News

On 1 December, the European Marine Board will host its eighth EMB Open Forum. The theme of this edition is "Supporting the Ocean Decade in Europe" and the aim of the forum is to facilitate discussion among stakeholders in the European Ocean Decade, including the scientific community and policy makers. The event can be attended both on-site at BluePoint Brussels and online.

On 6 September 2021, the EU Commissioner for the Environment, Ocean and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevicius, visited Ostend to learn more about a number of local initiatives within the sustainable blue economy in Belgium. Accompanied by Flemish Minister for Economy, Innovation, Work, Social Economy, Agriculture and Fisheries Hilde Crevits, the EU Commissioner stopped at the Ostend Marine Station and visited the citizen science initiative CoastSnap.

The increasing presence of marine litter in the seas and ocean is one of the major societal challenges of our time. Public organisations, policy makers and the business community are all looking for solutions to tackle this urgent problem. Still, incentives for behavioral change and a smart policy remain the most effective measures to prevent litter from entering the environment. Preventing plastic reaching the ocean by intercepting it from inland waterways, or cleaning up plastic litter accumulated in the ocean can also be part of the solution. In a new policy informing brief VLIZ compares different types of plastic catchers. How do they work and how do they differ from each other? Which type works best in which situation? Where are the gaps in knowledge and development? In short: what opportunities do they offer for a plastic free ocean?

The United Nations Blue Climate Initiative has secured 1 million USD for innovative ideas within the context of marine climate mitigation. Entries can be submitted until midnight on 15 September.

The Blue Economy currently accounts for 5% of Flemish GDP. Nice, but it could be much better. How can we realize that? What challenges does that pose? And what does that mean specifically for you? Innovation is one of the most important building blocks of the Blue Economy. A good approach to IP rights – both within a company or knowledge institution and between innovation partners – is therefore an indispensable but often complex building block of the innovation process.

UN delivers the first-ever global assessment report after seven years’ work by 109 experts in 35 countries – including VLIZ support – creating a baseline to detect and gauge the changing distribution, frequency, and intensity of harmful, often poisonous algal blooms. Overexploitation, appears to act as a natural multiplier of HAB effects, leading to an increase in the harm caused in step with growth of the aquaculture industry and marine exploitation and calls for more research on linkages.

Vorige week stelde het Departement Landbouw en Visserij de nieuwste edities voor van het Visserijrapport (VIRA2020) en het Landbouwrapport (LARA2020), die om de twee jaar verschijnen. Naast de traditionele rapporten werd ook een nieuwe cijferwebsite voorgesteld die moet zorgen voor een betere ontsluiting en zichtbaarheid van cijfergegevens over deze twee belangrijke voedingssectoren.

On 18 May, the online symposium 'Environmental effects of offshore wind farms' will present the results of the monitoring programme in the Belgian North Sea, which has been running since 2008, to scientists, industry, managers and decision-makers.

In an online event on 29 March, JPI Oceans will launch its new strategic framework for 2021-25 on pan-European cooperation. In addition to this launch, the event will also feature recent developments in joint actions and projects, and contributions to Horizon Europe, the UN Decade of Ocean Science and other initiatives.