Thematic Transboundary Meeting #2

Promoting Technology Innovation in Environmental Monitoring and Modelling for Assessment of Fish Stock and Non-fish Resources

 2nd Thematic Transboundary Meeting (TTM), Thessaloniki, Greece

Innovative Environmental Monitoring Technologies for the Assessment of Fish Stock and Non-Fish Species

The 2nd Thematic Transboundary Meeting (TTM) was organized and held online, on Monday 19 and Tuesday 20 April 2021. The main goal was to raise awareness of researchers, surveyors, and decision-making stakeholders in the fields of monitoring and modeling of environmental parameters for the assessment of fish stock & non-fishing resources at the Black Sea.

During the meeting, several issues were presented and discussed, touching upon the elaborated inventory on innovative environmental monitoring technologies for the assessment of fish stock and non-fish species, together with tentative results produced so far within the implementation of activities T2.1 and T2.2, referring to the recommendation of advanced ICT tools for numerical modelling, output management, data handling and sharing via modern web-GIS applications. An essential output for the TIMMOD project was provided by assisting local, national, and regional authorities and/or decision makers to gain a deeper understanding about advanced technologies in the aforementioned scientific fields. This way the project partners promoted new innovative technological aspects for implementation in the framework of obligations under relevant EU and regional Conventions and Agreements. Therefore, the achieved exchange of information practically supported the transboundary cooperation in R&D and innovation about data sharing and cross-border cooperation systems about marine environmental issues in the BSB. Thus. Thus, the 2nd TTM contributed to BSB Program result 2.1 "Improved availability of cross-border compatible environmental monitoring data and information".

The 2nd TTM was (virtually) hosted by Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh), in Thessaloniki, Greece. Due to the COVID-19 related restrictions, it was organized as an online meeting hosted in MS Teams platform. The 2nd TTM was attended by more than 50 participants, i.e., experts from all project partners’ countries, as well as invited external experts (outside of the project consortium) and local stakeholders from 5 countries.

The event focused on project partners report about: a) the completed inventory on innovative environmental monitoring technologies for the assessment of fish stock and non-fish species; b) the concluded study on transboundary coordination mechanisms, available organizational and human resources in the study area, and their relevance to the planned technological upgrade under the implementation of MSFD and DCF programs’ recommendations in the Black Sea area; c) the ongoing implementation of activities referring to novel Information/Communication Technology (ICT) tools for numerical modelling, data handling, and GIS technologies for dissemination to end-users, prepared within the TIMMOD project. The main topics of discussion during the 2nd TTM were the newly proposed R&D innovation about data-sharing and cross-border information exchange systems on marine environmental issues within the BSB.

To this end, a separate Seminar session was prepared on the last day of the 2nd TTM, which was devoted to “Technological Innovations in Marine Environmental Quality Forecasting and Dissemination Techniques related to the Assessment of Fish-stock and Non-fish Resources”. It consisted of 13 thematic presentations:

  • 4 presentations by TIMMOD members informing the participants about the project’s perspectives, focusing on novel techniques of hydrodynamic modelling, automated forecasts, dissemination practices for oceanographic predictions, data processing and management methods, web-GIS tools’ recommendations for a common data platform, and set-up of advanced numerical models for 3-D hydrodynamic circulation in regional (continental shelf) scales.
  • 6 presentations by 6 external experts within Greek academia informing the participants about: a) improved online public access to environmental monitoring data and data tools for the reduction of marine litter in the BSB (MARLITER Project); b) operational oceanographic forecasts in the Mediterranean Sea; c) applications of Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicles (ROUVs) in underwater exploration and fisheries technology; d) an MSc program on Smart Maritime & Surveying Systems within the SMARTSEA project (Erasmus+); e) advanced modelling of the influence of Black Sea waters on the Mediterranean Sea; f) operational oil spill modelling in the Mediterranean and Black Sea Basins.
  • 3 presentations by Greek (local) and EU (regional) stakeholders informing the participants about: a) the environmentally oriented research activities for resilience enhancement practices in the Municipality of Thessaloniki (Greece); b) ocean observation tactics within the EU Green Deal, focusing on EMODnet and other related activities from the European Commission’s DG MARE; c) the Black Sea regional branch of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN).

Representative of stakeholders monitoring performers, environmental agencies, local and national authorities) also attended in the audience, thus assisting local and regional performers and decision makers in the BSB to further understand validated, advanced, environmental modeling technologies and promote good practices in marine environmental management.

TIMMOD activities at a glance

Group Activity T1

Inventory and promotion of innovative environmental monitoring technologies for assessment of fish stock and non fish living resources. This activity aims at the elaboration of an Inventory of Innovative water monitoring technologies for monitoring of chemical, physical and biological parameters, and assessment of living resources.

Group Activity T2

Assessment and recommendation on advanced hydro-environmental numerical tools for data handling, real-time control and forecasting of marine conditions in the Black Sea. The main aim is to broaden the focus of traditional data processing and numerical modelling approaches by taking into account the holistic perspective in the analysis.

Group Activity T3

Pilot demonstration project on innovative monitoring using advance methods and instruments. Selecting innovative instrumentation, data handling and numerical modelling tools that are going to be demonstrated in two sea areas/test sites in Varna and Batumi.

Group Activity T4

Innovation Strategy to improve joint monitoring, data sharing and cross border information exchange systems in compliance with Marine Strategy Framework Directive and Data Collection Framework. This activity aims to develop common Strategy for supporting the implementation of modern technological upgrade in joint environmental monitoring, in service of the cross border cooperation and data sharing systems.

TIMMOD activities are in full swing. Please contact us to follow TIMMOD activities progress in detail, as well as if you wish to receive latest technical reports elaborated by the project team.

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