REDRESS aims to make a fundamental contribution to the EU’s commitments to restore degraded ecosystems, particularly in deep marine environments. REDRESS will provide solutions to identify priority actions for the restoration of deep-sea habitats and demonstrate the feasibility, potential, and value for the success of deep-sea marine ecosystem restoration. The project will focus on habitats with significant potential to contribute to carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation but have been degraded by deep-sea fishing, particularly trawling. Specifically, we will study vulnerable marine ecosystems identified by various species, including sea pens, octocorals on mobile sediments, and sponges. REDRESS will map degraded deep-sea marine habitats and identify refuge areas to prioritize restoration efforts in light of future climate change scenarios. REDRESS will provide solutions to public authorities and operators to promote ecosystem restoration in deep marine environments. Building on the experience of MERCES, REDRESS will go beyond the state of the art, developing new methodologies, utilizing sophisticated technologies, defining success indicators, and expanding target habitats to include cold seeps. The results will enable significant progress in the EU’s marine restoration strategy. The project will also provide socio-economic data, protocols, and tools to plan and expand restoration interventions in deep-sea habitats.
The project involves collaboration among 25 partners coordinated by the Polytechnic University of the Marche.
Project partners:
Polytechnic University of the Marche – UNIVPM Italy
Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior De Investigaciones Científicas – CSIC Spain
Institut français de recherche pour l’exploitation de la Mer – IFREMER France
Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel – GEOMAR Germany
Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research – NIOZ Netherlands
Hellenic Centre for Marine Research – HCMR Greece
National Oceanography Centre – NOC UK
National University of Ireland – Galway Ireland
Universidade de Aveiro – Uaveiro Portugal
Göteborgs Universitet – UGOT Sweden
University of Haifa – UH Israel
REV OCEAN – OCEAN REV Norway
Marine and Freshwater Research Institute – MFRI Iceland
National research Council – CNR Italy
University of Edinburgh – UEDIN UK
Sorbonne University – SU France
Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences – HVHL Netherlands
Stazione Zoologica di Napoli Anton Dohrn – SZN Italy
ESI-Ltd – ESI Cyprus
DEESS – DEESS France
ECOREACH SME-Ltd – ECOREACH Italy
Society for Ecological Restoration – SERE Belgium
Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research – IOLR Israel
Promoting technological and non-technological solutions for innovation in the adoption of Small Scale Fisheries and aquaculture in the Adriatic-Ionian Basin.
The research activities of the Institute are carried out in the context of research, development and innovation projects, both national and international, based on regional funding programs (POR FEAMPA - Regional Operational Program of the European Maritime Affairs Fisheries Fund and Aquaculture and POR FESR - Regional Operational Program of the European Regional Development Fund) or ministerial (PRIN - Projects of relevant national interest, PNRA - National Research Program in Antarctica, PO FEAMPA - National Operational Program European Maritime Affairs Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund) , programs for European Territorial Cooperation (Interreg), direct funding programs of the European Commission (Horizon2020 and Horizon Europe, Life, JPI - Joint Programming Initiatives, ERA-NET Cofund) and thematic collaboration initiatives managed by international organizations such as, for example , the FAO - GFCM (General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean). The Institute also develops funded projects in the context of collaborations with private companies in the sectors of the blue economy as well as technology transfer and research results. Research projects, mainly of a collaborative nature, are developed through a wide network of partners that include major Italian and foreign research institutions and universities.