The biodiversity, health and services of European marine ecosystems is severely threatened as cumulative human pressures and impacts continue to spread and increase throughout our seas and along our coasts. In order to put biodiversity on the path to recovery and thus achieve the ambitious policy goals set out by the EU Green Deal and the Biodiversity Strategy 2030, we need well informed science advice and operational decision-support tools allowing end-users to decide on conservation actions for biodiversity protection (e.g., MPAs), while at the same time seek to minimize trade-offs with other human use of ocean space (e.g., fishing, off shore energy and shipping). B-USEFUL will develop and deliver user-oriented solutions fit for uptake and implementation in decision making by effectively building upon existing European data infrastructures and governance frameworks for ecosystem-based management advice and marine spatial planning. This will be achieved by delivering upon the following objectives (here presented in short form) addressing the expected outcomes and impacts of the call and destination, namely to: (i) identify end-user needs; (ii) co-develop biodiversity indicators, targets and scenarios; (iii) create a standardized biodiversity and pressure data base; (iv) assess the status and cumulative impacts on biodiversity; (v) quantify risk and vulnerability to biodiversity loss; (vi) perform model forecasts of changes in biodiversity and ecosystem services; (vii) co-develop an interactive, online decision-support tool fit for management strategy evaluation of actions ensuring biodiversity protection. The project will embrace a process of co-creation where all outputs are iteratively co-developed, validated and approved by end-users. This serves not only to build mutual trust and credibility, but also facilitate direct uptake and implementation of the user-oriented tools and knowledge within operational decision-making for marine management and conservation.

Aquaculture is the fastest growing food sector since the 1970s and its most important purpose is to provide healthy and safe food adapted to consumer preferences. At the same time there are fundamental concerns about the ways we farm and transport food across the world, which are related to negative environmental impacts. Hence, sustainable aquaculture has been identified as the “greatest and most feasible” way to obtain adequate seafood for human consumption and achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2, 4, 13 and 14 on food security, quality education, climate action and use of the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. The objective of EATFish is a sustainable and profitable European aquaculture sector to secure healthy seafood for our growing society. With a truly multidisciplinary consortium composed of universities, research institutes and private sector partners we propose cutting-edge research related to the biology and technical aspects of aquaculture and have a similarly large effort directed towards socio-economic and governance aspects of aquaculture. Through this overarching approach we aim to: 1. Optimise resource economy in European aquaculture, such that it contributes to a circular bioeconomy 2. Ensure animal health and welfare 3. Develop novel aquaculture products targeted to specific market segments 4. Refine aquaculture governance to facilitate sustainable development of the sector 5. Enhance the skills and competences of future aquaculture professionals By addressing these issues, we intend to aid European aquaculture to address current and future challenges related to competition in the market place, sustainability, disease in aquaculture systems and governance.

The Arctic marine environment is under rapid change, both in its physical and biotic conditions. The gradual loss of sea ice, increase in temperature, invasive species and compounding effects of additional ecosystem stressors are identified as likely causes of the observed turnover of Arctic species. Other issues of concern are the climatic tipping elements that are known to have affected the region in the geologic past, and that could well affect the region in the future, precipitating a regime shift of unprecedented magnitude. Predicting these changes in the Arctic ecosystem is hindered by several knowledge gaps, particularly in terms of mechanistic understanding of the coupling between drivers and responses. At stake are two important marine ecosystem services that human societies rely on; carbon sequestration with its feedback to global climate, and fisheries production that is the economic lifeblood of many of the local societies of the Arctic. ECOTIP will map out past and present Arctic biodiversity and its response to external drivers, and the effects of expanding commercial activities in the Arctic under expected climate change. It will investigate the resistance, resilience and persistence of key ecosystem components to multiple anthropogenic stressors, and estimate their potential tipping dynamics. It will use a trait-based approach in process studies, empirical analysis and numerical models as a novel means of quantifying functional diversity to predict how different anthropogenic forcing scenarios (including climate, invasive species, pollution, exploitation) change biodiversity, productivity and ecosystem services. ECOTIP will engage with indigenous societies and European citizens to provide recommendations for optimizing the monitoring of Arctic biodiversity and ecosystem services, identify adaptation strategies, promote international collaboration and support Europe's endeavors to implement the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals.

The INFINIFISH project will create innovations to monitor and mitigate the impacts of fishing on the climate and enable fisheries to adapt to the consequences of climate change. It will develop and validate technological solutions for the entire fisheries value chain, such as: • fishing gear that reduces fuel consumption and resuspension of carbon from the seabed • data collection technology to monitor fishing operations, catches, and the environment • decision support systems that optimise fishing operations with respect to energy efficiency • fish processing technologies that increase resource utilisation efficiency • novel products that enable the valorisation of currently discarded resources and new fish species The project will also investigate the impacts of climate change on ecosystems and fisheries through model studies, and identify effective climate change adaptations and mitigation strategies in fisheries management. INFINIFISH will carry out case studies in a wide variety of fisheries across Europe to explore and record how collaborative learning by different stakeholder groups can improve the use and uptake of these technical and operational solutions. The result will be a policy action plan that shows how technologies and innovations can be adapted to, and adopted by, particular local and social contexts. This will be key to maximising the impact of INFINIFISH, ensuring that the project will contribute to significant and lasting change in the fishing sector.

BioProtect will provide innovative, replicable and scalable ecosystem-based solutions that will accelerate the protection and restoration of biodiversity in European seas, in line with the EU´s 2030 targets and the European Green Deal. Pressures from multiple human activities and climate change are driving ecosystems degradation and biodiversity loss, threatening goods and services that are essential for human life and society. BioProtect aims to reduce these pressures by implementing an innovative area-based management decision support framework (ABM-DSF). The framework will include methods and capacity building to engage local stakeholders, to monitor and forecast changes in marine biodiversity, to map human pressures, to prioritise areas for protection and restoration, and to measure ecological and socio-economic impacts of conservation actions. These will be demonstrated in five sites from the Arctic to the Azores in the Atlantic. In the past, non-systemic approaches, focused on siloed sector-based management and single-spatial scales have failed to halt the loss of biodiversity. BioProtect’s novel and flexible framework will integrate different spatial scales and data sources. It will incorporate perspectives and knowledge from a wide range of stakeholders, to support the implementation and exploitation of its solutions by relevant end-users. BioProtect will consider “what-if” scenarios, including climate change, protection and exploitation strategies, and evaluate their ecological and socio-economic impacts. The BioProtect’s consortium holds cross-cutting knowledge and expertise, with the capacity to build on existing research and innovation within the Atlantic and Arctic basins. BioProtect will deliver impact-driven solutions to address biodiversity loss and climate change, with the aim to reach relevant EU Biodiversity Strategy targets for 2030, including a substantial contribution to reaching the EU nature restoration targets.