ECASA Progress Report

December 2004

ECASA

December 2004 Progress Report

Partner 1. Scottish Association for Marine Science SAMS

WP1

Coordination

·  Establishment of Coordination secretariat at SAMS.

·  Organisation, and participation in project start up meeting and workshop discussions

·  Collation and distribution of project start up meeting minutes

·  Attendance at meeting by Kenny Black, Shona Magill Chris Cromey Averil Wilson

·  Contract signed by Jacques Fuchs on behalf of the EU on 17/12/04

·  Issue and Collation of Accession to the Contract forms from the 15 partners

·  Collation of all 15 partners Bank details

Partner 2 University of Portsmouth. UOP

·  Attendance at kick-off meeting, Oban, December 8 – 9.

·  Consultation with UoP colleagues about staffing and resource implications of the ECASA project.

·  Literature and data searches mainly in relation to WP2.

·  Work on developing a conceptual framework for socio-economic indicators.

Partner 3. Napier University. NUE.

·  Prepare and attend kick-off meeting at DML.

·  Work on assimilative capacity model of Loch Creran.

·  Set up internal structures for financial management.

Partner 4. National Institute of Biology. NIB

No report filed for December.

Partner 5. Leibniz-Institut für Meereswissenschaften IFM-GEOMAR.

·  Participated in kick-off meeting in Oban.

·  Problems with employment at IFM-GEOMAR due to legal uncertainties

·  Discussions with a student from Libya about the possibility of a PhD thesis supporting the ECASA project.

Partner 6. Akvaplan.

·  Jos Kögeler participated in the ECASA start-up meeting in Oban, Scotland

Partner 7. Haifa University.

·  WP01: Project Co-ordination - nothing to report.

·  WP02: Identifying and quantifying the most relevant indicators of the interactions of aquaculture on ecosystems - initial literature search for existing indicators used in national aquaculture monitoring schemes in Europe and Canada.

·  WP03: Identifying and quantifying the main driving forces of ecosystem changes influencing the aquaculture sector and developing the appropriate environmental indicators - nothing to report.

·  WP04: Assessing the applicability (efficiency, cost effectiveness, robustness, practicality, feasibility, accuracy, precision, etc) of selected indicators and developing operational tools, e.g. models, establishing the functional relationship between environment and aquaculture activities - nothing to report.

·  WP05: Testing and validating these tools in order to include them in a methodology for Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) and effective site selection - preparation of a ppt presentation for WP5 for the Oban meeting.

·  WP06: Dissemination - nothing to report.

Partner 8. University of Crete. UOC

·  Preparation of the presentation on guidelines for the participants involved in WP3.

·  Participation in the "Kick Off" meeting for ECASA in Oban (7-8 December 2004).

·  Arrangement of administration details for the project.

·  Internal meetings for the organisation of the UoC group participating in ECASA.

·  Drafting guidelines for WP3 (in progress).

·  Planning participants' involvement in sub-WPs per major area (Atlantic, Mediterranean, Baltic).

·  Preparation of dissemination material on ECASA project for the "Sustainable Aquaculture" workshop organised by IPTS Seville on January 17th and 18th 2005.

Partner 9. Plymouth Marine Laboratory. PML

·  Staff at PML attended ECASA Planning Meeting at SAMS, Oban on 8 – 9 December 2004 (Hawkins, Pascoe, Parry).

·  Actions: There were no specific actions for PML from the meeting apart from those included in this communication (Staff, Monthly Reporting and Publications).

·  Work: During December some time was spent designing and building new experimental flow-through chambers and running laboratory trials with equipment on loan, in preparation for future field-work at the sites selected for the project.

Partner 10. Instituto do Mar IMAR.

·  Coordination: A kick-off meeting for the ECASA project was held at SAMS on the 8th and 9th of December 2004. Dr John D. Icely attended the meeting in representation of IMAR and reported back to IMAR.

·  Identify drivers: IMAR is working on identify different forcing factors, impacts on aquaculture and incompatibility /distance issues at the Ria Formosa site.

·  Test indicators: Collaboration on calibration of shellfish models was discussed with partners PML and DCF_UNIVE. The ASSETS type approach was suggested as a more appropriate tool for modelling the effect of aquaculture on the environment and vice-versa.

·  Develop Environmental Impact Assessment methodology for effective site Selection: Two possible sites in Portugal were discussed:

A)  the Ria Formosa, a coastal lagoon also studied in OAERRE, an important site for bivalve aquaculture (clams and oysters)

B)  Sagres, an exposed Atlantic site (oysters).

·  Dissemination: Alice Newton was invited to make a lecture tour in China between 13 and 18 of December. The lectures were on European research projects. A presentation was given about the ECASA project at Ningbo University. The presentation is available from the site http://free.ys168.com/?marinebiol and the file is ECASA Ningbo.ppt 1.8MB

Partner 11. Central Institute for Marine Research ICRAM.

·  ICRAM is involved in WP5 and will start the field activity in the second year of the project.

·  In the first step we cared to forward all the documents to our administrative office for their management.

·  We talked with the other Italian partner involved in ECASA, Dr. Roberto Pastres, about the Oban meeting and he said he found a very good atmosphere among the attendances. We express again our regret but it was really impossible to attend the meeting.

·  We are waiting for the Consortium Agreement to see how will be regulate the relations among the coordinator and the partners.

·  At the end of this month we will have a meeting with Roberto Pastres to discuss together the Italian contribution to the project.

Partner 12. Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer IFREMER

·  Literature and data searches mainly in relation to WP2.

·  Attendance at kick-off meeting by Alain Bodoy and Jean-Louis Martin

·  Work on developing draft indicator sheet for indicators on the impact of aquaculture

·  Arrangement of administrative planning for the project.

·  Internal meetings on participation to WP 3 and 5

Partner 13. FUNDACIÓN AZTI - AZTI FUNDAZIOA AZTI.

·  Attendance to the Oban meeting by Iñigo Muxika and Julien Mader (AZTI staff).

·  Initiate the compilation of some information and bibliography on benthic indicators for the corresponding WP. The information is being compiled under EndNote format.

Partner 14. Università Ca' Foscari di Venezia UNIVE-IT

·  Following the suggestions which were put forward at the Oban meeting, we got in touch with NIB, Slovenia, and RBI, Croatia, in order to coordinate the future work, with the aim of identifying indicators and model which would suit the characteristics of the Adriatic sea.

·  As regards our specific tasks in WP2 and WP3, we started a thorough literature search, concerning the identification and quantification of the impact of off-shore mussel culture.

·  As far as the western Adriatic coast is concerned, those problems have been investigated only recently and the results of most studies have not yet been published in widely accessible scientific journal. However, we were able to access a number of reports, in Italian, which deal with the above issues.

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Partner 15. Rudjer Boskovic Institute RBI

·  Preparation for the kick-off meeting and sending a presentation on experiences and the anticipated work of RBI on WP 2 and 3.

·  Study of the indicators which measure effects of aquacultures on ecosystems and discussions by the RBI staff.

·  Preparation for the meeting of the partners from the Adriatic Sea

Partner 16. Göteborgs Universitet UGOT

·  Preparing for, travelling to and attending the ECASA kick-off meeting in Oban 8-9 December 2004.

·  Evaluating candidates for our announced Phd position. The candidate will work on the ECASA project with development of the water quality model.

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