The kick-off meeting of the ECOSS project was held in Venice from 12th to 14th March, hosted by the project lead partner – CNR ISMAR. The project involves 10 partner organizations from Italy and Croatia, all collaborating towards achieving a complex and challenging goal: the establishment of The Ecological Observing System in the Adriatic Sea – ECOAdS. This observing system will incorporate both biological and oceanographic data into an online platform that provides ecological indices which are easy to interpret and ready to use by conservation professionals. Thus, the kick-off meeting was a great opportunity to exchange experiences, strengthen the partnership and elaborate the action plan for many interrelated project activities. Among these are reviews and gap analyses on the current state of knowledge of Natura 2000 species and habitats and oceanographic monitoring systems in the Adriatic, conceptual development and implementation of ECOAdS, involvement of stakeholders, integration with decision-making in conservation initiatives and so on.

As a partner on the project, Blue World Institute is in charge of project’s communication and visibility actions, collaborating closely with other partners with the aim to engage the next generation of marine scientists and conservationists, and to promote the ECOAdS throughout the science-policy-public interface. We are thrilled to participate in this interdisciplinary project and are looking forward to present you the outcomes as the project evolves.