Civil Society

Between 20th – 28th January at Boot Düsseldorf 2024, the German Ocean Foundation, EC DG MARE, EMODnet and the Scuba Schools International (SSI) unveiled the largest Ocean Citizen Science Initiative to-date, which sees divers and wider water sports enthusiasts collecting ocean data using low-cost, high-quality sensors, with in situ data being made available through EMODnet as the EC marine data service. EMODnet Physics is the driving force behind this collaboration on behalf of the EMOD-network.

In January, three ‘Maps of the Week’ were published on the Maritime Forum and the EMODnet website: ‘Seamount and ocean seabed’ in connection to the discovery of a new seamount, ‘Vessel density and sustainable nautical tourism’ in relation to the boot 2024 yacht and watersports show in Düsseldorf (Germany) and ‘Education and Sustainable Development: European Blue Schools Find the Blue!’ referring to the International Day of Education celebrated on 24 January 2024. This allowed to cover three key topics addressed by the Atlas: scientific research, the blue economy and education!

On 26-27 September 2023, EMODnet together with the European Commission, DG MARE, organised an online workshop on ‘’EMODnet Marine Data for Coastal Tourism’’. The main objective of the workshop was to facilitate cross-sectoral dialogue and share experiences from key coastal tourism stakeholders regarding their in situ data needs, existing and emerging uses of EMODnet and wider open source marine environmental and human activities data for coastal tourism operations and applications, and opportunities for private-public data sharing, including optimization of dataflows and EMODnet data ingestion as a public service supporting the European ocean observation and data collection community to enable Findable, Accessible, Reusable and Interoperable (FAIR) data.

The University of Girona used EMODnet datasets in the Horizon EU project Blue-Paths, to develop a dashboard demonstrator with the goal to inform the wider audience in a dynamic manner about the geographic and social, ecological and economic characteristics of the high-potential areas for offshore wind energy in the Spanish sea space.

UNESCO and IUCN have compiled a first-time assessment of the status and trends of species within UNESCO World Heritage sites, revealing specific insights in the species richness of these sites. A number of the marine World Heritage sites are located within European waters, for which EMODnet Biology contributed data.

The European Maritime Day (EMD) 2024 will be a fully-fledged physical event, in Svendborg, Denmark on 30-31 May 2024. Registration will open soon. In the meantime, you can already apply for “EMD In My Country 2024 events” which will also take place all over Europe from 1 April till 31 October 2024. Are you ready to submit your event(s) for 2024? Fill in the online application form before 29 February 2024 and bring European Maritime Day 2024 to your country!

We are thrilled to announce and welcome three new Associated Partners to EMODnet, each bringing unique expertise and a strong commitment to advancing collaboration with EMODnet in the areas of data sharing, best practices in marine data, information technology and data services, and expanding the users of EMODnet, including for the Blue Economy.

Organised for the first time in 2024, European Ocean Days 4-8 March 2024 will be a week of events related to European maritime topics. It will include the EU Mission Ocean and Waters Forum, events on future priorities for Europe’s Seas, BlueInvest bringing together blue innovators and investors as well as ocean literacy activities and more. EMODnet will be there. Will you? Follow the link below for more information and registration.

The European Commission, in collaboration with the European Investment Bank (EIB), is launching the new pilot scheme ‘EU Blue Champions’. It will be supported by the BlueInvest platform. Through this new initiative, the EIB Advisory Services, in collaboration with the EIB Projects Directorate, will provide financial advisory to selected projects in the blue economy.

The “Ecopath 40 years – The Ecosystem Continuum: From knowledge to decisions” conference and workshops will be held in Ostend, Belgium from 3-8 June 2024. The conference will showcase four decades of progress of using the Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) approach in different fields: e.g., fisheries management, marine conservation, ecosystem dynamics, climate impacts, and ecosystem-based management (EBM), as well as introduce new facilities for the approach.

The Open Conference 2023 Closing Session began with a speech by Delilah Al Khudhairy, Director of Maritime Policy and Blue Economy, EC DG MARE, who noted that “EMODnet has been one of the most important investments of DG MARE…We will move forward together” .  A Panel of 7 experts from the EMODnet stakeholder community exchanged on EMODnet’s achievements to-date and looked to the future of EMODnet and its evolution. Kate Larkin, Head of EMODnet Secretariat then presented an EMODnet Call to Action on behalf of the EMODnet Partnership (see article above).

