The Ministry for the Ecological Transition has hosted the last management committee of the MISTIC SEAS 2 project “Application of a coherent and coordinated subregional approach to monitoring and evaluation of marine biodiversity in Macaronesia for the second cycle of the Marine Strategies Framework Directive”, of which the Directorate General for Sustainability of the Coast and the Sea and the Biodiversity Foundation are partners. both from the Ministry for Ecological Transition. The objective of the project is to improve coordination between Spain and Portugal for the implementation of the Marine Strategies Framework Directive (MSFD).

This project has been running since March 2017, and during these two years the competent authorities of Spain and Portugal in terms of the implementation of marine strategies have collaborated to design and implement common monitoring programmes for marine mammals, birds and turtles for the Macaronesian subregion, which includes the marine demarcation of the Canary Islands. as well as the marine waters around the Azores and Madeira archipelagos.

Two oceanographic campaigns (one coastal and one oceanic) have been carried out in each of the three archipelagos (Azores, Madeira and the Canary Islands), as well as bird censuses. In the Canary Islands, two teams of researchers carried out campaigns to monitor cetacean and turtle populations throughout the Canary archipelago, where two large groups of spotted dolphins were located, with more than 500 specimens, one in the north of Lanzarote and the other in La Palma, something that also happened in Madeira. In total, they made 181 sightings of seven species of cetaceans and loggerhead turtles, distributed as follows: 90 turtles, 53 pilot whales, 29 bottlenose dolphins, 5 Atlantic spotted dolphins and one striped dolphins, Fraser’s dolphins, sperm whales and beaked whales. In addition, they captured 21 turtles, of which three ended up in a marine wildlife recovery center due to gillnet injuries.

Within the framework of the project, the “Macaronesian Roof Report (MRR)” document has also been prepared, which includes the description of the criteria and the species assessed, together with the compilation of the results obtained during the implementation of the pilot monitoring programmes, but also of other additional data available from other projects or government management programmes. This report, which has recently been submitted to public consultation simultaneously in both countries, will be the basis for Member States, Portugal and Spain, to comply with the obligations of the MSFD.  

On the other hand, the Biodiversity Foundation has developed a communication and awareness programme on the natural marine values of this region, with the preparation of informative, didactic and good practice materials, as well as the holding of 10 seminars with 600 participants, 9 activities with 350 schoolchildren and an exhibition that has been visited by almost 50,000 people. All materials are available on the METER project website .

With this management committee, held in Madrid, MISTIC SEAS 2 comes to an end. In the third part of the project, MISTIC SEAS 3, recently approved by the European Commission and which will run from March 2019 to March 2021, the assessment of the environmental status of the marine environment will be addressed based on descriptor 4 of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, food webs, which are the set of food chains in an ecosystem.

Interested in learning more about the Mistic Seas 2 project?
The project, which runs from March 2017 to March 2019, has a a total budget of EUR 1.3 million and 80% co-financing from the European Commission. It is coordinated by the Regional Fund for Science and Technology (Regional Government of the Azores, Portugal), and has as partners the Regional Directorate for Marine Affairs, Regional Government of the Azores (Portugal); the Regional Secretariat for Environment and Natural Resources, Regional Government of Madeira, Portugal; the General Directorate of Natural Resources, Security and Maritime Services of the Ministry of the Sea of Portugal; the General Directorate of Sustainability of the Coast and the Biodiversity Foundation, both of the Ministry for Ecological Transition  the Government of Spain; the General Directorate for the Protection of the Natural Environment of the Government of the Canary Islands; the Regional Agency for the Development of Research and Technology and Innovation of the Azores (ARDITI); and the Spanish Institute of Oceanography.

The first edition of MISTIC SEAS received the Atlantic Project Awards from the European Commission, which recognizes it as a project developed in the geographical area covered by the Atlantic Strategy and that is relevant to implement the Atlantic Action Plan within the framework of the Marine Strategies.