European Marine Board IVZW

16/06/2026

🤝 ❤️ Today JPI Oceans is paying us a visit

🌊 It is so important to maintain contact with the organisations we work alongside, to update each other on respective activities and continue to seek areas of collaboration.

🙏 We are grateful that our hosts at the campus in Ostend, Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee, enable so many opportunities to interact not only with well-known faces but also with countries and organisations across the globe, helping us spread our marine science-policy messages. Thank you to Vlaamse overheid for making this possible through their generous hosting of us and other external partners! Find out more about this unique set-up here: https://www.innovoceancampus.be/en/ and https://vliz.be/en/collaborations/our-partners

15/06/2026

The public calls for evidence for the Ocean and water resilience research and innovation strategy (separate consultations but strategies to be combined) are now open for input until 2 August!

Make sure you
- https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/16392-European-ocean-research-and-innovation-strategy_en
- https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/16276-A-water-resilience-research-and-innovation-RI-strategy_en

💧 What should Europe’s water future look like?

The European Commission has launched a Call for Evidence to shape a new ocean and water research & innovation strategy. - and we want to hear your views regarding a water-resilient EU, protecting and restoring the water cycle with a source-to-sea approach!

Your input will help:

• Improve coordination of research and innovation
• Strengthen cooperation across Europe
• Support innovation and investment
• Deliver improved water quality and management

From flood prevention to sustainable cities, this strategy will impact us all.

Everyone can contribute, not just experts. Share your views and help build a water-resilient Europe ➡️ link.europa.eu/xwDtK3

Open until 2 August!

EU Environment

12/06/2026

⛱️ Supporting Europe’s coastal communities

🌊 Europe’s coastal communities live on the interface between land and sea. They are impacted by climate change, pollution, and human activities, but can also benefit from a sustainable blue economy, environmental protection and health benefits.

Recent EMB activities have discussed these complex social-ecological systems, highlighting the importance of:

- Balancing community, economy and environment in coastal policy
- Engaging coastal stakeholders in policy co-design
- Continuing research into natural and social coastal systems

🏘️ We welcome the European Commission’s first ever Strategy for Coastal Communities focusing on prosperity, resilience and liveability, which strongly echoes the messages arising from our publications.

📢 We will shortly launch a new Working Group on ‘Including coastal and Arctic processes in the ’, continuing our work focused on Europe’s coastal regions.

🔗 Meanwhile, read more about resilience here:
- Building Coastal Resilience in Europe https://www.marineboard.eu/publications/building-coastal-resilience-europe
and more about here:
- Blue Carbon: Challenges and opportunities to mitigate the climate and biodiversity crises https://www.marineboard.eu/publications/blue-carbon
- Or all of our publications https://www.marineboard.eu/publications

11/06/2026

Make sure you join us next week!

📢 Our next webinar will be held on 18 June 2026 at 13:00 CEST

🎤EMBracing the Ocean artist-in-residence Yara Costa and her scientific collaborator Myriam Beck from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin will speak about their EMBracing the Ocean project "Tidal Voices".

🎵 The project explores the interaction between science and ancient oral tradition of the coastal communities along Mozambique's Swahili coast to protect marine biodiversity and stengthen our bond with the Ocean.

🔗 You can find out more and register here: https://www.marineboard.eu/events/emb-science-webinar-tidal-voices

UN Ocean Decade

10/06/2026

🖼️ “Shadow Over Water” Exhibition: Art That Speaks About the Future of Ukraine’s Seas

🌊 Two of our former artists are collaborating on an exhibition dedicated to the fragility of Ukraine’s marine ecosystems and the challenges they face due to climate change, human activity, and the consequences of war. Ukrainian artist Lera Litvinova brings her "Under the Surface" series of ceramic works which are created from Ukrainian clay extracted from the quarries of Sloviansk. The works metaphorically recreate the wounded relief of the seabed and the invisible life beneath the water’s surface, alongside other works. These installations are accompanied by a sound portrait of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov developed from marine scientific satellite obervations data composed by Michael Begg. “Shadow Over Water” is an open dialogue between art, science, and ecology

🎤 The exhibition opening on 11 June 2026 at 18:00 will include an open conversation with Lera.