Before the plenary stage opened for the EMODnet Open Conference 2023, the EMODnet community convened for the EMODnet Partner Jamboree 2023—an exclusive gathering of EMODnet partners and Associated Partners. This pre-conference event was attended by > 150 representatives of the EMOD-network and provided a unique setting for in-depth discussions, partner meetings, cross-thematic dialogues, and collaborative endeavors, setting the stage for the subsequent conference. Topics of discussion spanned EMODnet and Citizen Science, EMODnet Communication, EMODnet and the EU Digital Twin Ocean, and EMODnet content evolution, ranging from the coast to the deep sea and from the surface ocean to the seafloor, including ideas for new cross-thematic data products. A Partnership Dinner on 28th November evening included speeches by Kestutis Sadauskas, Deputy Director-General EC DG MARE and Kate Larkin, Head of the EMODnet Secretariat.

To complement the EMODnet Open Conference 2023 on-site meeting and physical exhibition, a Virtual Exhibition was produced by the EMODnet Secretariat and Coordinators. contains many resources and updates on EMODnet thematic and data ingestion services, key partnerships spanning business to ocean observation and from EU to global, EMODnet videos and other communication outputs, the European Atlas of the Seas and community posters solicited and submitted specifically for the Open Conference 2023. This was showcased in Plenary during the EMODnet Open Conference 2023, just before community poster pitch presentations. The Virtual Exhibition remains open for 1 year until 30 November 2024. You can see the full EMODnet Virtual Exhibition by clicking on the button below.

The EMODnet Open Conference 2023 included a physical exhibition which served as a dynamic hub during networking breaks, showcasing EMODnet and key European and international ocean observation networks and infrastructures, marine data services and wider marine data initiatives.

EMODnet has a very diverse and expanding user base, across European stakeholder communities, and beyond. A session was dedicated to these users, bringing together stakeholders from EU Policy, Blue Economy, and Wider Society to discuss the tangible value of EMODnet data, data products and services. Panels explored its application in EU Policy, including the EU Green Deal, Marine Strategy Framework Directive, Maritime Spatial Planning Directive and more, supporting the Blue Economy – including Offshore Renewable Energy and Coastal Tourism, and benefiting wider society, supplying marine data and knowledge to non-governmental organisations and the EU Mission: Restore our Ocean and Waters and Horizon Europe projects, and working with these entities including citizen science to bring more societal data into EMODnet, which also powers the EC European Atlas of the Seas for Ocean Literacy.

EMODnet experts Dick Schaap, MARIS, The Netherlands; Antonio Novellino, ETT, Italy; and Sissy Iona, HCMR, Greece presented on EMODnet in the marine knowledge value chain, EMODnet’s partnership with the Copernicus Marine Service and EMODnet Data Ingestion. In two subsequent Panels, EMODnet's key role in the marine knowledge value chain and its strong connections with the ocean observation and data collection community were showcased. EMODnet’s contribution to the EC Ocean Observation Initiative, including the value of the EMODnet’s Sea-basin Checkpoint activities on data adequacy at regional sea-basin level, and EMODnet’s contribution to the European Ocean Observing System (EOOS) were also discussed with diverse stakeholder representatives.

EMODnet is about the people and its diverse community. At the Open Conference 2023, an interactive session featured an overview of the EMODnet Virtual Exhibition, together with diverse community poster pitches, and an open mic Panel where members of the community could provide perspectives and recommendations.

The interactive dialogues at the EMODnet Open Conference 2023 included a series of Townhalls which provided a unique platform for focused discussions on various critical aspects of EMODnet. Topics for the 2023 Townhalls included: EMODnet, Ocean Best Practices, and Interoperability; EMODnet for EU Policy; EMODnet and the Blue Economy; and EMODnet, EU Mission Ocean and wider society. These were organized and co-Chaired by members of the EMOD-network and invited experts, with EMODnet and the European Marine Board Secretariats jointly serving as rapporteur and facilitators. For each Townhall, a representative presented key messages back to the Plenary on Day 2.

At the EMODnet Open Conference 2023, a new video animation was released that explains the EMODnet unified service, noting the centralisation of all 7 EMODnet thematics into one portal, and what is means for EMODnet’s diverse user community. Follow the link to watch the full video.

Between 27-30 November 2023 over 340 partners, associated partners, and stakeholders of the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) gathered in Brussels for the third EMODnet Open Conference and Jamboree. The week kicked off with a Partner Jamboree with the >120 partners exchanging on their latest service developments and joint activities. The Open Conference was a public event, moderated by Karen Coleman. With a line-up of over 75 speakers across the 1.5 days, the event highlighted EMODnet’s crucial role in the European Marine Data Ecosystem, focusing on a "Digital and Green Future." If you missed a session or want to revisit the insights, the Plenary video recordings together with event photos are now available on the Conference website, with Plenary and Townhall presentations also being made available over the next few days. A full conference report will follow in early 2024. This November 2023 EMODnet News Digest is dedicated to Conference and Jamboree 2023 highlights, with news articles also posted on the EMODnet Portal (see links below). Further updates of the EMOD-network activities will come in the end of year issue, coming out end of December.