INSTITUTE OF NATURAL SCIENCES
Operational Directorate Natural Environment
MARECO – Marine Ecology and Management
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…
Belgian national non-indigenous species monitoring Non-indigenous species may have substantial impact on the marine ecosystems, especially in coastal regions. They may change the original habitat, oust the native species and consequently alter the ecosystem structure and functioning. They hence are of particular managerial concern and therefore addressed by the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive. To…
Belgian National Beach Litter Monitoring The presence of marine litter is a global problem that continues to increase in all seas and oceans. It affects marine ecosystems, challenges human activities that use and depend on the sea and are a cause of concern for human health. In addition, many organisms are adversely affected by plastic…
Belgian National Gravel Bed Monitoring In the framework of the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive, MARECO is responsible for the design and implementation of the national monitoring program on seafloor integrity and biodiversity in natural gravel bed biotopes, classified as a geogenic reef under the EU Habitats Directive. This multidisciplinary monitoring program exploits underwater remote sensing…
OUTFLOW Quantifying the cOntribUTion of Fouling fauna to the Local carbon budget of an Offshore Wind farm OUTFLOW investigates how the presence of large densities of fouling fauna on wind turbines in offshore wind farms affect the spatial distribution of organic matter at the local and regional scale. These organisms filter large quantities of organic…
WinMon.BE The Belgian monitoring programme on the environmental impacts of offshore wind farms MARECO is coordinating the environmental monitoring program to assess the impact of Belgian offshore wind farms, WinMon.BE. Together with our partners Ghent University, INBO and ILVO, we assess the impacts onto the marine ecosystem and aim at revealing the processes behind these…
