Delegates from the EU-funded High resolution Copernicus-Based Information Services at Sea for Ports and Aquaculture (HiSea project) recently participated in two important conferences for professionals in related fields from across Europe and the world.

Anna Spinosa, of HiSea Coordinator Deltares, represented the HiSea project at Aquaculture Europe 2019, the annual conference of the European Aquaculture Society (EAS). The event titled “Our future – Growing from Water”, was held on October 7-10 in Berlin. The conference drew more than 2,700 participants from 85 countries.

Spinosa presented the HiSea project at the conference’s poster session on Environmental and Ecosystem Management and discussed HiSea with other participants.

“Connections with several aquaculture users and researchers have been made; this will help to design the HiSea platform and to guarantee a quick uptake of the project’s services,” Spinosa said. “By providing users with real-time monitoring of physical and water quality parameters, and allowing a more accurate planning of marine activities, HiSea services can be incorporated into Aquaculture 4.0 technologies.”



Shortly thereafter, Spinosa represented HiSea again at the fourteenth International MEDCOAST Congress on Coastal and Marine Sciences, Engineering, Management & Conservation, held October 22-26 in Marmaris, Turkey.

At the Medcoast congress, Spinosa presented HiSea within the Coastal Management Tools and Instruments session, chaired by Prof. Frank van der Meulen.

HiSea was “highly appreciated for its deployment of new and advanced technologies for the monitoring of water quality,” Spinosa noted. Forecast tools are very likely to enhance improved management of the coastal environments and to support Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM), Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) and Blue Growth (Economy), she said.

Additionally, the Marmaris congress provided HiSea with contacts towards possible networking and collaboration initiatives, Spinosa said.

“The Mediterranean basin is a biodiversity-rich region with unique ecosystems but is changing quickly in response to both natural and human pressures,” Spinosa commented.

“Coherent approaches to maritime issues and increased coordination among policies and regulations, both at national and regional scale, were discussed during the MEDCOAST conference. Building up cooperation between countries and marine authorities/decision-makers can provide the Mediterranean’s unique features major local opportunities for blue growth and jobs, including tourism, marine renewable, port activities, mariculture and fisheries,” she concluded.

The HiSea manuscripts was published in MEDCOAST 19 conference Proceeding. A hard copy was handed out at the conference and the conference proceedings are most likely to be found under publications soon (https://www.medcoast.net/).