and environmental impact of construction and relevant operations

The leader of Work Package 9 (Data Management and Synthesis), Frederica Foglini, had focused on the geomorphology of the south Adriatic Sea. On the other hand Marco Taviani had made a presentation on the deep sea ecosystem in the South Adriatic Sea and also coast to coast transport pathways in the Southern Adriatic Sea from drifter data.

Black Sea and Adriatic Sea Pilot Projects are among the main purpose of CoCoNET.

Mediterranean Sea Pilot Project and Black Sea Pilot Project will run in parallel and will be integrated with each other with the aim to prioritize several sites to assess whether abiotic and biotic factors, their relationships, and ongoing natural and human driven processes justify their inclusion in anecological network of MPAs, also analysing their potential interconnectivity.

The coordinator of the CoCoNET project Dr. Ferdinando Boero specified that this project will ensure a network between the Mediterranean countries. Dr. Boero underlies the importance of the awareness.

"Until now the protection is targeted to the Marine Protected Areas and outside there is nothing. We end up protecting very small portion of the seas and we leave the rest to over- exploitation. The network concept means to extend at least some principles of the MPAs to the whole sea. We need to increase the awareness of protecting the environment as a value and as a wise thing to do"

According to Dr. Boero, the main target of the protection should not be the species but the habitat. He quoted, "The species cannot live without its habitats. So if we protect the habitat we protect also the species. Another important result of this is the shift from the species to the habitat perception. Habitats are more important than the species."

To create MPA's in the Black Sea is one of the other important missions of CoCoNET . During his speech Dr. Boero mentioned on this issue as well.

" The first thing we should do is to specify the appropriate fields in order to create MPA's and push the governments to take action. The laws have to be implemented by politicians. The scientist can give advice and see if the advice is heard by the politicians. In the Mediterranean the MPA's have been built individually without taking consideration of the concept of networks. Now we are trying to build the network on a series of MPA's that have been implemented without thinking about a network. We have to do it a posteriori."

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13.07.2012

Scientists Are Searching for the Genetical Codes of the

Mediterranean and Black Sea

The CoCoNET Project (Coast to Coast NETworks) which aims to increase the number of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Mediterranean and Black Sea is proceeding with workshops to identify the physical and biological connections between the two seas.

Executive Summary of the workshop on "Synthesis on knowledge on genetic connectivity in Mediterranean and Black Sea" held on 11th-13th June 2012 at Institud d'Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, Spain.

Genetic connectivity has been studied in different species along the area, with different markers and at various geographical scales. However, the information gained through those studies has not been integrated and related to the features of connectivity identified by modeling efforts as essential to resilience.

The Workshop aimed in the first place, to identify the existing network of connectivity using similar approaches in both the Mediterranean and Black Sea. For that purpose, the existing knowledge concerning genetic connectivity and biodiversity distribution was combined with new coordinated investigations using the concerted protocols in the Mediterranean and Black Sea.

Another important goal of the workshop was to assess the current effectiveness of the present MPA network, and then, to provide useful hints for the improvement of MPA networks in the Mediterranean and Black Sea for more effective conservation.

In that context, the identification of areas and taxon groups lacking genetic studies, but fundamental to assess connectivity in the study region, has been overviewed during the workshop.

For more information about the project you may visit the web site: www.coconet-fp7.eu

Coconet Project  continues to call for action for the future of  the Mediterranean and Black Seas

The CoCoNET Project, (Coast to Coast NETworks), which involves more than 400 researchers from 39 institutions, kicked off on Feb. 27 in Rome. After the kick off meeting, representatives of the program gather in Istanbul on May 7 and briefed the press members about the project.

The press meeting hosted by Dr. Ferdinando Boero, coordinator of the project and coordinator for the National Research Council of Italy and Dr. Bayram Öztürk, work package 7 leader, a professor of marine sciences at Istanbul University and chair of the Turkish Marine Research Foundation (TUDAV).

