About PERSEUS

PERSEUS is a marine environmental research project, funded under the EU Seventh Framework Programme, dedicated to supporting policymakers towards better management of the Southern European Seas, together representing the Mediterranean and Black Sea.

The objective of the PERSEUS Project is to provide policymakers with new support tools for taking measures that will protect our seas now and in the future.

Scientists know that there is marine ecosystem degradation in the Southern European Seas and they know that human-induced activities, such as over-fishing, industrialisation, coastal urbanisation, as well as natural pressures, such as climate change, are dramatically affecting the marine environment. What they don't know is the extent of the dual impact of these pressures on marine life or how one negative influence affects the other. PERSEUS will identify the interacting patterns of human and natural pressures, as well as assess their combined impact on marine ecosystems providing a new reality to the challenge of saving our seas.

Taking the research a step further, PERSEUS will translate the new findings in socioeconomic terms providing predictions of the long term effects on society.

This new knowledge will provide a science-based platform for PERSEUS to develop new tools and a framework of strategic adaptive policies.

For the first time, policymakers will have in their hands new tools, based on scientific evidence, for turning back the tide on marine degradation.

As a member of the Media/Advocacy, you can reinforce the PERSEUS impact, regionally and globally, by strengthening your role at the centre of this innovative marine research project.

The PERSEUS Research project is innovative in the following areas:

• Merging the natural and socioeconomic sciences for a comprehensive view of marine ecosystems, filling knowledge gaps and predicting long term effects.
• Developing a scenario-based, Adaptive Policy Framework incorporating new knowledge and scientific evidence for achieving and maintaining Good Environmental Status (GES) at present and in the future.
• Designing models for visualizing the effects of specific threats.
• Constructing a vessel for surveying very shallow coastal waters, which, at present, are inaccessible.
• Creating ‘Citizen Scientist’ programmes, such as Jellyfish Spotting and LitterWatch to encourage the participation of the general public.