INSTITUTE OF NATURAL SCIENCES
Operational Directorate Natural Environment
MARECO – Marine Ecology and Management
DASA – Digital Animal Sound Archive The use of bio-acoustics in biological and ecological studies is widespread as they can be used to study species distribution, phenology, ecology and behaviour of organisms that are often visually elusive. This results in extensive datasets that are scattered in many different locations. As such, the overall objective of…
EcoMPV – Eco-designing marine photovoltaic installations EcoMPV will deepen the knowledge about environmental challenges related to offshore PV installations, aiming at technical solutions to mitigate undesired consequences and maximize beneficial impacts. We will address knowledge gaps about (1) altered underwater light field, hydrodynamics, pelagic biogeochemistry and primary production, (2) the artificial habitat provision for colonizing fauna and fish, and…
PureWind The PURE WIND three year JPI Oceans project will quantify key features of radiated noise from fixed and floating offshore wind farms, to increase understanding and simulate cumulative effect of clusters on radiated noise, helping to identify sensitive habitats in cross-basin soundscapes. From the biological perspective, the project will identify spatial and qualitative use…
ECOSTAR – Ecosystem level importance of Structures as Artificial Reefs EcoSTAR aims at understanding how the introduction or removal of man-made structures (MMS) will affect the North Sea ecosystem. The EcoSTAR research focusses on the interactions between man-made structures and top predators on the hand, and interactions between man-made structures and benthos on the other…
NESTORE – NESTed modeling approach for ORE development and cumulative impact assessment considering local to regional environmental and socio-economic stakes NESTORE will assist the French offshore renewable energy industry to cope with the legal obligations to conduct cumulative impact assessments. NESTORE will develop a set of tools that inform stakeholders about local (at the scale…
METRIC The pressure on marine ecosystems and the services they deliver is increasing dramatically due to global change combined with anthropogenic activities. METRIC addresses the impact of these stressors on the relationship between marine functional diversity and ecosystem stability using existing ecosystem-wide databases on marine biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and environmental settings. Research will target biogeochemical…
SEADETECT The SEADETECT project, will develop an automated detection system for cetaceans in order to prevent collisions between vessels and whales. Led by the French Naval Group, this project brings together ten partners from three European countries: Belgium, France and Italy. The SEADETECT automated detection and anti-collision system will be integrated into the existing multi-sensory…
COMOFISH – COoperative MOnitoring of FISHeries exclusion measures in Belgian Waters. In the framework of the EU Common Fisheries Policy, MARECO is responsible for the design and implementation of the national monitoring program on the evaluation of the effectiveness of bottom-disturbing fisheries measures. The goals are a baseline monitoring survey for three areas in Belgian waters…
BLUE4ALL – Blueprint Demonstration for Co-Created Effective, Efficient and Resilient Networks of Marine Protected Areas One of the main challenges in marine conservation, is the social acceptability of MPA delineation, design, management and enforcement. Part of this challenge owes to the top-down approach regarding MPAs. True interaction with stakeholders most often comes late in the…
Vision Development Aquaculture & Wind Farm Decommissioning Aquaculture at sea and the decommissioning of wind farms are associated with many opportunities and challenges. In the Belgian part of the North Sea, a lot of activities are already ongoing in those areas. The federal government would like to align and consolidate these initiatives in an integrated vision.…