Dr.Boero had explained the importance of the Mediterranean to the press members and also gave details about the CoCoNET project.

Next important step: Monitoring marine invasive species

Under the CoCoNET Project, a very important workshop on monitoring the European seas will be held in September 12-14th in Lecce, Italy.

"Molecular tools for monitoring marine invasive species in European seas" is organized within the 2011-2014 European Community project VECTORS ("Vectors of Change in Oceans and Seas- marine Life, Impact on Economic Sectors") (http://www.marine-vectors.eu), and under the endorsements of two new EC projects (2012-2015): PERSEUS ("Policy-orientated marine Environmental Research for the Southern European Seas") (http://www.perseus-net.eu) and CoCoNET ("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) (http://www.coconet-fp7.eu).

The workshop is intended to extend the use of molecular tools by European research groups engaged in monitoring changes in the marine environment as a result of the novel success of invasive alien species or of the spread of native species with increasing competitive performance and outbreak potentials.

Expected outcomes of the meeting include formulation of recommendations and guidelines for marine organisms and the promotion of a samples bank for research and future reference by the research community.

http://www.coconet-fp7.eu/index.php/announcements/129-oceans-of-tomorrow

Meeting in Istanbul

The first joint meeting for CoCoNet Pilot Projects will be held in Istanbul, 16-17 July 2012. The details of the PPs in the Mediterranean and Black Seas will be discussed inviting all participants involved in the PPs as well as WP leaders.

Summer Course in University of Perpignan

This summer a very important topic for those who are interested in will be discussed in the University of Perpignan, France in June 25th- July 1st

Meta-analysis is the quantitative synthesis and analysis of a collection of independent studies. It provides a more objective and powerful way of summarising evidence across studies than descriptive reviews. The importance and utility of this quantitative method for answering new questions and synthesizing existing results in different fields of scientific research is demonstrated by the dramatic increase in the number of studies using meta-analysis in the last ten years.

The course will provide the basics of meta-analysis. The emphasis of the course is both on the conceptual understanding and practical use of this method, as applied to ecological questions. It will consist of lectures, discussions, and practical exercises.

Workshop in Barcelona

Workshop on synthesis on knowledge on genetic connectivity in mediterranean and black sea is held in Barcelona at the 11th and 13th of June. The aim of this workshop was to identify the existing network of connectivity in the mediterranean and black sea to assess the current effectiveness of the present network of MPAs for favouring conservation.

With this workshop the development of the most appropriate framework for genetic data storage for mapping and analysis of connectivity has been realised by the participants.

CoConet Project cares most about nature than anything else

"Nature is more important than economics. Humans are part of nature and tend to forget this"

The CoCoNET Project, (Coast to Coast NETworks), which involves more than 400 researchers from 39 institutions, kicked off on Feb. 27 in Rome. After the kick off meeting, representatives of the program gather in İstanbul on May 7 and briefed the press members about the project.

The press meeting hosted by Dr. Ferdinando Boero, coordinator of the project and coordinator for the National Research Council of Italy and Dr. Bayram Öztürk, work package 7 leader, a professor of marine sciences at İstanbul University and chair of the Turkish Marine Research Foundation (TUDAV).

The CoCoNET Project happens to be the second biggest marine research project of the EU under the seventh Framework Program after the Perseus Project, which concentrates on maritime border control.

Dr.Boero had explained the importance of the Mediterenean to the press members and also gave details about the CoCoNET project.

Dr.Boero; "Tourism is a very big economic industry in Southern Europe. If we destroy nature, we destroy the possibility of having further incomes from high level tourism. So its is our interest to have healthy nature to live in. This project is also aiming a having a development of the culture of the people to live in this beautiful habitat. In a survey in Turkey shows us that %1.8 of the population declared the big cared about the quality of the environment. It's a big problem. Because the threats to the integrity of the environment are almost human driven. So we are the threats. Our culture is the best medicine to these threats. If we don't perceive the values of nature we will destroy nature. We will destroy ourselves too"

One other most important part of the project is to build Offshore Wind Farms.

