European Tracking Network (ETN) Workshop

On 19-20 April, the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) hosted a two-day workshop to address several questions to enable such ETN network to become active and operational.

Towards a better data transfer to and from the maritime economy

The COLUMBUS project published the document ‘'Use and sharing of marine observations and data by industry' that addresses the specific needs, bottlenecks and challenges regarding the use of marine data by the industry. The publication contains a number of recommendations and some good practices in order to obtain a better data flow from and to the maritime economy, and to enhance Blue Growth.

Double EurOBIS/OBIS training in Poland

From 3 till 7 April, the EurOBIS Data Management Team provided a double training workshop in Poland. During both workshops, the participants were submerged into EurOBIS & OBIS, and other related initiatives such as EMODnet Biology and LifeWatch, and how all these initiatives relate to GBIF. Next to a general introduction, the participants were trained in how to process their own datasets to submit them to EurOBIS, from where they will flow to OBIS.

Open call to design a new logo for the World Register of Marine Species

2017 is the tenth anniversary year of WoRMS. One of the major actions planned for this year is a re-vamping of the WoRMS website. This will include a brand-new logo.

Preparations to launch DiatomBase enter their final stage

Last week, 15 taxonomic experts for DiatomBase got together for the first time, during a LifeWatch-WoRMS sponsored workshop. This get-together is the official start of DiatomBase, a world register of all marine, non-marine, recent and fossil diatom species.

The Register of Antarctic Species moves forward

The launch of the new Register of Antarctic Species (RAS) is planned for July, during the Twelfth SCAR Biology Symposium. Meanwhile, the preparations to get this Portal populated are ongoing, and this included an intensive training of the involved editors in the use of the online platform.

LifeWatch Observatory Sensors Meeting

On Thursday January 26th 2017, the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) and imec met for the first time to explore opportunities for collaboration on sensor data analysis.

PRESS RELEASE - Critically endangered eels arrive in our Flemish rivers after a 6000 kilometer migration

With spring hanging in the air, also the glass eels are arriving at the Flemish coast. Coming from the Sargasso Sea they currently are swimming up rivers and channels, a journey full of obstacles. Here and elsewhere in Europe, the numbers of arriving glass eel dropped drastically to a fraction (2%) of the numbers arriving 50 years ago. One of the main reasons for this sharp decline and their status as 'Critically Endangered' species are the many barriers that adult eel experience in their migration route to the sea.

New European 'Big Data' e-infrastructure to support biodiversity research

On March 17th 2017, the European Commission granted the legal status of European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) to the e-Science and Technology European Infrastructure for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research (LifeWatch). With this measure, the EU provides the facility with many administrative advantages enjoyed by international organisations and therefore helps to successfully implement the infrastructure project.

Today is Taxonomist Appreciation Day!

Back in 2013, Terry McGlynn – researcher & associate Professor of Biology at the California State University Dominguez Hills – has declared March 19th as a new holiday, being “Taxonomist Appreciation Day”.