Early July 2020, a Dutch shrimp trawler in Belgian territorial waters hauled up nothing less than an elephant tusk in its nets. The 60 kg, 2.37 m long fossil does not belong to a mammoth, as is often the case in our regions, but appears to have come from a Palaeoloxodon antiquus. This is a type of forest elephant that inhabited the area in between ice ages. It is the first time that such an intact specimen has been found here. The tip and part of the base of the tooth are missing. A reconstruction shows that the entire tusk was more than 2.8 m long. Palaeoloxodon antiquus was a giant that was bigger than the elephants that roam the Earth today! The tusk belongs to an adult male individual about 3.5 metres tall. The age of the fossil is estimated between 130,000 and 115,000 years.

Thanks to the joint efforts of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice and the North Sea, Vincent Van Quickenborne, and State Secretary for Recovery and Strategic Investments in charge of Science Policy, Thomas Dermine, the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences was able to add the tusk to its collections. From Tuesday 8 February 2022, the general public can admire the tusk at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Brussels.

Who was the straight-tusked elephant?

Palaeoloxodon antiquus is a forest elephant that disappeared from our regions before the mammoth. The species was widespread in Europe and thrived mainly during the warmer periods between two ice ages (the interglacials). This discovery is remarkable because there was little evidence of its former presence in Belgium. Palaeoloxodon antiquus was long considered the ancestor of the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) but is now considered a close relative of the current African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis). Palaeoloxodon antiquus probably originated on the African continent, but it is still little known how widespread this species was in prehistoric times.

Based on the geology of the site, its precise location and the finds of other mammal remains, it is estimated that the tusk dates from the last interglacial period of the Eemian, a period in the Late Pleistocene (approximately 130,000 to 115,000 years ago).

A trench full of fossils

The tusk was fished in “Het Scheur”, a channel in the Belgian part of the North Sea off the coast of Zeebrugge. Dredging is regularly carried out there to enable large ships to enter the Scheldt or Eurogeul. This causes erosion of the banks of the trench. Many mammal fossils have come to the surface in this way. These include the remains of the southernmost Pleistocene walrus colony in the world, the bones of ancient whales that swam here tens of millions of years ago, and the remains of mammoths.

The region where the tus kwas found has changed dramatically in appearance throughout history. It has alternated between sea and land, was covered by an icecap during ice ages, and was a tidal landscape with forests in between the ice ages. This explains why many fossils of very different organisms are found here. However, a tusk of a straight-tusked elephant tooth was never among them.

The fact that this tusk has remained intact is thanks to the fishing method. When fishing for shrimp, no chains are used and the bottom of the net rolls freely on and over the bottom thanks to rubber “wheels”. The shrimp roll in while the net remains free of stones and other unwanted bycatch. Fossils are very rarely caught with this type of net.

A detour to the Museum of Natural Sciences

The Dutch fishermen sold the tusk to North Sea Fossils, a private fossil dealer in Urk, the Netherlands. Afterwards, it was initially studied by researchers associated with the Rotterdam Museum of Natural History.

Thanks to the joint efforts of the Minister for the North Sea, Vincent Van Quickenborne, and the State Secretary in charge of Science Policy, Thomas Dermine, negotiations were started to recover the Belgian fossil. Finally, the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences was able to include the tusk in its collections, where it will remain available for research and is also made accessible to the public. From Tuesday 8 February 2022, the general public will be able to admire the tusk at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Brussels. The signing of the declaration of donation took place on 7 February 2022, on the occasion of the inauguration of the fossil tusk.

Minister Van Quickenborne, State Secretary Dermine and General Director Supply admire the tusk of the straight-tusked elephant in the Museum of Natural Sciences. (Image: RBINS/T. Hubin)

A new cooperation agreement

The discovery of the fossil tusk was also the occasion for drawing up a cooperation protocol within the framework of the law on the implementation of the UNESCO Convention of 2 November 2001 on the protection of underwater cultural heritage and the protection of valuable shipwrecks. In this agreement, the Governor of West Flanders, the Directorate General of Maritime Affairs (FPS Mobility and Transport), the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, the Flemish Heritage Agency and the Flanders Marine Institute henceforth formalise the cooperation regarding the protection of the underwater cultural heritage, including the paleontological heritage, and the protection of valuable shipwrecks. The agreement ensures that future discoveries at sea will also be recorded, studied and, where necessary, made accessible to the public.

