The MISTIC SEAS project has aimed to design a common methodology for the monitoring of marine biodiversity in the Macaronesia region, focusing on the populations of cetacean, turtle and seabird species.

The MISTIC SEAS project, an acronym for Macaronesia Islands Standard Indicators and Criteria: Reaching Common Grounds on Monitoring Marine Biodiversity in Macaronesia, has aimed to design a common methodology for the monitoring of marine biodiversity in the Macaronesia region, focusing on the populations of cetacean, turtle and seabird species and to establish a common roadmap to improve coordination in the implementation of the Macaronesia Framework Directive. Marine Strategy in Spain and Portugal (Canary Islands, Azores and Madeira).

The project, co-financed by the European Commission and running from December 2015 to February 2017, was coordinated by the Regional Fund for Science and Technology (Regional Government of the Azores) and had as partners the Regional Directorate for Marine Affairs (Regional Government of the Azores), the Regional Secretariat for Environment and Natural Resources (Regional Government of Madeira), the General Directorate of Natural Resources, Safety and Maritime Services of the Government of Portugal, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment of Spain through the General Directorate of Sustainability of the Coast and the Sea and the Biodiversity Foundation and the Spanish Institute of Oceanography.

MISTIC SEAS was part of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, a community policy for the marine environment that aims to achieve a framework within which Member States take the necessary measures to achieve or maintain good environmental status in the marine environment by 2020. To this end, coordination between States was a fundamental step to create synergies, even more so in the Macaronesian subregion, one of the largest in European seas, with the most biodiversity and also one of the least information available.