INSTITUTE OF NATURAL SCIENCES
Operational Directorate Natural Environment
MARECO – Marine Ecology and Management
Oyster restoration monitoring The Belgian part of the North Sea was once home to extensive offshore reefs of the European flat oyster Ostrea edulis. These reefs constituted an important habitat in the marine ecosystem, supporting a range of species and ecosystem functions. Belgium has ambitious plans to restore these lost reefs in the areas where…
DECOMPASS: Decommissioning Compass for Offshore Wind The project develops a quantitative model to evaluate the economic and environmental sustainability of plausible strategies/scenarios for the decommissioning and processing of Belgian offshore wind turbines. It is based on (1) a detailed analysis of decommissioning techniques, logistics, and spatial planning in ports, and (2) an integrated techno-economic analysis,…
MINING IMPACT III In the last decade, there has been growing global attention toward the deep-sea mining industry. This is due to the increasing demand for metals and rare earth elements, of which large quantities and high concentrations can be found in certain marine deposits, such as poly-metallic nodules, within abyssal provinces. OD Nature is…
BELREEFS BELREEFS is the first offshore pilot project for large-scale restoration of flat oyster reefs in the Belgian part of the North Sea. The European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis) is a native species of great ecological and commercial importance. Following the decline of flat oyster reefs from coastal and offshore European waters in the late…
ELASMON – Towards effective monitoring for protection of sharks and rays in the Belgian part of the North Sea The populations of sharks and rays in the North Sea have rapidly declined in recent decades. Knowledge gaps on their distribution and habitat use hinders their effective management and protection on a global level. The objective…
NID4BirdLIFE The NID4BirdLIFE project aims to address the critical decline of the black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) population, currently listed as endangered in the North Sea on the European Red List of Birds, by creating a durable breeding stronghold on the Princess Elisabeth Energy Island. This will be achieved through the integration of Nature-Inclusive Design (NID)…
SWiM SWiM – Solar and Wind in the Belgian Marine Zone – will conduct research on the combination of marine technologies in the Exclusive Economic Zone of Belgium, in particular to integrate Offshore Floating Photovoltaics (OFPV) in wind farms in an ecologically sustainable way. On the one hand, the project will investigate the technical performance…
AgroSERV The AgroServ project contributes to the future of agriculture by bringing together a wide range of services and resources for agricultural research, including marine aquaculture activities. Focus is on supporting research in sustainable and resilient agriculture, emphasizing the ‘one health’ approach. The project joints 73 partners offering a total of 143 research services, accessible…
Aquaserv Aquaserv brings together six European research infrastructures to provide services in the fields of sustainable aquaculture, fisheries and the blue economy. The project offers more then 100 customised services across Europe to advance research on marine and freshwater biological resources, food an biotechnology. Services are available through transnational or virtual access. Withing Aquaserv, RBINS…
BENTHIC CHANGE Offshore wind farms are proliferating fast to increase the share of renawable energy use. While the first and most intense developments were in the North Sea, offshore wind farms are currently being installed in the marine environment of the United States a. Therefore, this project this proposal, we will synthesize information from current…