Minister Van Quickenborne: “Our North Sea reveals its treasures only sparsely. Yet the objects we find there are an important part of our heritage. Since last year, we have a new law that automatically protects heritage older than 100 years. More than 55 historic shipwrecks have already been recognised. Thanks to this law, we can now also include fossils in our heritage. The signing of the cooperation agreement is the final piece of this new law. In this way, the tusk of the straight-tusked elephant will not disappear into a private archive. Instead we can let everyone enjoy the richness of our North Sea heritage. At the same time, the scientists connected to the RBINS can research it and thus refine their knowledge of the prehistory in our regions.”

Secretary of State Dermine: “The fossilised tusk of a straight-tusked elephant, which was found off the coast of Zeebrugge, has, after a short wander, found its way to where it belongs. The RBINS is Belgium’s most important research centre for palaeontology and is renowned worldwide. The fossil, which is more than 115 000 years old, is being studied at the RBINS and is linked to other treasures in the huge collection of no less than 3 million fossils. This way, it forms a piece of the puzzle in the picture of life in our regions in ancient times, which is brought to life in the Museum of Natural Sciences. From 8 February onwards, the tusk can be admired by the 350,000 visitors who come to the Museum every year.”

General Director a.i. RBINS Patricia Supply: “Earth sciences, including palaeontology but also geology and archaeology, have always been an important field of research at the RBINS. It has allowed us to build up a reputable level of palaeontological knowledge and expertise. The acquisition and exhibition of the tusk of a forest elephant is closely linked to the objectives of the RBINS: in addition to scientific research and services, the management and development of heritage and scientific collections, and the dissemination of knowledge in the natural sciences are also core tasks of the institute. Today, the tusk is given a very prominent place in our museum, near the mammoth of Lier and the African elephant that once lived in the Brussels zoo.”

In a new annual report, the scientists that monitor the environmental impact of offshore wind farms in the Belgian part of the North Sea summarise their latest findings. Once again, some surprising revelations are included. The results show that life in and around the wind parks has not yet reached stability 13 years after construction. Examples include that the biodiversity of fouling communities on wind turbines increases again after a decline in previous years, and that seabird movements are more spatially and temporally variable than previously known. The risk for songbird collisions is now better understood, and mitigation measures are proposed for periods of intense bird migration. Artificial reefs between turbines keep developing, with some fish species being attracted to the growing amount of food that these provide. Echolocation data indicate that underwater noise mitigation measures effectively reduce the impact of pile driving on harbour porpoises.

On 31 December 2019, Belgium submitted a National Energy and Climate Plan to the European Commission which envisions a target figure of 17.5% for the contribution of the production of electricity from renewable energy sources by 2030. Offshore wind farms in the Belgian part of the North Sea are expected to make an important contribution to achieve that goal. They are in fact already doing so, as currently 10 % of the total Belgian electricity demand, or 50% of the electricity demand of all Belgian households, is already produced by offshore wind farms. This is realised by a total of 399 turbines in eight wind farms, grouped in a zone of 238 km² along the border with the Netherlands. After 12 years of construction, this zone was fully operational from the end of 2020 and accounts for an installed capacity of 2.26 Gigawatts (GW) and an average production of 8 TWh. This puts Belgium in the 5^th place worldwide in the production of this form of energy. A second area for renewable energy of 285 km² is foreseen by the new Belgian marine spatial plan (2020-2026), aiming for an installed capacity of 3.1 to 3.5 GW in this zone.

Science, policy and industry pulling in the same direction

Prior to installing a wind farm, a developer must obtain a domain concession and an environmental permit. The environmental permit includes terms and conditions intended to minimise and mitigate the impact of the project on the marine ecosystem. As required by law, the permit also imposes a monitoring programme to follow up the effects on the marine environment.

