Maritime, Ocean Sector and Ecosystem Sustainability: fostering blue growth in Atlantic marine industries (MOSES)

The MOSES Project started in February 2018 and is funded under Priority 4 (Enhancing biodiversity and the natural and cultural assets), Objective 4.1 (Improving the protection of biodiversity and ecosytems services) of the Interreg Atlantic Area Programme 2014-2020.

The objective of the MOSES project is to examine the ‘blue’ growth path for the sustainable development of the major sectors operating in the Atlantic space as envisaged in the Atlantic Action Plan. MOSES will quantify blue growth for key marine sectors and develop a common methodology for the quantitative assessment of sectoral pressures on the marine environment and the vulnerability of marine and coastal areas. The methodology will contribute to the joint implementation of integrated marine industry sustainability assessment toolkits across the Atlantic region.

To achieve these aims the consortium will work on four major blocks:

(i)         Evaluate the evolution of the Atlantic marine sectors using the previous Atlantic Area project MARNET framework;

(ii)        Examine the sectoral pressures on the Atlantic marine environment in order to identify best management practices;

(iii)       Assess the vulnerability of coastal marine areas/features to marine sector to the identified sectoral pressures;

(iv)       Using case studies, develop sustainable transition plans to blue growth for a number of key marine sectors and test policies for how well they manage activities to meet Marine Spatial Planning and Maritime Strategy Framework Directive goals.

Project outputs:

Database

• Develop a European Atlantic Marine Industry trend database: Database available at: http://mosesproject.eu/wp4map/
• Develop heat maps of vulnerability/capacity of Atlantic regions to grow while preserving the marine environment http://mosesproject.eu/wp6webmap/

Project PARTNERS

• National University of Ireland, Galway (Lead), (IE);
• Queen’s University Belfast, (UK);
• Northern & Western Regional Assembly, (IE);
• Fundación AZTI – AZTI Fundazioa, (ES);
• Institut français de recherche pour l’exploitation de la mer, (FR);
• FORO MARITIMO VASCO, (ES);
• Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigação Marinha e Ambiental, (PT);
• Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea / Universidad del País Vasco, (ES).