The European Commission is inviting stakeholders to provide input on the European Oceans Pact, a new initiative designed to strengthen ocean governance across all sectors. This is a key opportunity to help shape the future of Europe’s ocean policies by sharing insights on priorities, challenges, and opportunities for sustainable ocean management. Your feedback will play an essential role in ensuring coordinated, science-based, and impactful ocean governance that supports both environmental and economic goals. The consultation is open to marine and maritime professionals, policymakers, researchers, industry representatives, and civil society members. The survey is open until 17 February (Midnight Brussels time) offering a chance to contribute to the development of a robust and forward-looking approach to ocean management. Make your voice heard and participate today! Access the survey here:

EMODnet showcased its partnership with Scuba Schools International and the German Foundation (GOF) at BOOT 2025, presenting the joint citizen science initiative which delivers ocean environmental data collected by scuba divers’ dive computers into EMODnet. The partnership was launched one year ago with EC DG MARE and EMODnet Physics, and already has thousands of data submitted to EMODnet, with the projection to include millions of ocean temperature data profiles alone! This year, the EMODnet Secretariat presented on the ‘Love your Ocean’ stage and had a stand together with GOF who also presented EMODnet during the week. BOOT is a world-leading boating and watersports exhibition, held in Düsseldorf, Germany, this year between 18-26 January 2025.

A new web section was published on the EMODnet Portal, to be found under Solutions, besides the Use Cases. The Data Sharing Success Stories web section demonstrates how individuals and organizations have successfully submitted data to EMODnet through the EMODnet Data Ingestion service, thereby contributing to EMODnet’s “collect once and use many times” philosophy, open access to marine data and sustained ((near) real time) data flows into EMODnet.

On 15 January 2025, EMODnet will highlight how its open and FAIR marine data and products support the UN Ocean Decade. The webinar will address three key challenges, namely Challenge 3: Sustainably feed the global population, Challenge 4: Develop a sustainable, resilient, and equitable ocean economy and Challenge 6: Increase community resilience to ocean hazards. Join this event to discover how Earth observation,  in situ and modelled marine data can drive tangible solutions for a sustainable ocean future. >Learn more and register today!

In December 2024, EMODnet Biology completed a major data publication, increasing its biodiversity data holdings by over 1.2 million new occurrence records, spanning a historical time period of > 100 years for a broad range of taxonomic groups from algae to marine mammals and more. This significantly enhances data coverage and accessibility across European regional seas and the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans.

Less than 2 months ago, EMODnet held its fourth Blue Economy workshop, with this edition’s focus on the Ports, Marinas and boating sectors. And now you can read all about it in the workshop report, released this week for public access and download. The event was held online on 22 October 2024, co-organised by EMODnet, EC DG MARE, the European Boating Industry (EIB), TransEurope Marinas and the European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO). The event brought together over 70 experts, including representatives from local and national port authorities, representatives of marinas, boating operators, European networks of these Blue Economy sectors, and wider stakeholders from the public and private sectors, together with EMODnet experts and wider open data specialists. Recommendations include marine data needs from these sectors, current and emerging uses of EMODnet data to support ports, marinas and boating operations and planning, and the value of data sharing, including how EMODnet’s data ingestion can support this process to ensure FAIR data, for the benefit of all.

On 27 November, EMODnet Biology presented at the Blue-Cloud 2026 Webinar on FAIR Data Principles 3, highlighting the alignment of EMODnet Biology with the FAIR data principles. The presentation explained the relationship between EurOBIS and EMODnet Biology, detailing the types and volume of metadata being made available and the adherence to FAIR principles in improving metadata accessibility and interoperability. The session also outlined the Blue-Cloud 2026 plan for EurOBIS metadata, which focuses on continuously enhancing the FAIRness level of data. EMODnet's commitment to driving metadata improvements by aligning with INSPIRE directives and ISO 19115 standards was also showcased. The improvements in the FAIRness of the data are key to fostering greater interoperability across the marine biology discipline and creating connections with other fields such as marine chemistry and physics, further supporting multidisciplinary research and applications. The webinar emphasized the collaborative efforts between EurOBIS, EMODnet Biology and Blue-Cloud 2026 in promoting open science and fostering sustainable data management practices.”

How does EMODnet Chemistry contribute to the Blue-Cloud 2026 project and vice versa? To answer this question and better illustrate the synergies between EMODnet and this key European project, the Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (OGS), Coordinator of EMODnet Chemistry and a partner in Blue-Cloud 2026, took part in the three working days on Blue Cloud 2026 in Lisbon (Portugal) from 5 to 7 November. EMODnet Physics, Data Ingestion and the Secretariat also participated.