For offshore wind farms in the Belgian part of the North Sea, the monitoring programme WinMon.BE documents the extent of the anticipated and unexpected impacts on the marine ecosystem and aims at revealing the processes behind these impacts.

Growing insight into the environmental impact

The WinMon.BE scientists started monitoring the impact of offshore wind farms in Belgium at the start of the construction of the first wind turbines in 2008. This has allowed them to develop extensive knowledge and expertise with regard to the monitoring methods and the actual environmental impact. “Belgium now has the longest time series of data on the environmental impact of offshore wind farms in the world, and many countries are looking at the Belgian example for inspiration to start up similar programmes.” says Steven Degraer (RBINS/MARECO), coordinator of the WinMon.BE consortium. “The time series has already revealed unique insights but we are still regularly confronted with surprising results that lead to new knowledge. This illustrates the importance of maintaining the follow-up effort in the long term and substantiates why we need to remain flexible in our interpretations and in adjusting human activities at sea.”

In their latest report, the WinMon.BE partners present an overview of the newest scientific findings of the Belgian offshore wind farm environmental monitoring programme, based on data collected up to and including 2020. They zoom in on patterns of attraction, avoidance and habitat use at various spatial scales (wind farm-, turbine- and microhabitat-scale) and across different ecosystem components (marine mammals, birds, fish and invertebrates that live on the seabed and turbines), and demonstrate the benefits of the increasing knowledge to design appropriate measures to mitigate undesired impacts or promote desired effects.

Overview of the results

Effects on the seabed and the associated life

The start of the monitoring in the wind farm closest to the coast showed that this area harbours very diverse seafloor-inhabiting biological communities. The response of these valuable communities to long-term turbine presence and fishery exclusion will be carefully followed up in the next years.

In the longer-established wind farms, the colonisation by marine organisms and the effects on the seabed were continuously monitored. Initially, colonisation by invertebrates and fish with a preference for hard substrates in the immediate vicinity of individual wind turbines was particularly noticeable. Ten years after construction, it is now observed that these local effects are expanding towards the soft sediments in between the turbines. Artificial reefs are being formed, with more epibenthic and fish species that are associated with hard substrates now also dwelling on the soft sediments. The species involved include blue mussel (Mytilus edulis), anemones, common starfish (Asterias rubens), green sea-urchin (Psammechinus miliaris), hairy crab (Pilumnus hirtellus) and European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax). For epibenthic species, this also leads to significantly higher overall densities and biomass inside the farms.

Attraction of fish to the offshore wind farms mainly takes place at the scale of individual turbines. Plaice (Pleuronectes platessa), a commercial flatfish species, is attracted to the sandy patches between the scour protection layer around offshore wind turbines, as they provide optimal food and shelter opportunities. Benthopelagic fish like pouting (Trisopterus luscus) and cod (Gadus morhua), that traditionally linger around the turbines and their foundations, were already previously shown to be attracted to the developing artificial reefs, as these offer excellent feeding opportunities for these species.

Developments in the water column

In the maturing biofouling community on the turbine foundations, species interactions start playing an important role. Shells of blue mussels provide secondary hard substrate habitat attractive to colonizing organisms, and thus contribute to an increase in species diversity. A comparison of the species composition of the early (mussels not prevalent) and mature (mussels prevalent) colonizing communities showed that 21 out of 47 identified species were uniquely growing on mussel shells. These were all sessile species, mainly molluscs, arthropods, annelids and bryozoans. This effect counteracts the impoverishment of species richness that was found before as result of the abundant presence of the plumose anemone (Metridium senile).

Pile driving activities during the construction of offshore wind farms causes considerable noise pollution. Harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena), well established cetaceans in the Belgian part of the North Sea, are known to avoid areas with excessive sound levels. Therefore, the application and effects of potential mitigation measures received much attention. By comparing acoustic monitoring datasets from 2016 (when no mitigation was applied yet) and 2019 (application of Double Big Bubble Curtains) it was determined that underwater noise mitigation measures effectively reduce the spatial and temporal extent of avoidance of the construction area by harbour porpoise.

