EUROCEAN 2004 is going to be a major European conference on marine sciences and technology due to attract in the range of 500 participants. Previous EUROCEAN conferences were held in Brussels (1994), Sorrento (1996), Lisbon (1998), and Hamburg (2000). EUROCEAN 2004 will be jointly organized by the European Commission and the Irish Presidency of the European Union and will be an official event of the Irish Presidency. EUROCEAN 2004 is intended to be a marine science policy conference providing a forum for policy makers and strategic planners to interface with the marine research community and marine stakeholders. The conference will also be to review the progress made in the domain of marine science and technology to building the European Research Area and to identify ways to achieve further integration in Europe.

• The following sessions will take place at EUROCEAN 2004:

• The role of ecosystem and biodiversity research in conservation of natural reserves and marine resources

• Forecasting and transport research in support of the security of the maritime environment

• FP6-ERA and the European Marine Research Area

• Natural and anthropogenic impacts on coastal ecosystems

• Exploration of the European ocean margin and deep-sea resources and ecosystem

• The contribution of the young generations to the future of the European Marine Research Area

The sessions will in general last half a day and will be organized around presentations from high-level invited speakers. The sessions will also be the occasion for a debate with the marine research community.

The conference will also be an opportunity for presenting community projects to a broad audience. All FP5 and FP6 project co-ordinators are requested to submit an abstract and an electronic poster to be shown at the conference The abstracts of the projects will be published in the conference proceedings. The electronic posters will be shown as a slide show on four stands of the conference (Marine biodiversity/conservation stand, Operational forecasting stand, Coastal research stand, and Ocean margin stand). Further information can be found at the web site of the conference: www.eurocean2004.com.

The participants to the conference are kindly requested to fill out the pre-registration form at the website of the conference. On-line registration will become available at this website in March.