News und Events

The sustainMare Mid Term Meeting & Conference
took place 30.08. - 01.09.2023 in Kiel. It was a
huge success with 190 participants from research,
economy and administration. Important impulses
were gained for the continuation of the mission,
also beyond the first phase of sustainMare.

News from sustainMare

There is a lot to report from the sustainMare research mission. Here at News & Events, reports of the individual projects and important events of the mission are presented. Our aim is is to bring more transparency to the research project and thus reflect the work to the general public. This is very important for us, as we want to develop versatile innovations for the protection and sustainable use of the oceans and make know-how accessible.

Great interest in the PANGAEA info event

On 23 August 2023, the PANGAEA info event for the DAM research missions "How to publish data in PANGAEA, Data Publisher for Earth and Environmental Science" took place. The event was organised by Flavia Höring, the data editor for the DAM research missions at PANGAEA. 20 scientists from sustainMare and CDRmare attended the online session to learn more about the publication process at PANGAEA and discuss open questions regarding data archiving.

Link to PANGAEA

12th Future Conference Wind & Maritime Rostock

Prof. Dr. Corinna Schrum
Institute Director, Centre for Materials and Coastal Research
Helmholtz-Centre Hereon Geesthacht & Professor at the University Hamburg
Umweltauswirkungen von grüner Wasserstoffproduktion auf See (in German)
29. June 2023

Council of the Baltic Sea States meeting in Wismar June 1 and 2

CONMAR toxicologists from Kiel University explain environmental hazards of dumped World War II munitions

At their meeting in Wismar, the foreign ministers of the Council of the Baltic Sea States agreed on closer cooperation in the salvage and disposal of munitions from the world wars that were dumped on the seabed. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wants investors in the construction of offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea to participate in the salvage of munitions waste in the future. In the final declaration, the council members point out the dangers that conventional and chemical munitions pose to the marine environment, fisheries, shipping and renewable energy plants. According to estimates by the Fraunhofer Institute, there are up to 400,000 tons of conventional munitions and about 40,000 tons of chemical warfare agents in the Baltic Sea. The Institute for Toxicology and Pharmacology for Natural Scientists of the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein under the direction of Prof. Dr. Edmund Maser provided essential insights into the environmental hazards of these toxic explosives in more than 10 years of research work.

CDRmare POLICY BRIEF

CDRmare untersucht Flächen in Nordsee. © R. Erven, CDRmare, GEOMAR

Opportunities and obstacles of marine geological CO2 storage.

"Are areas in the North Sea EEZ potentially suitable for a CO2 demonstration project?" This question and others are being investigated in detail in the GEOSTOR project of the DAM research mission CDRmare.

The CDRmare Policy Briefs address key statements and options for action that are of relevance to political decision-makers and other interested stakeholders.

to CDRmare info material

LECTURE SERIES

From 29.03.2023, every Wednesday at 19:00 h, you can join us for a public online lecture, courtesy of Hamburg University. A wide range of new and fascinating facts and stories from the sustainMare research mission.
However, please note that the lectures are in German! link to HH University

sustainMare goes UN

The research mission has successfully applied to be included in the der UN Oceandecade. sustainMare will be a project in the Decade Programme "smartNet" and work for the UN motto: "The Ocean we need for the future we want "

Summer 2023: Mid Term Meeting & Conference

From August 30 to September 01, 2023, the sustainMare annual meeting will summarize, present and analyze the preliminra research results. Based on the meeting, the second half of the project will be planned, including preparations for an envisioned II phase.

Data on Marine Munitions

The Marine Munition Data Compilation - Germany as a CONMAR and sustainMare
data management product went online at the Marine Data Portal of the
German Marine Research Alliance (Deutsche Allianz Meeresforschung (DAM)).
Link

Making research tangible for pupils

CONMAR is actively engaged in getting young people excited about research. As part of a cooperation with the Lloyds Gymnasium Bremerhaven, Dr. Jörn Peter Scharsack (CONMAR member at the Thünen Institute) gave a lecture for 7th graders on the topic of marine munitions contamination on April 17, 2023. The students were very well prepared and participated actively in the discussions on the lecture.

II. phase for pilot missions

For three years the DAM pilot missions MGF Nordsee and MGF Ostsee ehave been researching the impact of mobile ground-touching fisheries (MGF!) on marine protected areas in the North and Baltic Sea. In March this year, a second phase was approved for both collaborative projects. This is good news for sustainMare, and fits well with the announcement of the approval of conservation measures by the EU Commission below.

EU Commission approves protection measures

The time has come. On 16th February 2023, it was officially announced that the
EU Commission has approved the measures to restrict mobile, bottom-contact
fishing in the marine protected areas of the German North Sea. We are excited
to study the future developments in the areas and look forward to interesting
research questions.

CONMAR reaching out to the North Sea

part of a 8.8 cm munition shell © CONMAR

First sampling of fish at outer Jade munition dump sites
According to archive research, enormous amounts of munition (>300 000t, amucad.org) were dumped in the Northern Jade estuary after WWII. Due to ongoing corrosion of the dumped munition, leakage of harmful munition compound to the marine environment is expected. The SOLEA cruise 816, January 16-27 2023 aimed at the historically first sampling of fish (common dab, Limanda limanda) and water samples for munition compounds in close proximity to the North Sea Jade area dumped munition.

Before the start of the cruise, crew members and scientific staff received a briefing from the Lower Saxony explosive ordnance clearance service. Experienced ordnance clearers explained how to deal with munition that might be picked up with bottom beam trawls and left containers for the storage of munition items on board. Due to heavy storm, the start of the cruise from Cuxhaven was delayed by one day. First sampling at Scharhörn reef was complicated by bad weather and half of the scientific staff being seasick. Sampling was continued at the outer Jade region near dumped munition and 30 dabs were successfully investigated and sampled for body fluids (blood, urine, bile) and tissues (liver, spleen, kidney, muscle, gill) for later laboratory chemical analysis for residual munition compounds such as TNT (trinitrotoluene).

Bad weather and technical problems forced the ship to search protection in the harbour of Wilhelmshaven. Due to high professionalism of the crew, the cruise was continued instantly and more sites around the Jade estuary and further west along the German coast up to the Ems estuary were sampled. On the way back to Cuxhaven, last sampling in the Jade estuary yielded a corroded chunk of munition, the bottom part of a 8.8 cm munition shell which contained residuals of the propellant, indicating the it was a dumped (not discharged) munition item (pic). Visible inspection of fish for diseases on board did not reveal any obvious health issues of dab collected near munition dump sites in comparison with control sites without dumped munition. Samples from water and fish were transferred to participating laboratories (AWI, GEOMAR, UKSH, Thünen) and are currently processed for chemical analysis of potential residual munition compounds. Laboratory analysis will reveal if and to which extend fish are contaminated with munition compounds. more info at the CONMAR website

New book chapter on transdisziplinary Research by SpaCeParti

The multifaceted picture of transdisciplinarity in marine reseach
Transdisciplinary research is a growing field in academia, yet, there still is no uniform definition. The interdisciplinary team of the Center for Ocean and Society addresses this in the new publication.
Often, transdisciplinary research is contrasted to disciplinary, multi- and interdisciplinary research: while disciplinary research includes only one discipline, multi- and inter-disciplinary research includes several disciplines. However, the key difference of interdisciplinary research is the collaboration of all disciplines to achieve the objectives set within a particular project. Additionally, transdisciplinary research involves stakeholders from various backgrounds.