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European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet)

Better together: ICES hosted the General Assembly of EMODnet Chemistry

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The two-day event provided an opportunity for project coordinators, work package leaders, regional coordinators and all other speakers and participants to gain an overview of the project and discuss its future together.

On 23 and 24 September, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), a key data provider for EMODnet, hosted EMODnet Chemistry partnership for the 2024 General Assembly at ICES Headquarters. 

Thirty-one experts representing all European sea basins gathered in Copenhagen and thirteen followed the meeting online. High on the agenda was the reporting on the results of the first year of the extension of phase 5, which was approved by the Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries for the period from 3 October 2023 to 2 October 2025.

All aspects of the projects were covered. In particular, Alessandra Giorgetti from the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (OGS), the scientific coordinator of the project, presented the work related to the coordination of the partnership and reporting to the EU, as well as the legal, financial and contractual aspects. She also told participants about the positive results of the continuous monitoring of the overall progress of the project and its activities in relation to its objectives. Finally, she reported on the intensive communication activities that have been carried out this year to promote the work of EMODnet Chemistry in co-operation with a variety of different stakeholders. 
Find out more in the news and use cases sections of the EMODnet portal.

Giorgetti handed over to Dick Schaap from the Marine Information Service (MARIS), the technical coordinator of the project, who reported on the status and gaps in the collection of data and metadata via the Chemistry Data Discovery and Access Service by SeaDataNet. This is a strategic task of the project, which relies heavily on the contributions of the entire network of data providers covering all European sea basins. For this reason, the meeting was also an opportunity for all data providers to have their say. What kind of data are planned to be submitted by the end of this phase, i.e. by 2 October 2025? Which quality checks have been carried out recently or will be carried out shortly? Which organisation, in each of the countries covered by the project, can be contacted to make the nutrient data near the major rivers accessible via EMODnet? These are some of the key questions that were answered during the meeting thanks to feedback from twenty-nine data providers.

After the data providers, the regional coordinators of the project took the floor and spoke about the harmonised and validated data collections for eutrophication and pollutants, which were already published in 2024. Afterwards, they explained the measures implemented and planned for the publication of the 2025 edition. Still on data collections, the British Oceanographic Data Centre gave an insight into recent improvements and outstanding issues related to vocabularies, while OGS presented data collection for floating microlitter data and progress on beach and seafloor litter data collections. In addition, OGS informed about the implementation of a new data access point and concluded with a presentation of the latest draft proposal for the management of seafloor data from images and videos.

The Hellenic Centre for Marine Research and the University of Liege took on the task of showing the current maps based on the data of selected parameters of contaminants and eutrophication currently available on EMODnet Map Viewer. They also showed the data products that are in the pipeline and the actions needed to improve the Map Viewer service. Their presentations were complemented by IFREMER and Alfred Wegener Institute on progress and gaps related to other Key services: the Products Catalogue and the webODV Data Explorer and Extractor tool.

ICES concluded the General Assembly with three contributions. The first focused on the recent dialogue with the EMODnet Chemistry Board of experts on the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), which was conducted through a survey at the end of the summer. The aim of the survey was to gather feedback from the experts on the current parameters of the nutrients that are taken into account in the data products.

The second contribution dealt with the status and the fine-tuning required to improve the integration of EMODnet and ICES data for EEA indicators relating to eutrophication and contaminants. The last ICES contribution concerned the ongoing process to establish the micro-litter data flow from ICES Database on the Marine Environment (DOME) to the EMODnet Chemistry Marine Litter Database.

“This meeting demonstrates that EMODnet Chemistry plays a crucial role in enabling the uptake of results from monitoring of marine pollution, water quality and the chemical health of European seas, aiding in environmental protection and sustainable marine management. However, even the most comprehensive networks achieve the greatest impact when collaborating with other networks. Data on marine litter, contaminants, and eutrophication submitted to the ICES Data Centre are shared with EMODnet Chemistry through open access licensing and used to strengthen marine policy. By pooling diverse data sets and leveraging each network's unique expertise, we can unlock even more insights and opportunities. This will enable a better understanding of Europe’s seas and oceans.” Neil Holdsworth, ICES