Dr.Boero asserted; "Another leg of this project is sea based wind energy potential. So you have seen that many countries like in Japan, where there was a big development of nuclear power plants now they are abandoning because it's unsafe. We have to find other ways of producing energy. Offshore wind farms are one the clean ways to produce clear energy. From one side we want to protect the environment but don't want to go back Middle Ages. So we need energy we have to find ways energy in a clean way. And Offshore Wind Farms (OWF) might be a way. In Northern Europe this has been done extensively there are no offshore wind farms in the southern European seas. So this project will explore the possibility of having these installments in our seas. On land in many countries there is a strong opposition because of the landscape. So having them offshore, far away from the coast they can not be seen. Maybe is a solution to this problem. We will have to look these things. "

It is also stated that the project involves different countries together under one single mission and it is the future sake of the seas. That's why it's important for single countries to enforce protection policies if there is not in accordance among the various states.

Dr Boero also asserted that humans are underestimating the nature because of their economic needs.

"The most important things are related to the economics. The laws of economics are always invoked to tell us how we have to behave. There is a very simple question. 'If the laws of economics are in contrast with the laws of nature, which one is going to prevail?' Of course, the laws of nature! We have to give a lot of importance to economics but nature is more important than economics. Economics is inside the nature can not be outside the nature. Humans are part of nature and we tend to forget this. "

Dr. Bayram Ozturk also briefed the press members about the importance of the project. "We want to build marine protected areas in Turkey. We want to build shelters in order to protect the die out species and we will prevent illegal fishing. We are aiming to ban some areas to fishing so that fry fishes can survive."

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 26.04.2012

Scientists work hard for Mediterranean and Black Sea

The CoCoNET Project (Towards COast to COast NETworks of marine protected areas coupled with sea-based wind energy potential) which aims to increase the number of Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in Mediterranean and Black Sea is proceeding with workshops that aim to identify the physical and biological connections between the two seas. For more information about the project you may visit the web site: www.coconet-fp7.eu

Genetic connectivity in Mediterranean and Black Sea

Workshop on synthesis on knowledge on genetic connectivity in Mediterranean and Black Sea is going to be held in Barcelona at the 11th and 13th of June.

Genetic connectivity has been studied in different species along the area, with different markers and at various geographical scales. However, the information gained through those studies has not been integrated and related to the features of connectivity identified by modeling efforts as essential to resilience.

The workshop will analyse genetic connectivity in Mediterranean and Black seas and also will focus on the link between life history interacting with dispersal, oceanography and modeling. The definition of propagules and dispersal, the construction of a genetic database for further modelling and integration with habitat mapping and environmental change and the definition of the work plan regarding genetic analysis both local and regional scales in the Mediterranean and Black seas are the main objectives of the workshop.

The main outcome of this workshop is expected to be the development of the most appropriate framework for genetic data storage for mapping and analysis of connectivity between the two seas.

Habitat Classification Schemes in Deep and Shallow Water Areas

The other workshop will be focusing on the habitat classification schemes in deep and shallow water areas. It will be held in Lecce at the 15th and 16th of May.

The core of this workshop is to integrate and combine the already existent information about habitat distribution and extent with a detailed assessment of pattern of distribution of human pressures.

Key concepts and considerations in designing marine habitat classifications have been developed by many authors who focused on the definition of habitat, the measurable features used to describe it, the scale and the hierarchical framework to be used. However, conclusive results and shared classifications have not been identified yet. These limitations impede interpretation and integration of maps both for science and management, particularly at regional (international) scales.

The aim of the workshop will be to compare and revise the recent efforts about the definition of habitat, the habitat inventories and the classification schemes available for the Mediterranean Sea and for extra Mediterranean area, the link between geomorphology and biology and the use of surrogates in seascape mapping, the scales used to analyse habitat distribution and extent and legend labels and symbols to represent habitats.