How can we increase accessibility to land-sea interface data near river mouths? This was the focus of the meeting chaired by EMODnet and +ATLANTIC CoLAB in Lisbon on 8 November. Portugal was chosen as the venue because the Portuguese Environment Agency is a leader in providing river outflow data to EMODnet. One of EMODnet's most important national oceanographic data centres, the Hydrographic Institute of Portugal, is also located there. EMODnet plays a key role in supporting the interoperability and accessibility of data at national level through its capillary network of organisations specialising in data management and through its data infrastructure and services.

EMODnet Biology hosted an online workshop on 19-20 November with more than 40 representatives from EU projects, EU project officers and DG MARE. The focus was on projects that collect biodiversity data or create products based on these data.

On 10 October 2024, Dick M.A. Schaap, EMODnet Ingestion Coordinator, joined the Ocean Data Action Day as organized by HUB Ocean from Norway, where he gave a presentation on Enriching Open Ocean Data Repositories with Industrial Data. In particular, he encouraged HUB Ocean to become a mediator for EMODnet Ingestion to gather and transform marine data from industry sources towards EMODnet, adopting prevailing metadata and data standards.

On 14 November 2024, Dick M.A. Schaap, EMODnet Ingestion Coordinator, represented EMODnet on a panel on Hydrospatial-Advancing Blue Economy at the GeoBuiz Summit Europe. Topics included showcasing EMODnet’s data, data products and services that are very relevant for the Blue Economy, and for which EMODnet has a high user-demand.

Mark your calendars for the 4th edition of the EMODnet Open Sea Lab (OSL) Hackathon, happening online from 25 to 27 March 2025. The hackathon builds on the last 3 successful editions, with one key difference: In addition to using EMODnet services, participants will be given unparalleled access to the EMODnet and Copernicus Marine Service offer via the European Digital Twin Ocean infrastructure (EDITO). This is a very exciting time for marine digital services, and we invite all interested stakeholders, from data scientists to IT specialists and from policy makers to researchers, students and the private sector to join EMODnet in this unique hackathon - Stay tuned for more details, coming soon!

EMODnet’s Bathymetry Coordinator, Shom, France, EMODnet Human Activities experts and the EMODnet Secretariat were among EMODnet experts at the Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) Week Conference in Marseille, France on 22-24 October, celebrating a decade of EU achievements. Conor Delaney, EMODnet Technical Coordinator, spoke on the panel “Data, Innovation, and Harmonisation within MSP” highlighting EMODnet’s key role in shaping European MSP, including making EU Member State MSP plans available in geospatial format.

Discussing the scientific and technical basis for coordinating, standardising and harmonising the monitoring of seafloor litter and the management of associated data at a global level was the aim of the recent international workshop in China. EMODnet Chemistry was one of the speakers at this invitation-only event, representing the full network, and in particular bringing its long-standing expertise in delivering the European marine litter database, in collaboration with the Joint Research Centre and Technical Group on Marine Litter of the EU MSFD. During the workshop it was emphasised that EMODnet could play an important role in the definition and development of the global database.

At the Ocean Best Practices Workshop VIII, held from October 14-18, 2024, EMODnet and Copernicus Marine Service collaborated to present best practices for enhancing data and service interoperability within the European Digital Twin of the Ocean (EU DTO). During the session on 16 October 2024, EMODnet Biology Coordinator Joana Beja (VLIZ) presented on its conventions used, with wider discussions on critical standards for data integration, focusing on the EDITO-Infra project, which aims to create a robust EU infrastructure supporting the EU DTO.

At the international workshop titled "AOMI Database: Enhancing Ocean Microplastics Monitoring", EMODnet Chemistry showcased how marine litter data are managed within the project. Held on 8 October 2024 and led by Japan’s Ministry of the Environment, the workshop provided a practical demonstration of the Atlas of Ocean Microplastics (AOMI).

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Between 7-9 October 2024, EMODnet Coordinators and wider experts convened in Brussels, Belgium, for a series of EMODnet governance meetings. The 21st EMODnet Steering Committee (SC) open session was attended by diverse representatives of the EC and EU agencies, including CINEA, EC DG MARE, DEFIS, ENV and RTD. Discussions included EMODnet for EU Policy, the EC Ocean Observation Initiative and the EMODnet Vision 2035. This was followed by the 16th EMODnet Technical Working Group, with representatives from the EMODnet Central Portal technical team, thematic and data ingestion experts, EC DG MARE and CINEA (featured in the group photo). The following day, EMODnet held a planning meeting for its upcoming 4th Open Sea Lab Hackathon which will take place in Spring 2025.

On 22 October 2024, more than 70 experts gathered for an EMODnet online workshop titled “EMODnet Marine Data for Ports, Marinas, and Boating.” The event was co-designed with key stakeholder networks from these Blue Economy sectors, including the European Boating Industry, TransEurope Marinas and the European Sea Port Organisation, in collaboration with the EC DG MARE and CINEA.