The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and the Environment today hosted the first Scientific Committee of the LIFE IP INTEMARES project, the largest marine environment conservation project in Spain, coordinated by the Ministry through the Biodiversity Foundation, for the effective management of an entire network of marine protected areas.

The Ministry’s Director General of Coastal and Sea Sustainability, Raquel Orts, inaugurated this committee, which was attended by representatives of the General Secretariat for Fisheries, as well as leading scientists and experts from more than twenty research centres, universities, conservation organisations, associations and companies linked to the marine environment.  

In the field of research and conservation, the LIFE IP INTEMARES has the challenge, in the next eight years, of improving the knowledge of the Natura 2000 Network in the marine environment, its species and habitats in order to manage these spaces in an effective and participatory way.  

To this end, oceanographic campaigns will be carried out in marine areas not studied in order to improve the connectivity and representativeness of the Natura 2000 Network. It is also   They will study in a complementary way those areas already declared and in which it is essential to have more information to draw up coherent management plans. In addition, the creation of 9 new spaces will be proposed.

Innovation is one of the main axes of the project and, in this line, the use of new observation, data analysis and information management technologies will be explored to contribute to an efficient monitoring and surveillance of the Natura 2000 Network in the marine environment.

The society will also participate in improving knowledge of the marine environment. With the citizen science programme, a scientific research network will be created made up of citizens, scientists and professionals to provide and validate data referring to this Natura 2000 Network of habitats, species and impacts.

These actions have been addressed in this first meeting of the Scientific Committee, an advisory and consultative body that aims to provide scientific, environmental and technical criteria for decision-making on the actions of the project.