And above the water surface?

Displacement of seabirds caused by offshore wind farms has proved to be a complex process. Attraction to and avoidance of wind farms by seabirds has multiple causes including visual disturbance induced by the turbines and the presence of offshore rest and foraging opportunities, and may in part also be explained by the absence of fisheries in Belgian wind farms. The ongoing monitoring now starts to provide more insight in the spatial and temporal variation of seabird responses. Spatial variation may result from differences in local habitat quality, wind farm size and configuration as well as its location relative to bird colonies and favoured feeding grounds. Temporal variation may depend on the life cycle of the species. In this context, it now appears that GPS-tagged adult lesser black-backed gulls (Larus fuscus) from nearby breeding colonies are not attracted by the Norther wind farm, while the conspecifics that were shown to be attracted to the more offshore Belwind farm included migrating and immature individuals. In the longer term, some seabirds may also habituate to the presence of offshore wind turbines. This could be the case for northern gannet (Morus bassanus), common guillemot (Uria aalge) and razorbill (Alca torda), that seemed to avoid the wind parks in the past but were all present in good numbers during the most recent monitoring survey.

When flying at rotor height, migrating songbirds are also at risk of collision with offshore wind turbines. The intensity of songbird migration is especially high at night, as was confirmed by continuous bird radar surveys in a Belgian offshore wind farm. The collision risk increases when weather conditions deteriorate. An effective measure to reduce bird collisions is to temporarily idle turbines when these events occur at wind turbine rotor height. A modelling study shows that a total of 682 songbird collisions would have been avoided in autumn 2019 if the turbines of all Belgian offshore wind farms had been idled when bird fluxes exceeded 500 birds per km and hour at rotor height. Although we don’t know what species are concerned, it is unlikely that these songbird collisions have a significant effect at the population level. Whether this will still be the case for the cumulative effects of all planned wind farms in the North Sea is unknown at this time.

 

The Monitoring Programme WinMon.BE is a cooperation between the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS), the Research Institute Nature and Forest (INBO), the Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO) and the Marine Biology Research Group of Ghent University, and is coordinated by the Marine Ecology and Management team (MARECO) of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.

WinMon.BE is commissioned by the Federal Government as part of the environmental permit conditions for offshore wind farms. For the monitoring, use was made of the research vessel Belgica (ship time on RV Belgica was made available by BELSPO and RBINS – OD Nature), the research vessel Simon Stevin (operated by the Flanders Marine Institute) and the observation aircraft of RBINS.

All scientific reports of the WinMon.BE monitoring are publicly available.

Sorry, this entry is only available in Français and Nederlands.

The new oceanographic research vessel Belgica will be operated by Genavir, specialised in the management of scientific vessels. The manager of the French oceanographic fleet will thus also become the first French shipping company to manage a ship under the Belgian flag.

As a subsidiary of the French Institute of Marine Research (Institut Français de Recherche pour l’Exploitation de la Mer, IFREMER), Genavir has 45 years of experience in providing services to scientific and state institutions. The shipping company manages, operates and maintains the coastal and offshore vessels of the French oceanographic fleet, as well as the manned submarine Nautile, ROVs (Remotely Operated Vehicles), AUVs (Autonomous Underwater Vehicles) and other marine scientific research equipment.

“This is a first in Europe and a great recognition of our know-how” says Eric Derrien, Managing Director of Genavir. “We are proud to have been chosen from several European shipowners. The Belgian government has put its trust in us and we are now committed to satisfying the Belgian scientific community and future international users of the vessel”.

With a length of 71.40 m and a width of 16.80 m, the Belgica was first launched on 11 February 2020. The ship is currently being delivered by the FREIRE Shipyard in Vigo, Spain, and the Genavir crew is preparing for the takeover, which should take place in early December 2021. The ship will soon be taken to her home port, the Zeebrugge naval base, where she is expected to arrive before the end of 2021. The Belgica will have the status of an auxiliary ship of the Belgian Navy, and will fly the corresponding flag.

