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Strengthening Ecosystem-based Assessment and Monitoring for Protected Habitats in Offshore areas and Newly Identified MPAs

Project description

New digital tools to improve offshore marine monitoring

Far from shore, Europe’s marine ecosystems face mounting threats. Unfortunately, the tools that can monitor and protect them are limited, relying heavily on expensive, sporadic ship-based surveys. This leaves vast offshore zones largely unguarded. In this context, the EU-funded SEAMPHONI project is combining environmental DNA, acoustics and imaging to create a shared, open-access digital monitoring system. The aim is to create an intelligent marine digital twin to enable faster, more accurate biodiversity assessments and inform conservation decisions. SEAMPHONI also tackles fragmented marine governance and supports the enforcement of protected zones. By blending science with art, it aims to reconnect people with these remote ecosystems – and help turn the tide on ocean neglect.

Objective

"SEAMPHONI is dedicated to bringing visibility and safeguarding the vast and largely unprotected offshore marine areas. Current approaches to offshore biodiversity mapping are highly dependent on research vessels and are therefore costly and do not allow for continuous monitoring. SEAMPHONI is structured to promote the testing, coupling, and validation of three innovative monitoring solutions (environmental DNA (eDNA), acoustics, and imaging) and to build a shared observing system for scientists, decision-makers, MPA managers, and citizens in the form of an Intelligent Marine Digital Twin interoperable with the European Digital Twin Ocean. By leveraging and adapting these cutting-edge tools for offshore areas, SEAMPHONI will provide significant advancement towards a broader, more accurate mapping of European seas with baselines for understudied areas; faster, more continuous biodiversity monitoring; and more accurate, predictive, and sustainable models. This will help identify and prioritize areas to be protected and improve evidence-based assessments of i) the health of marine ecosystems and ii) the effects of various levels of protection and restoration measures on their functioning and services. SEAMPHONI will also tackle the complexity of the regulatory framework governing marine conservation and the fragmentation of rights within these zones, by evaluating limitations and underlining the need for clearer frameworks and improved coordination. The project will support the enforcement of Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas (PSSAs), and advance the 2030 GBF targets. Finally, SEAMPHONI will address the “emotional disconnect between society and aquatic ecosystems” (EC report, 2021) especially in offshore areas where the principle of ""out of sight, out of mind"" is most pronounced. Confronted with the challenges of engaging citizens in remote offshore areas, where traditional citizen science approaches are impractical, SEAMPHONI has embraced an artistic strategy."

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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HORIZON-IA - HORIZON Innovation Actions

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) HORIZON-MISS-2024-OCEAN-01

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Coordinator

UNIVERSITAT POLITECNICA DE CATALUNYA
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 018 500,00
Address
CALLE JORDI GIRONA 31
08034 Barcelona
Spain

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Region
Este Cataluña Barcelona
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 018 500,00

Participants (23)

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