As part of the initial project activities, the first Kick-off meeting was held at the Laboratory of Marine Biology and Fisheries of the University of Bologna in Fano (IT) on 11 and 12 March 2019. The purpose of the meeting was to meet and present project partners, agree on the implementation of project activities, responsibilities of individual project partners, review budget lines and hold the first meeting of the Steering Committee.
The protection of significant marine areas is increasingly based on accurate and non-invasive methods of mapping marine ecosystems and reliable and up-to-date information and data on the state of marine resources are key to decision-making in habitat management. Accordingly, the SUSHI DROP project aims to develop a submarine drone that will be designed to monitor the seabed, i.e. it will be equipped with sensors that will monitor the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of the seabed. The project envisages that the Italian-Croatian research team develops a submarine drone designed for seabed monitoring, as well as the establishment of an open access database in which the obtained data will be collected and exchanged.
The ultimate goal of the project is to better understand the sensitivity of habitats to today’s pressures and to design and implement more effective marine resource management plans.
The SUSHI DROP project is funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the Interreg V-A IT-HR CBC Program (Priority Axis 3 – Environment & cultural heritage).
The project leader is the University of Bologna – Laboratory for Marine Biology and Fisheries, Fano, and the project involves five (5) partners from Italy and Croatia.
PROJECT PARTNERS
• University of Bologna – Laboratory for Marine Biology and Fisheries (IT)
• Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries (HR)
• Marche Region (IT)
• Costa Dei Trabocchi Fisheries Action Group (IT)
• Association for Nature, Environment and Sustainable Development Sunce (HR)
• Split-Dalmatia County (HR)
Total project budget: 1,700,000.00 EUR
Program Funds (ERDF): EUR 1,450,000.00
The project is co-financed by the Office for Cooperation with NGO’s of the Government of the Republic of Croatia.
The project start: January 1, 2019
End of the project: June 30, 2021
