UK becomes ocean champion with 41 new Marine Conservation Zones

  The UK government has announced today that it will create 41 new Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs), taking the new total of MCZs in the UK to 91 Zones, which together cover 32,000 km² (over 12.300 square miles). The move to designate more sites in British waters is welcomed by marine conservation organisation Oceana, and … Read more

Filling gaps in knowledge of North Sea benthic biodiversity

The North Sea is one of the best-studied marine areas in the world, yet serious gaps remain in the knowledge -and therefore also in the protection- of its benthic biodiversity. Although the current network of marine protected areas (MPAs) covers roughly 22% of the North Sea, most of the MPAs are designed to target only … Read more

2016: North Sea expedition: Towards a stronger MPA network

The North Sea (OSPAR Region II: Greater North Sea) is one of the busiest seas in the world. The impacts of intense anthropogenic activities in the area, including industrial fisheries and fossil fuel extraction, have perturbed the natural state of its ecosystems, which currently face major problems such as pollution, overfishing, habitat disturbance and eutrophication. … Read more

Press event and farewells

This morning I woke-up tired. Maybe it was from the weight of many long days of work at sea. Or maybe it was the motionless boat at the harbor making sleeping light than normal. I don’t know, but either way I was happy knowing that this was the last day. Sad too, as it meant … Read more