A combination of strong expertise

The mixed crew will consist of three Belgian naval officers (on secondment at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences), including the first captain Gaëtan Motmans, in addition to officers and sailors from Genavir. The ship will of course remain the property of the Federal Science Policy (BELSPO), and the RBINS will remain responsible for the budgetary management of the ship, the scientific instruments and the programming of the scientific campaigns.

“The award of the contract for the operation of the new Belgica to the operator Genavir is the final step before the ship can set sail for Belgium,” said Lieven Naudts, coordinator of the ‘Measurement Service and RV Belgica’ team at the RBINS. “We are very much looking forward to continuing Belgium’s marine scientific activities with the new Belgica, launching new lines of research and thus remaining at the forefront of European marine scientific research.”

Large working area, low environmental impact

The new BELGICA has all the necessary equipment to carry out scientific campaigns from the polar to the intertropical zone, and from shallow waters to a depth of 5,000 metres.  Its exploration area covers the North Sea, far beyond the Arctic Circle, the Atlantic Ocean as far as West Africa, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Monitoring the state of the Belgian part of the North Sea will of course always remain an important action point.

The vessel is designed as a ‘green ship’, with extremely low emissions due to the treatment of the exhaust gases, thus meeting the strictest contemporary standards (MARPOL Tier III).

The research vessels Belgica and James Clark Ross, which were handed over to Ukraine by Belgium and Great Britain respectively, were given new names on Friday, 29 October 2021. This happened during a ceremony in their new Ukrainian home port Odessa. From now on, the ships will sail the seas under the names ‘Borys Aleksandrov’ and ‘Noosphere’.

The renaming ceremony was held in the Odessa seaport, in the presence of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The ceremony was part of a presidential working visit to the city. For Belgium, the honours included Mr Patrick Roose, Director of the Operational Direction Natural Environment of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS).

From her maiden voyage in 1984 until her last scientific campaign in March 2021, the RBINS was responsible for the budgetary management, scientific instrumentation and planning of the RV A962 Belgica’s scientific campaigns. The Federal Science Policy was the proud owner of the ship, and the Belgian Navy provided the crew, operational support and a berth in the home port of Zeebrugge.

After the handover to the Ukrainian authorities on 13 September 2021, a short training period of the new crew and a successful transit to Odessa (during which a complex scientific programme was also carried out), the ship – together with her former British colleague – is today the start of a new Ukrainian scientific fleet. The country has not had such a fleet before. The transfer to Ukraine was made possible by a joint EU/UNDP project, “European Union for Improving Environmental Monitoring of the Black Sea (EU4EMBLAS)”.

Borys Aleksandrov

It was President Zelenskyy himself who announced the new names of the research vessels. The Belgica was renamed in honour of the famous Ukrainian marine biologist Borys Aleksandrov, Doctor and Professor of Biological Sciences and also former director of the Institute of Marine Biology of the National Academy of Sciences. Two years ago, on 4 December 2019, he was tragically killed in a terrible fire at 25 Troitskaya Street in Odessa.

After the renaming ceremony, a roundtable discussion took place on Belgian-Ukrainian marine cooperation, blue economy, and further development of marine monitoring, initiated by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine.

Noosphere

The British icebreaker James Clark Ross was renamed ‘Noosphere’. This ship will make marine research near the Ukrainian Antarctic station Akademik Vernadsky possible again for Ukrainian scientists. During the ceremony, President Zelenskyy spoke directly to scientists currently working at this polar station.

The noosphere is supposed to be a new, higher stage in the evolution of the biosphere, connected with the development of society, which has a profound influence on natural processes. Whatever the case may be, the development of the noosphere doctrine is particularly associated with the name of Vladimir Vernadsky, the first president of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.

Read also:

https://www.ua.undp.org/content/ukraine/en/home/presscenter/pressreleases/2021/ukraine-renames-vessel-for-black-sea-environmental-monitoring.html

On Wednesday 20 October 2021, the European Marine Board (EMB) launched its Future Science Brief № 7 Addressing underwater noise in Europe: Current state of knowledge and future priorities. The publication focuses on the sources of anthropogenic sounds and the effects of noise on marine organisms and identifies research gaps and recommends priority actions for the development of proportionate mitigation strategies and effective regulation of underwater noise.

