The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and the Environment, through the Directorate General for Sustainability of the Coast and the Sea and the Biodiversity Foundation, are participating these days in Lisbon in the kick-off meeting of the MISTIC SEAS II project. This is a Spanish-Portuguese initiative that aims to implement the marine biodiversity monitoring programmes designed in the first part of the project, strengthen regional coherence and coordination and prepare the next steps of the second cycle of the Marine Strategies Framework Directive. These monitoring programmes will collect the data needed to determine the environmental status of the waters of marine mammals, turtles and seabirds in the Macaronesia subregion (Canary Islands, Madeira and Azores).

In the  In the first part of the project, in which more than 35 experts from various governmental, technical and scientific entities from Spain and Portugal have worked, a joint Action Plan for Macaronesia has been drawn up, with public participation, and which has been approved at this meeting by all the partners of the initiative. The document sets the route for both countries to prioritise the implementation of the Marine Strategies Framework Directive in the short, medium and long term and to meet the established deadlines. Within the framework of the MISTIC SEAS , joint actions have been carried out to achieve a review of the initial assessments, the knowledge gaps and the definition of Good Environmental Status. In addition, a Common Monitoring Strategy has been developed for marine mammals, turtles and seabirds in this subregion. Awareness-raising actions have also been carried out, such as the preparation of a technical publication, an informative publication and networking tasks.

The new project MITIC SEAS II (application of a coherent and coordinated sub-regional approach to monitoring and assessment of marine biodiversity in Macaronesia for the second cycle of the Marine Strategies Framework Directive), which will end on 31 March 2019, has a total budget of 1.3 million euros and 80% co-financing from the European Commission. It is coordinated by the Regional Government of Azores (Portugal) and has as partners the Government of Portugal, the Regional Governments of Azores and Madeira, the Government of the Canary Islands, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment and the Spanish Institute of Oceanography.