Demersal fisheries are a major contributor to global food supply, but also significantly affect marine ecosystem functioning. Physical contact of fishing gear with the seabed induces many changes to the sediment, including a direct mortality of benthic organisms (Sciberras et al. 2018). Understanding the effect of bottom trawling on benthic life is a necessary step towards a correct assessment of fisheries impact and may aid fisheries management.
A fishing impact model was applied to benthic…
ECSA 61: Bridging the Gap Between Science and Policy in Estuarine and Coastal Marine Biodiversity: The Way Forward, took place in Brussels from 24–27 August. EMODnet Seabed Habitats and EMODnet Biology presented a poster showcasing ‘EMODnet as a Resource for Marine Biodiversity Research and Policy: Data, Products and Benefits for the Scientific Community’.
A marine biodiversity data management seminar was delivered at the University of Pavia on 23 June 2026 for six PhD students and postdoctoral researchers of the Aquatic Ecology Laboratory. The training focused on FAIR and open data principles and on the practical steps required to transform Excel-based marine biodiversity datasets into structured, standardised and well-documented resources for future publication in EMODnet Biology through MedOBIS IPT.
Marine biodiversity data comes from many sources and uses different standards, making interoperability and integration an ongoing challenge. The increasing need for semantic interoperability and data integration in marine research and biodiversity studies has led to greater use of semantic web standards for data representation and exchange. However, there are still datasets that use different languages and specifications where semantics is not fully exploited. A new EMODnet Biology technical…
EMODnet Biology is organising a workshop on the morning of October 5th and 6th to provide information and discuss the best way to ensure the biodiversity projects’ outputs become available via EMODnet Biology.
The Phase V extension period began on 10 May 2025 and runs until 9 May 2027. Reaching the end of the first year provided an opportunity for consortium members to come together for the annual meeting.
A new suite of four R tutorials helps users access and analyse EMODnet geospatial data. Built around the EMODnet R packages, the tutorials guide users through data discovery, retrieval and integration workflows using OGC Web Feature Services (WFS) and Web Coverage Services (WCS) for both vector and raster data. Practical examples show how EMODnet datasets can be combined with external sources, while an introductory tutorial explains key geospatial concepts and supports reproducible workflows.