The publication can be downloaded from the EMB website and is an official output of the European Marine Board, a strategic pan-European Forum of 35 Member Organizations including key marine research performing institutes, funding agencies and university consortia. The publication was developed by the EMB working group on underwater noise.

About the Future Science Brief

The Ocean presents a cacophony of sounds originating from natural as well as anthropogenic sources. Marine organisms heavily rely on sound to communicate and understand the world around them, and are therefore potentially impacted by anthropogenic sound. However, in developing our Blue Economy and in advancing our knowledge of marine environments and ecosystems, anthropogenic noise is (sometimes) unavoidable. Understanding the potential effects of anthropogenic noise is therefore integral to addressing this conflict, as it is needed to develop proportionate mitigation strategies and effective regulation.

Next to providing an overview of our current knowledge about underwater noise, this publication highlights the priority areas for further research addressing the remaining knowledge gaps about the effects of anthropogenic noise. Furthermore, it points out the relevant actions needed to take in order to ensure ecosystem-based and precautionary legislation.

Download: Addressing underwater noise in Europe: Current state of knowledge and future priorities

 

The Belgian Federal State is represented in the EMB by the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO) and in the EMB Communications Panel by the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS).

Ten innovative EU projects to build ocean observation systems that provide input for evidence-based management of the ocean and the Blue Economy, have joined forces in the strong cluster ‘Nourishing Blue Economy and Sharing Ocean Knowledge’. Under the lead of the EuroSea project, the group published a joint policy brief listing recommendations for sustainable ocean observation and management. The cooperation is supported by the EU Horizon Results Booster and enables the group to achieve a higher societal impact. Today, 15 October 2021, the policy brief was presented to the EU.

The ocean covers 70% of the Earth’s surface and provides many ecosystem services that we cannot live without or that improve the quality of our lives. Think of the ocean’s role in climate control and providing the air we breathe and the fresh water we drink, but also of seafood, exploitable inorganic resources (such as sand and minerals), renewable energy, shipping, tourism, etc.

The Blue Economy is estimated to have the potential to further double in size by 2030, but the overall consequences of the intensification of human activities on marine ecosystems and their services (such as ocean warming, acidification, deoxygenation, sea level rise, changing distribution and abundance of fish etc.) are still poorly quantified. In addition, marine data appear fragmented, are inhomogeneous, contain data gaps and are difficult to access. This limits our capacity to sustainably manage the ocean and its resources.

Joining forces in Europe

Consequently, there is a need to develop a framework for more in-depth understanding of marine ecosystems, that links reliable, timely and fit-for-purpose ocean observations to the design and implementation of evidence-based management decisions.

To provide input to the future establishment of such a framework, ten innovative EU projects to build user-focused, interdisciplinary, responsive and sustained ocean information systems and increase the sustainability of the Blue Economy, joined forces in a strong cluster to better address key global marine challenges. Under the lead of the EuroSea project, the group translated its common concerns to recommendations and listed these in the joint policy brief ‘Nourishing Blue Economy and Sharing Ocean Knowledge. Ocean Information for Sustainable Management.’.

By speaking with one voice, the 10 projects jointly strive to achieve goals set out in the EU Green Deal, the Paris Agreement (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) and the United Nations 2021-2030 Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Ocean Development.

Toste Tanhua, EuroSea coordinator, GEOMAR: “It was great to collaborate with the other innovative projects and make joint recommendations based on different perspectives and expertise. Together we aim to concretise the value of our scientific and innovative activities so that they can achieve a high social impact”.

The full policy brief can be downloaded here, the recommendations are summarized below.

Recommendations

1. Create a European Policy Framework for Scientific Ocean Observations Long-term Funding

Both continued observations and improved biological understanding are needed to capture the full range of ocean variability, and assess oceanographic change, its ecological implications and potential impact on humanity. The observation and data delivery mechanisms should be seen as research infrastructure, which require sustainable and adequate funding. Ideally, the outcome would be a framework directive on ocean observations, that would ensure a sustainable support and better coordination of ocean observing and ocean information delivery efforts across Europe.

