INSTITUTE OF NATURAL SCIENCES
Operational Directorate Natural Environment
MARECO – Marine Ecology and Management
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.…
MarinePlan MarinePlan is an interdisciplinary project that advocates for an integrative ecosystem-based management of marine areas. Its objective is to develop a clear, practical and homogeneous methodology for ecosystem-based marine spatial planning implementation across European countries. This framework will account for all stages of the process, from pre-operational preparation, to implementation, monitoring and success evaluation.…
RBINS-EMBRC The RBINS-EMBRC project aims to develop a centrally managed ‘Artificial Hard Substrate Garden (AHGS)’, to provide a flexible in-situ offshore test facility as an EMBRC service pillar to researchers and industry. This test facility will support research on the effects of man-made structures (renewable energy devices, mariculture installations, coastal defense structures, etc.) on the marine…
CANOE Climate chANge impacts on carbon cycling and fOod wEbs in Arctic Fjords Greenlandic fjords support highly productive and diverse food webs, while they play an important role as CO2 sinks. At the same time, global warming significantly impacts these systems through the accelerated melting of ice. CANOE aims to investigate to what extent glacial…
APELAFICO Apelafico collects data on density and diversity of pelagic fish in and around offshore wind farms in association with acoustic conditions during the construction and operation of wind farms. The project also zooms in on fish behaviour in the direct vicinity of pile driving activities (i.e. danger zone) and, tests and improves an acoustic…
On the Compatibility of Offshore Wind Farms and Marine Protected Areas The race for space in the marine environment urges the consideration of co-locating human activities at sea. The recently proliferating offshore wind farms pose threats to and at the same time, offer possibilities for marine conservation and restoration. MARECO investigates options for mitigating undesired…
UNITED Multi-Use offshore platforms demoNstrators for boostIng cost-effecTive and Eco-friendly proDuction in sustainable marine activities The UNITED project will provide evidence for the viability of ocean multi-use through the development of five demonstration pilots in the real European marine environment. The Belgian pilot is centered around the combination of offshore wind energy, seaweed (Saccharina latissima)…
Measuring Marine Plastics in the Belgian Part of the North Sea The ‘Marine Plastics’ project aims to draw up an approach to monitoring of marine microplastics. In compliance with the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, microplastics have to be monitored in the water column and sediments of the Belgian part of the North Sea. Different approaches…
