The International Ocean Institute – Malta Operational Centre (IOI-MOC) is currently participating as a partner within the Perseus (Policy-oriented marine Environmental Research in the Southern European Seas) project.

This project is being financed under the Ocean.2011-3 call (Assessing and predicting the combined effects of natural and human-made pressures in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea in view of their better governance) which in turn falls under the aegis of the EU’s FP7 financial programme.

The institute is being represented within this four-year project by its director, Aldo Drago, and by Alan Deidun.

Perseus has a total budget of almost €15 million and involves 54 partners from 21 countries (including nine non-EU countries from North Africa and the Black Sea regions). IOI-MOC will be mainly responsible for capacity-building duties within the project.

The overall scientific objectives of Perseus are to identify the interacting patterns of natural and human-derived pressures on the Mediterranean and Black Seas, assess their impact on marine ecosystems and, using the objectives and principles of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive as a vehicle, to design a research governance framework.

Scientific research and socio-economic analysis will be applied at a wide-ranging scale, from basin to coastal. New tools will be developed to evaluate the current environmental status, by way of combining monitoring and modelling capabilities and existing observational systems will be upgraded and extended.

Moreover, Perseus will develop a concept of an innovative, small research vessel, aiming to serve as a scientific survey tool, in very shallow areas, where currently available research vessels are inadequate.