2. Support the Professionalisation of the Next Generation of ‘Blue Staff’

The growing Blue Economy will need more highly qualified and skilled professionals, with the Blue Digital Transformation also requiring new skills and competencies. Targeted training programmes for researchers need support. The next generation of “Blue Staff” should also be enriched by expanding efforts to increase participation of less equipped countries, attract more women, encourage young people, spread good scientific practices, facilitate exchange of personnel and attract new users to using infrastructures. This will increase employability in the both the academic and industrial marine sectors.

3. Transform Data into Knowledge by Investing in IT Observations

The combination of different technologies, which collect different kinds of data, will enable to fill in gaps in knowledge and understanding of the Blue Sector dynamics in terms of ecology, biodiversity, sensitivity to climate change and the potential for sustainable exploitation of ocean resources. Therefore, it is crucial to develop emerging technologies that study and analyse the ocean in greater detail, such as integration of modular marine low-cost sensors in existing Earth Observation Systems, promotion of Internet of Things, exploitation of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning tools, and promotion of European High Performance Computing emphasizing on cloud data storage.

4. Define Global Standards and Interoperability Practices

The oceanographic community is already developing data standardisation and interoperability, but a more formalised framework is required. This will increase data quality levels and ensure more efficient and sustainable use of ocean data and information. A systemic approach towards interoperability and shared (cross-disciplinary) metadata policy is needed. It should not matter where you submit your data to be able to harvest and multiply its impact globally while keeping provenance tracked.

5. Strengthening Citizen Science for Policy, Equitable Access, Democratization and Critical Data Contributions

Citizen participation in decision-making should be considered a way to make the policy process more transparent and accessible. By actively supporting citizen science initiatives, policy makers foster scientific education and appeal to a citizen’s natural willingness to contribute to society. Ultimately, marine observation science is made more democratic, and a new type of self-driven, sustainable and cost-efficient observatory concept is created. Mechanisms to provide feedback to citizens also need to be put in place. Citizens must also be equipped with easy-to-use systems to collect and to upload/download data.

The policy brief ‘Nourishing Blue Economy and Sharing Ocean Knowledge. Ocean Information for Sustainable Development‘ was presented today to EU representatives at the EuroSea policy feedback meeting of 15 October 2021.

Extra information

RBINS and Ocean Observation

The Operational Directorate Natural Environment (OD Nature) of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences has a long tradition in ocean observation, and fulfils this role on four levels: 1) the coordination and execution of a monitoring programme for the North Sea, 2) the study of the biotic and abiotic components of seas and oceans, and of the interactions between them, 3) the management and improvement of databases and scientific instruments (including the research vessel RV Belgica, the aerial surveillance aircraft OO-MMM and satellite applications), and 4) advising national and international policy makers and representing the Federal State of Belgium in international policy bodies.

In particular, the expertise of the research group ECODAM (ECOsystem Data Analysis and Modelling; part of RBINS/OD Nature) is closely aligned with the mission of the EuroSea project, and justifies RBINS participation in this project. ECODAM brings together some 25 highly qualified scientists with multidisciplinary backgrounds and carries out scientific research in aquatic ecosystems to improve our understanding of seas and oceans, and to better manage them based on scientific knowledge. Relevant expertise includes physical oceanography and hydrodynamic modelling (for tides, storms, waves, oil pollution, nutrients, phytoplankton, distribution of biological organisms, etc.), aquatic optics and satellite remote sensing, supporting applications and developments of mathematical models at national and international levels, and supporting federal, regional and European administrations and private sector activities.

Funding

The 10 participating projects have received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 (H2020) Research and Innovation programme under Grant Agreements: EuroSea 862626; AtlantECO 862923; Blue-Cloud 862409; EU-Atlas 678760; Eurofleets+ 824077; iAtlantic 818123; JericoS3 871153; Mission Atlantic 862428; Nautilos 101000825; ODYSSEA 727277.

