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Annual activities 2016
Summary
This is an annual report (not a health study) from JPI Oceans, a European research network focused on ocean health, summarizing their 2016 activities. Key highlights include research showing that deep-sea mining could threaten unique and fragile ocean life, and the kickoff of coordinated research projects studying microplastic pollution in our oceans, work that matters because these tiny plastic particles can enter the food chain and potentially affect the seafood we eat. The report also mentions efforts to standardize water quality testing across countries, helping ensure consistent environmental protections.
2016 has been a year with several milestones for JPI Oceans and its members.At the last Management Board meeting in Berlin the member countries confirmed their commitment to set up a legal entity for JPI Oceans.The broad support we received to establish this new legal entity bodes well for the next year in which we will see this new entity come to light.However, our efforts within JPI Oceans were not only focused on the future governance.After the launch of our Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda, important milestones were reached in implementing the JPI Oceans activities and projects.In the summer, we organised together with the MiningImpact project a side-event at the 22nd Session of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) allowing the scientists to present the latest research results on the environmental impacts of deep-sea mining and discuss with the delegates how the marine environment could be most effectively protected.The scientists involved in the project also published their findings in Nature's Scientific Reports, demonstrating that polymetallic nodule fields are hotspots of abundance and diversity for a highly vulnerable abyssal fauna.It was our pleasure as well seeing the JPI Oceans microplastics projects having their kick-off meeting at the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness in Madrid, agreeing on greater cooperation and coordination across the four projects.While conducting their scientific activities the projects also took the initiative to communicate their science to policy makers with presentations at the European Parliament and the UN headquarters in New-York.We proved this year as well that actions with a smaller budget can have a big impact and lasting effects.As a prime example, the action on intercalibration for the Water Framework Directive which is having an impact on the thresholds for environmental quality that the participating countries are legally bound to reach.