GIS Techinal Meeting in Lecce

CoCoNET project also gathers a meeting in Lecce by the 17th of May to set up design rules for data sharing and geodatabase architecture which called GIS meeting.

This meeting will be a preparatory action by reviewing the existing European protocols and standards for data and metadata sharing and definition of data flow rules between partners.

The aim of the GIS Technical meeting is to create a GIS group to support COCONET community for the production and submission of GIS data during the lifespan of the project.

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CoCoNET Press Release 1(1)

Istanbul, 26.03.2012

22 Countries 39 Institutions and more than 400 scientists get together for the future of European Seas

The EU dedicated €9 million to multidisciplinary research to set up guidelines for "Marine Protected Areas" in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea

The CoCoNET Project, (Coast to Coast NETworks) which aims to increase the number of Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in Mediterranean and Black Sea and to display the potential of the Off-Shore Wind Farm in these seas started with the kick-off meeting on 27-28 February in Rome. CoCoNET, which is going to last for 4 years, is the second biggest marine research project of EU under the 7th Framework Programme with a budget of € 9 million after the Perseus Project.

CoCoNET will identify groups of interconnected MPA's in the Mediterranean and Black Seas shifting from local to regional and basin scales. The identification of physical and biological connections will clarify the processes that govern patterns of biodiversity distribution. This will enhance policies of effective environmental management, thereby ascertaining if the existing MPAs are sufficient for ecological networking and suggesting how to design further protection schemes, based on effective exchange between protected areas.

The project includes 22 countries and involves more than 400 researchers from 39 institutions covering a vast array of subjects developing a timely holistic approach and integrating the Mediterranean and Black Seas scientific communities through intense collective activities with stakeholders and the public at large.

The project will produce the guidelines to design, manage and monitor networks of MPAs and an enriched wind atlas for both Mediterranean and the Black Seas.

CoCoNET has 11 Work Packages including habitat mapping, state of knowledge, data integration and scenarios of protection, scenarios of environmental change (natural and human induced), socio-economic issues legislation, and Off-Shore Wind Farms (OWF).

Today Europe derives 20 % of electricity from Renewable Energy Sources (RES). According to the Renewable Energy Directive, 34% of EU's total electricity consumption will come from RES in 2020. But the European Environmental Agency's projection shows that in order to reach this target off-shore wind energy capacity should be increased 17-fold until 2020. Consequently, OWF is one the most important segments of CoCoNET.

Jacques Fuchs (Head of Sector, European Commission RTD E4) explain:

There are two ideas behind this CoCoNET Project. The first is to develop a network of Marine Protected Areas, which are closed areas where you can protect marine areas and better manage activity instead of having smaller Marine Protected Areas. The idea is to have a network of different protected areas to link them together to be more efficient. The second idea is to combine the project with wind energy. We are developing a plan for generating energy from the sea. We should also make sure that we develop this Project not only for the northern coast of the Mediterranean but also for the southern Mediterranean countries like Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco.

Dr. Ferdinando Boero (Project Leader, Coordinator for the National Research Council of Italy) stated:

This is a unifying concept throughout these countries when we speak about seas, environment and ecology. It is the same in Turkey, in Israel and in Italy. There are no barriers, we speak about the same things without prejudice; and for this reason I think this is a very good practice. We will create a force of scientists who will work for the society and for allowing the decision makers to have solid scientific evidence on which they will base their choices in the future. The goal is to inform the decision makers of what's best for our seas.

Dr. Takvor Soukissian (Hellenic Center for Marine Research) stated:

We want to estimate the spatial distribution of the available off-shore wind power potential over the Mediterranean and Black Seas under current and future climate conditions. Along with that, during the same procedure hot-spots for potential OWF development will be identified. The second aim is to provide knowledge of existing and in-progress technology of off-shore wind farm elements and off-shore wind turbines and finally we want to develop the smart wind chart for the entire Mediterranean and Black Seas.

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