Besides EuroSea, the RBINS is also a partner in the Eurofleets+ and JericoS3 projects.

The policy brief ‘Nourishing Blue Economy and Sharing Ocean Knowledge. Ocean Information for Sustainable Development‘ was produced with the support of Trust-IT Services, provider of the Horizon Results Booster funded by the European Commission, Directorate General for Research and Innovation, Unit J5, Common Service for Horizon 2020 Information and Data.

In a new report, the RBINS summarises the results of the monitoring and research of marine mammals in Belgium in 2020. Relatively few harbour porpoises washed ashore, while seals continued to gain a foothold. A minke whale, two Sowerby’s beaked whales and a leatherback turtle can be considered unusual guests.

As usual, the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS) has published an annual report on strandings and observations of marine mammals and other protected marine species in Belgium. It summarises the results of research and monitoring in 2020.

Regular guests

In 2020, 65 harbour porpoises washed ashore, a relatively low number compared to most recent years. Since 2002, only four years had less, and in some years there have been more than 100 washed up specimens. Some live porpoises died shortly after being stranded. The main cause of death of the animals that were studied was predation by the grey seal, a phenomenon that was first described only in 2012.

43 seals washed ashore dead or dying. This was comparable to the previous two years, but significantly more than in the years before that. Incidental catch was the main cause of death in the stranded seals. Sealife took care of 16 seals in distress.

Apart from the well-known resting places in the Ijzer estuary and the marina of Nieuwpoort, 2020 saw the emergence of a new haul-out site for seals (both harbour and grey) in Ostend. At first, local politicians did not want to turn Ostend’s Klein Strand into a “zoo”, but soon the animals became a tourist attraction, under the watchful eye of volunteers from the North Seal Team.

Remarkable species

The most notable strandings concerned a minke whale and two Sowerby’s beaked whales. The very young minke whale was already very weakened before it broke its mandibles, died and washed ashore. This was only the eighth documented minke whale in Belgium in the last 20 years. The previous cases involved three carcasses and four observations of live specimens. Sowerby’s beaked whales do normally not inhabit the North Sea and are only seen here very rarely. The strandings in 2020 were only the sixth and seventh known cases in Belgium. It is possible that military exercises in the Atlantic Ocean caused the strandings of this species in Belgium and neighbouring countries.

The most spectacular catch in 2020 was that of a leatherback turtle: the crew of a coastal fishing vessel was able to return the animal to the sea unharmed.

The 2020 marine mammal report (available in Dutch and French) is the result of the cooperation of the RBINS with SEALIFE Blankenberge, universities and a multitude of scientific institutions, government services, non-governmental organisations and volunteers.

The Belgian surveillance airplane OO-MMM successfully participated in the Coordinated Extended Pollution Control Operation (Super CEPCO) that was organized this week by Norway, Sweden and Denmark. During such operations, pollution control airplanes of different North Sea countries join forces and fly for several days over a key maritime risk area. This time the airplanes operated from Oslo and targeted the Skagerrak.

Super CEPCO is a multi-annual regional operation that is organised under the Bonn Agreement, the mechanism of the North Sea States to carry out surveillance as an aid to detecting and combating pollution at sea. The main objective is to perform a continuous monitoring of ship-source marine pollution by oil or other harmful substances which can be traced at the sea surface. The use of satellites for marine pollution monitoring and surveillance is also evaluated, and the chance of catching offenders red-handed is maximised.

The Belgian program of aerial surveillance over the North Sea was started in 1990 by the Management Unit of the Mathematical Model of the North Sea (MUMM), that is now part of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. The scientists equipped a former military Britten-Norman Islander aircraft for scientific assignments, and the Belgian Defense provides the pilots. An efficient cooperation between Science Policy and Defense!

The environmental monitoring instrumentation is constantly updated, keeping Belgium at the forefront of the fight against pollution at sea. By taking part in international missions, our country not only assumes its responsibility in the context of the national coast guard, but also in relation to the larger North Sea. Something we can be proud of!

Images: RBINS/MUMM