📍 11 June 2026 - 10 June 2027
📍 Green Val Eco-Space, Greenpeace Ukraine, 40 Verkhniy Val Street, Kyiv
📍 Visitor registration required: https://forms.gle/nLvEZ4G6D5ChGMmv9

09/06/2026

🎬 Its a wrap on the RHE-MEDiation project

💡 This Mission Ocean and Waters project ran for three years, during which it tested and validate a chemical pollution remediation technology based on micro-algae solutions. These solutions could be integrated within existing water/wastewater treatment systems to enhance the removal of heavy metals, pesticides, and PFAS and forever chemicals. The system, tested at sites in Italy, Greece and Turkiye, was complemented with mobile and fixed sensing systems to identify and measure the presence of chemical substances in both land and marine waters, with data feeding in EMODnet and .

📗 We led the publication of the project Policy Brief, engaged with policy stakeholders and supported dissemination activities, including at a stand during European Maritime Day 2026.

📺 Project Coordinator Luca Ricci from RINA gave a short interview to CINEA - European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency during to explain the project - watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/L7TcbX63dzw

🔗 You can find out all about the project and its outputs here: https://rhemediation.eu/index.html and our role in it here: https://www.marineboard.eu/rhe-mediation.

08/06/2026

🎂 Happy 15th anniversary to our friends at JPI Oceans!

What a great way to celebrate - check out their Photo and Art Contest, open to all! 👇

📢 JPI Oceans’ Photo & Art Contest just opened!

Fifteen years of joint ocean research is also fifteen years of finding ways to share it with the world. On this , we wanted to make something special happen: we are inviting artists and photographers to take our Joint Actions as inspiration and show us what they see.

We welcome submissions from professionals and enthusiastic amateurs alike, from Europe and beyond.

🏆 Prize: €1,000 for the winner and €500 for each of two runners-up
📅 Deadline: 6 September 2026

Full details and terms at https://www.jpi-oceans.eu/en/celebrating-15-years-jpi-oceans-photo-and-art-contest

08/06/2026

🌊 Its - so what better way to celebrate than with a whole week of events!

💻 This week is the first Digital Ocean Week, taking place in Brussels, Belgium with online livestream. The event will link to the EU Ocean Pact, OceanEye and the role of AI for the Ocean. We look forward to the discussions, linking to our own upcoming Working Group on Coastal and Arctic Digital Twin Oceans, as well as our work in the SURIMI Project.

🔗 You can find out more and follow along here: https://events.marine.copernicus.eu/digital-ocean-week

04/06/2026

🌍 We are at !

🐟 Come and find us at the SURIMI Project stand to find out more about social-ecological models and user-friendly tools which will be integrated into the Digital Twin Ocean (DTO) to facilitate ecosystem-based fisheries management!

📗 You can also pick up an EMB document while you are there 😉

🔗 Find out more about the project here: https://www.surimi-project.eu/ Want to stay more directly in touch? Then join the Stakeholder Forum: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfFD92s_OUc4Iuk3R_mz8EeP8mOtRL5dHHurmyyE7qB7J6mZw/viewform

04/06/2026

🗺️🌊📈 OceanEye: Europe’s leadership in recognising Ocean Observing as vital public good

Ocean observation is essential for addressing current gaps in marine knowledge in order to predict and mitigate the impacts of climate change, enhance the competitiveness of economic activities at sea, and contribute to maritime security. This is highlighted in all advice provided by the European Marine Board.

While efforts have been made in the past to overcome fragmentation, limited coordination, weak alignment and insufficient long-term sustainability, is a timely response to help addressing these long-standing structural challenges in European Ocean governance and Ocean observation.

We welcome that the European Commission has heard our call and is supporting Ocean Observing with:
🌐 € 50 Million from Horizon Europe to strengthen the EU’s contribution to the Global Ocean Observing System .
📏 € 12 Million from Horizon Europe to safeguard and maintain key international marine in-situ data flows .
📊 € 30 Million for a European Innovation Council thematic challenge on ocean observation technologies .

We will shortly launch a new Working Group on ‘The marine research contribution to the European Ocean observation landscape’, playing our part to deliver the system we need.

Meanwhile, read more about here:
- Sustaining in situ Ocean Observations in the Age of the Digital Ocean https://www.marineboard.eu/publications/sustaining-situ-ocean-observations-age-digital-ocean
- Strengthening Europe's Capability in Biological Ocean Observations https://www.marineboard.eu/publication/strengthening-europes-capability-biological-ocean-observations
- Or all out publications https://www.marineboard.eu/publications

EU Maritime & Fish EU Science & Innovation