© TUDAV (Turkish Marine Research Foundation)s
AT A GLANCE Project Information
Project Title: CoCoNet: Towards COast to COast NETworks of marine protected areas (from the shore to the high and deep sea), coupled with sea-based wind energy potential.
Project Objective: There are two main objectives. One is to prepare guidelines to identify, design and manage networks of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Mediterranean and the Black Seas based on maintaining effective exchanges (biological and hydrological) between protected areas. The other is to explore where Offshore Wind Farms (OWFs) might be established, producing an enriched wind atlas both for the Mediterranean and the Black Seas.
currently treats only the sea floor as a marine habitat. These areas are then subdivided further, into plankton, crustaceans and other sub units of the ecosystem. The principle behind CoCoNet has been to integrate all of these sub units to try and bring a more holistic approach to conservation in the region. One of the biggest challenges for the
project has been to work out what a natural unit of conservation should be. The final consensus was that conservation units should consist of volumes, and not just areas, because they include the water column, the most widespread environment of the planet. This allows the high seas and the deep seas to be conserved through the networks of MPAs. The identification of natural conservation
units has been one of the outstanding achievements of CoCoNet. These units are defined as the Cells of Ecosystem Functioning (CEFs), and are based on both oceanographic and ecological processes, arranged in space so as to account for both patterns (biodiversity distribution) and processes (ecosystem functioning). The CEF concept can be extended to all marine systems, since they integrate the coast, the sea bottom and the water column.
www.projectsmagazine.eu.com Manmade structures such as shipwrecks
that end up on the seafloor are capable of harbouring all sorts of life, providing space for life on muddy or sandy seafloors. Sea fans, sponges and corals can colonise the structures which then in turn attract fish, thus establishing a whole new ecosystem. The researchers from CoCoNet have been investigating this concept with the idea that offshore wind platforms could provide rich habitats that act as stepping-stones between MPAs as well as providing clean energy. The guidelines produced through the project give a number of recommendations for the installation of offshore wind farms, and a smart wind atlas has also been created. A stakeholder meeting in January 2016
was held, with Members of European Parliament as well as representatives from Black Sea countries such as Turkey present. The day was dedicated to presenting the findings of the CoCoNet project in relevant terms to policy makers, academics and industrial leaders. As Özturk summarises: “The sea is a system. Protecting hotspots of biodiversity without providing a network of protection is a hopeless enterprise, and this is a message that must be conveyed to politicians and other stakeholders in the Mediterranean and Black Seas.”
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Project Duration and Timing: 4 years from 1 February 2012 to 31 January 2016
Project Funding: European Union (FP7)
Project Partners: 39 partners from 22 countries, see
http://www.coconet-fp7.eu/index. php/partners
MAIN CONTACT
Professor Ferdinando Boero Email:
boero@unisalento.it Web:
www.coconet-fp7.eu
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