Fuerteventura is hosting the 2nd ECOMARIS Meeting, featuring workshops for professionals in the observation and conservation of marine environment

This event, which will take place between Tuesday 23 June and Friday 26 June in Puerto del Rosario, will feature three workshops on underwater noise and acoustic monitoring, the preparation of geographical data and metadata, and the use of drones, on-board sensors and geospatial data for the observation of coastal and marine environments

The event, which will open on Tuesday 23 at the Fuerteventura Training and Conference Centre, is one of the activities of this international scientific initiative led by the ECOAQUA University Institute at the ULPGC, involving partners from the Canary Islands, Madeira, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, and the Azores

ECOMARIS, a territorial cooperation project led by the ECOAQUA University Institute of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) and carried out with the support of the INTERREG MAC 2021–2027 Programme, is aligned with its Priority Axis 1. MAC Inteligente will hold its 2nd In-Person Meeting in Puerto del Rosario, the capital of Fuerteventura, from Tuesday 23 June to Friday 26 June. The meeting will be hosted by the Fuerteventura Island Council, through the Biosphere Reserve.

The meeting will be attended by the project partners, representing organisations from the Canary Islands, Madeira, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, and the Azores. Over the course of the four-day event, internal coordination activities within the consortium will be combined with training sessions in the form of three workshops aimed at professionals and organisations involved in the observation, management and conservation of the coastal and marine environment.

Photo from the 2nd ECOMARIS In-Person Meeting in Fuerteventura.

The meeting will begin on Tuesday, 23 June, with an official opening ceremony to be held between 10.15 and 11.00 at the Fuerteventura Training and Conference Centre

The ceremony will be attended by Dolores Alicia García Martínez, President of the Fuerteventura Island Council; Marlene Figueroa Martín, Third Vice-President and Councillor for Tourism, Economic Development, Ecological Transition, Environmental Sustainability and Security; Yaiza Fernández-Palacios Vallejo, researcher at the ECOAQUA Institute of the ULPGC and coordinator of the ECOMARIS project; João Gama Monteiro, associate researcher at the Faculty of Life Sciences of the University of Madeira and a full member of MARE-Madeira and ARDITI; and Antonio Gallardo Campos, director of the Fuerteventura Biosphere Reserve.

File photo of the ECOMARIS presentation featuring the Director of Cooperation at the ULPGC, Nasara Cabrera Abu, and the Director of ECOAQUA, Ricardo Haroun.

Next, it will be the turn of the three workshops which, as part of Activity 3.1 of the project entitled ‘Training and capacity building for the observation, management and conservation of the coastal and marine environment’, will take place exclusively in person on 23 and 26 June. The programmes for these workshops can be viewed via the following link on the ECOMARIS website: https://www.ecomaris.eu/es/blog/ecomaris_talleres_fuerteventura_junio_2026-a5737.html.

These events are aimed at public authorities, technical and scientific staff, organisations involved in coastal and marine management, technology and environmental consultancy firms, marine conservation organisations, and partners of the ECOMARIS project.

Participation in the workshops requires prior registration via the following link.

The first training workshop, entitled ‘Underwater noise, passive acoustic monitoring and applications for marine management’, will take place on Tuesday 23 June, from 9.00 am to 1.00 pm.

This session will cover the fundamentals of underwater noise and passive acoustic monitoring, including the use of hydrophones, mooring design, acoustic data acquisition and their application in scientific studies, marine conservation, marine spatial planning and management support tools.

File photo showing a representative of one of the ECOMARIS project partners alongside Nasara Cabrera and Ricardo Haroun during the project presentation.

Later that same Tuesday afternoon, between 3.30 pm and 6.00 pm, the second of the three scheduled workshops will take place, entitled ‘Preparation of geographic data and metadata for integration into SDI and to support decision-making’.

The workshop will focus on the preparation, standardisation and documentation of scientific geospatial data for integration into spatial data infrastructures, thereby enhancing its availability, traceability, interoperability and use in decision-support tools. It will also include practical exercises on data preparation and metadata completion.

The potential of drones

The third and final workshop in the programme will take place on Friday 26 June, from 9.00 am to 2.00 pm, and will be entitled ‘Drones, on-board sensors and geospatial data for the observation of the coastal and marine environment’.

The training session will showcase the potential of drones, on-board sensors and geospatial products for the collection, processing and use of data in coastal and marine environments.

Isidoro Quintero from Tecnofly finalising the drone’s checks before take-off during a test carried out this year.

The session will cover the main potential applications of drones in coastal and island environments, including image and data acquisition, information processing, the generation of cartographic products, and their usefulness for environmental monitoring, habitat monitoring, coastal management and decision-making support.

The session will include technical presentations, practical examples and a flight demonstration in a coastal area, subject to weather, operational and safety conditions.

The drone in flight during this year’s evaluation test of this tool, conducted to collect coastal samples.

Meetings and Exhibition

Meanwhile, June 24 and 25 will be dedicated to the annual meeting for coordinating and monitoring project activities, reserved for consortium members.

Throughout the event, visitors can view the project exhibition at the Fuerteventura Training and Convention Center from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. There, visitors will find several explanatory panels on the objectives of ECOMARIS, as well as various models depicting marine life. For guided tours of this exhibition, advance reservations must be made by calling 676978871. Visitors will also be able to enjoy a marine experience using virtual reality goggles.

ECOMARIS, whose principal investigator is Ricardo Haroun, director of the ECOAQUA University Institute at the ULPGC, aims to promote the blue economy and the sustainability of coastal and marine environments on islands by building capacity, applying advanced technologies, and improving the information available to support decision-making.

Project Participants:

The 11 partners participating in the project, representing each of the regions, are: from the Canary Islands, Spain, the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, through ECOAQUA; the Fuerteventura Island Council, through the Biosphere Reserve; elittoral Estudios de ingeniería costera y oceanográfica SLNE; and Tecnofly Canarias, S.L.

From the Azores, Portugal, the partners are the Regional Secretariat for the Sea and Fisheries: Regional Directorate for Fisheries; and the Regional Directorate for Maritime Policies. From Madeira, Portugal, the participants are the Regional Secretariat for Agriculture, Fisheries, and the Environment; ARDITI—Regional Agency for the Development of Research, Technology, and Innovation; and the University of Madeira.

Finally, the third-country partners in the consortium are: from Cape Verde, the NGO BIOSFERA 1 – Associação para a Defesa do Meio Ambiente; and from São Tomé and Príncipe, the Associação Amigos da Reserva da Biosfera da Ilha do Príncipe (AARBIP).