Project Information

The main objective of IRIS-SES is the development of a new concept and related decision-making tools to support integrated environmental monitoring within the MSFD framework, in order to better manage human activities and their effects in EU marine waters, specifically in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. The project will use existing sampling across various disciplines (physical, chemical, biological, etc) and will scope the potential for establishing joint programs (within and between Member States). Furthermore IRIS-SES will demonstrate a practical way of using existing resources more efficiently through for example the multiple uses of existing monitoring platforms.

IRIS-SES will pursue the above target through five well structured objectives, which are in accordance and will contribute to the objectives of the Union grant programme concerned:

• Development of integrated monitoring strategies that build on the running monitoring programmes
• Development of multidisciplinary monitoring guidelines and integrated ecosystem surveys
• Development of strategic approaches to monitor anthropogenic pressures
• Development of integrated monitoring tools and programmes at sea regions scales
• Planning for joint monitoring programmes (JMPs) in pilot regions of the under study regional seas, based whenever possible on existing monitoring programmes, looking for their optimization, in order to improve their adequacy to MSFD sampling requirements

Project Specification

• Partners: Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (coordinator, GREECE), ISOTECH Ltd (Cyprus), Spanish Institute of Oceanography (Spain), National Institute for Marine Research and Development “Grigore Antipa” (Romania), University of the Salento (Italy), Tubitak Marmara Research Centre (Turkey), Institute of Oceanography – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (Bulgaria), Plan Bleu (France), National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece)
• Duration: 01 October 2013 – 31 March 2015
• Project Acronym: IRIS-SES
• Project Title: Integrated Regional Monitoring Implementation Strategy in the South European Seas
• Funded By: European Commission – Directorate General for Environment (DG ENV)

Project Activities

The specific objectives and activities of the project are as follows:

– Develop decision-making tools in order to design efficient and cost effective monitoring programmes. ISOTECH Ltd is developing one of these decision-making tools, specifically DeCyDe-4-IRIS, and is implementing it on a pilot scale in two regional stakeholder workshops.

The fist workshop, involving Eastern Mediterranean countries,  was held in Athens, Greece, on 24th October 2014. You can read the workshop report here.

The second workshop, involving Black Sea countries, was held in Constanta, Romania on 12 January 2015. You can read the workshop report here.

– Consider possibilities for the integration of techniques and determine the required spatial and temporal resolution.

– Assess, through pilot sampling actions within existing monitoring programs, the feasibility of proposed integrated monitoring strategies.

– Elaborate guidelines for sampling across the various disciplines (biological, chemical, physical) in order to meet the MSFD requirements.

– Development of cooperation among research institutions within selected regions in the implementation of pilot projects.

– Training events.

– Transfer of knowledge to other regions.

Below you can view the IRIS-SES brochure:

DeCyDe-4-IRIS

The Decyde-4-IRIS tool was developed by Isotech. for providing a simple, though intelligent tool, to support policy makers, managers and stakeholders.

http://iris-ses.eu/decyde-4-iris/