Within the Wier en Wind project, a consortium of Belgian and Dutch partners is striving to set up the largest and furthest offshore seaweed farm in the world. The farm will be built on land as of September, after which it will be installed between the wind turbines of the Norther Wind Farm in October.
The Environment Department of the Government of Flanders, together with the team of Vlaamse Bouwmeester and various government agencies, has brought together the various climate and environmental factors that play a role at the coast in a handy guide. The booklet makes a plea not to take a fragmentary approach to the climate challenges on our coast, but to continue to look for solutions in an integrated way.
The SUMES project (September 2020-August 2023) aims to develop a model to assess the impact of man-induced changes on the ecosystem, its structure (e.g. biodiversity) and function (e.g. food chains, biogeochemistry), its capacity to deliver goods and services to marine ecosystems (e.g. carbon sequestration) and the resulting impacts. The aim is to use this insight to explore how economic activities at sea can be made more sustainable, also a framework will be developed to support the decision-making process.
The amount of plastic in rivers and the ocean is increasing all the time. Within the frame of the PLUXIN project, Flemish scientists, entrepreneurs and The Blue Cluster are joining forces to map the plastics transported to the sea via ports and rivers, using innovative and automatic detection methods. The ultimate goal is to provide solutions and to set up pioneering commercial initiatives in Flanders in the plastic sanitation of water and sediments.
A first analysis shows that the corona-related lockdown (18 March to 3 May 2020) reduced direct expenditure by Belgian recreational sea fishers by almost 0.6 million euros. The average general well-being experienced a slight decrease while the (temporary) unemployment among the active part of this community increased from 6 to 32%. The loss in catch volume amounted to almost 18 tonnes, with the largest decline for cod, whiting and dab.
Within the BlueBio ERA-Net COFUND funding programme, a call has been launched for pre-proposals aimed at the supply systems in the Blue Bioeconomy. Candidate projects within this call should focus on identifying new and improving existing ways to market natural products and services and finding new ways to create value in the Blue Bioeconomy. Submitting pre-proposal is possible until 14 September 2020.
The marine environment offers a wide variety of organisms. All of them can contain potentially interesting bioactive compounds. Under the motto “who does not seek, does not find”, the PROBIO project aims to intensively screen a selection of marine organisms from Belgian waters for potentially interesting bioactive molecules. The research consortium aims to provide an essential knowledge base for commercial applications in various sectors.
The recently launched Horizon 2020 project UNITED is investigating how the scarce space at sea can be used by multiple users. For five existing demonstration pilots in three European seas, the technical, regulatory, economic, social and environmental requirements and impacts are being investigated if multiple commercial activities want to develop there together. An interactive webinar on 3 June (12:00-14:00) will introduce you to the project and the pilot sites.
In its eighth Policy Brief, the European Marine Board, together with the EU-funded SOPHIE project (Seas, Oceans and Public Health in Europe), provides an overview of the policy challenges in striving to achieve a balance between ocean and human health, and of the cooperation and research needed to meet these challenges.
Globally, the economic consequences of the current corona crisis are an integral part of daily news reports. Just as the corona crisis is having a major impact on all kinds of land and airborne sectors, it is also having an impact on the 'blue economy', which globally accounts for 2.5 trillion dollars on an annual basis (Hoegh-Guldberg et al. 2015). In Flanders, the Blue Economy accounts for a turnover of 48.36 billion euros and employs 153,805 FTEs (study IDEA consult 2019 commissioned by De Blauwe Cluster).
The ocean plays a key role as a climate regulator and in buffering the effects of climate change. For example, since the industrial revolution, the ocean has absorbed more than 25% of human CO2 emissions and more than 90% of the additional heat generated by the greenhouse effect. Despite the fundamental connection between the climate, the ocean and biodiversity, there are still processes that we do not fully understand.
On Friday 20 November 2020 (afternoon), the Blue Cluster and the Flanders Marine Institute VLIZ will jointly organise the Blue Economy Science Summit of BESS 2020 - the new name for the annual meeting Marine Science meets Maritime Industry. At this event in Ostend, companies and knowledge institutions come up with innovative ideas for collaboration between science and marine/maritime industry.
The Belgian coast is the largest tourist attraction in the country, but how significant is the risk of contamination by SARS-CoV-2 (COVID19) when we go back to the beach this summer? In collaboration with the University of Ghent and the Province of West Flanders, VLIZ has compiled the existing scientific knowledge on the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 in the context of the Flemish beaches. In addition, knowledge gaps were detected that should be addressed in the short term.
De pandemie van het coronavirus heeft een grote invloed op ons leven, vooral wat betreft de toegankelijkheid van de publieke buitenruimtes. In België geldt momenteel een semi-lockdown. We kunnen nog steeds even naar buiten, zolang we de maatregelen opgelegd door de overheid in acht nemen. Maar wat doet dat buitenzijn met ons mentaal welzijn? Bewegen we nu meer of minder dan voorheen? Onderzoekers van het Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee (VLIZ), de Universiteit Gent en Katholieke Universiteit Leuven willen in kaart brengen hoe, waar en hoeveel we de buitenruimtes bezoeken, en hoe deze bezoekjes onze gezondheid en emoties beïnvloeden.
From 15 April to 15 June 2020, the FPS Public Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment is organising a public consultation on 'the draft update of the monitoring programme for Belgian marine waters'. This monitoring programme is part of the Belgian Marine Strategy and serves to assess the environmental status of the Belgian part of the North Sea. This programme must be revised and improved in 2020. Your opinion also counts, because everyone has the right to participate in environmental decisions.
Close to 100 online participants representing policy makers, funders and institutions dealing with marine, maritime and socio-economic issues, together with the scientific community ofthe 13 Baltic and North Sea countries confirmed this week the broad themes of the future Baltic and North Sea Research and Innovation Programme (BANOS).
The health of the seas, ocean and people are inextricably linked. But this link is hardly ever researched or included in policy. This is mainly because the various sectors involved (marine science, medicine and pharmaceuticals, coastal tourism, food industry, education, citizens' initiatives, etc.) do not (yet) find each other there. The usual research and project funding is also not geared to these transdisciplinary collaborations.
The scientific project Coastbusters will receive follow-up funding to further investigate how cleverly constructed mussel beds can help combat coastal erosion and weaken the power of crashing waves. The construction of biogenic reefs as hydraulic engineering in coastal defence is a highly innovative concept. According to the project partners, it is relevant to investigate this further and to find out whether the concept can be added to the arsenal of sustainable techniques to protect our coast against rising sea levels. With the help of its marine robotics and 'smart moorings', VLIZ will monitor the large-scale evolution and small-scale dynamics of the mussel reefs.
Following the North Sea Vision 2050 process and the first working group cycle that took place in 2019, the Think Tank North Sea is ready to start a second cycle. From now on, interested parties will be able to submit relevant themes that the think tank will address. All burning topics concerning the North Sea can be suggested here.
In Ostend, the new Ostend Science Park has been launched, the first and most innovative marine science park in Belgium. The park aims to boost blue growth by offering state-of-the-art research and testing facilities to companies and researchers. Ostend Science Park is an initiative of the Port of Ostend, UGent and POM West Flanders.
