Date and Time: From 14:00 on Monday 19 November until 17:00 on Tuesday 20 November 2018

Location: DG Agri, Brussels, Belgium

Meeting Chair: Jan-Bart Calewaert (EMODnet Secretariat)

Presentations can be found on the Maritime Forum here:

https://maritime-forum.ec.europa.eu/node/4311

List of Actions

List of participants

Thematic lots

Checkpoints

Other participants

10^th EMODnet Steering Committee

Meeting Minutes

Day 1 – Monday 19 November 14:00 – 17:30

Agenda item 1: Welcome and adoption of the meeting agenda – Jan-Bart Calewaert

Jan-Bart Calewaert welcomed the Steering Committee (SC) members. The participants presented themselves shortly. The meeting agenda was adopted without adjustments.

Agenda Item 2: Updates from DG MARE – Charlotte Herman and Iain Shepherd

Charlotte Herman presented the aim of the Marine Knowledge Expert Group (MKEG): to ensure that EMODnet is fit for purpose and meets the needs of blue operators and businesses as well as to engage industry in EMODnet to contribute by sharing data for example. Two meetings took place: one in January 2018 and one in September 2018.

The MKEG came with a set of recommendations for EMODnet: engage more actively with groups of users or communities, increase the visibility of the resources available by showcasing more what EMODnet has to offer and how private sector users can use it.

In response, the EMODnet Secretariat and DG MARE have set a meeting with 10 business associations (see the list in the PPT) and an EMODnet for business campaign with the help of the portals. The results:

• From 3 in 2017 to 14 EMODnet Associated Partners to date
• From 18 in 2017 to 28 use cases to date

ACTION 1: Elaborate and maintain a list of actions/services that EMODnet is already or could offer in the future to its Associated Partners.

The input from the meeting with business associations (see PPT presentation) has been presented to the MKEG to work towards a blue print on EMODnet for business and a set of recommendations on what EMODnet should offer to be of added value. A survey has been launched and sent to the MKEG members to gather their recommendations on how EMODnet can evolve and better meet their needs. The feedback will be summarised in a short document (available early Spring 2019) which will highlight the importance of EMODnet for industry.

As a way to engage with the community of users not familiar with EMODnet, DG MARE is also considering supporting the development of a new marketing tool for EMODnet: a “shopping window” for users, which provides in a snapshot the data available, based on use cases. Pascal Derycke has developed a concept.

Iain Shepherd mentioned his meeting in China with the National Marine Data and Information Service (NMDIS) last October and their interest to collaborate on a joint project. He mentioned that a Call for Tender will be launched before the end of the year to consolidated the collaboration with China on marine knowledge related topics. A first meeting will take place in Tianjin in June 2019.

Charlotte Herman announced that she is leaving DG MARE on Friday 23^rd of November.

Presentation by Pascal Derycke (EMODnet Secretariat): EMODnet data store

Pascal Derycke presented the concept of a proposed new marketing approach for EMODnet to improve the communication with potential users, especially non-scientists and professionals from industry. He explained that EMODnet provides access to a wealth of data, but from a user point of view it is not efficient enough as we have seven portals, and hence seven different map viewers. This makes it complicated to access the data.

In a nutshell, the EMODnet data store concept involves creation of an easy to use shopping window (like Amazon), based on use cases, that displays EMODnet data and data products from the seven thematic portals. Users can add the data they want in a basket for downloading. Users may select a region of interest and provide an email address to receive the data they need. EMODnet could offer a customer profiling solution, asking users about what they are looking for, the usefulness of the service, their experience, the quality of the data, etc.

The Steering Committee was invited to discuss the presented concept. How to implement it will be discussed at the next Technical Working Group (TWG). Feedback will also be collected from the Marine Knowledge Expert Group (MKEG).

Main points raised during the Q&A discussion:

• David Connor mentioned that the concept sounds fantastic and makes sense. It is a simple way for a user to understand what is offered within EMODnet.
• Several thematic portal coordinators raised that, in absence of information about the technical development work required and depending on what is expected exactly, there may be a lot of work to be done by the different thematic lots to implement the data store. This may potentially interfere with already planned work to meet contractual deliverables.
• Simon Claus reminded the Steering Committee that the Central Portal services development team is working on a new version of the Query tool. The Secretariat was asked to discuss with the VLIZ-team to avoid duplication and develop synergies were possible and most important to clearly communicate about what different tools offer for users.
• Pascal Derycke mentioned that he had already tested a functional prototype, showing that the proposal works technically. He suggested to discuss the technical details in depth with the Technical Working Group at the next meeting and agree on a roadmap with timeline and allocated responsibilities to develop the tool.

ACTION 2: Map the effort behind the development of the EMODnet data store and agree on a clear development schedule (timeline).

ACTION 3: Discuss with VLIZ about the development of the Query tool and its relation to the proposed EMODnet data store.

• Pascal Derycke highlighted the need to be INSPIRE compliant and to have a clear view on how EMODnet services are performing.
• Jan-Bart Calewaert mentioned that we should start thinking about long-term solutions to allow searching and retrieving data from various data portals simultaneously in the most straightforward way. We need to be ambitious and raise the level.
• Natalie Askew highlighted the importance of considering the user’s perspective. Before downloading a dataset, users generally want to have information about it to understand if it corresponds to their needs. Currently there are too many different tools, which is confusing.
• According to Thierry Schmitt, users should not be underestimated. Professionals will find the tools they need for there purpose so building different tools with different approaches and purpose is fine as long as they are clearly explained.
• Charlotte Herman informed that during a meeting with the Aquaculture Advisory Council, there was a lot of interest about EMODnet as it can add value to their data. We need to go to the next stage with a tool which shows clearly what EMODnet has to offer and the data store could be this tool.
• Jun She supported the idea of the EMODnet data store, but wondered how the service could be sustained on the long term. He suggested to promote a sectoral service in the first phase as a harmonised single-stop shop is more ambitious.

To conclude, Pascal Derycke highlighted that the Checkpoint exercises are excellent in terms of data adequacy analysis. Helpdesks are also important because users need to be able to contact the portals and ask questions.

Agenda Item 3: Updates from EASME – Greta Borg

EASME presented an overview of EMODnet contracts. All 9 contracts currently running are expected to be continued. Biology and Human activities thematic groups have been proposed a renewal of their contracts for an additional period of 24 months. A new call for tenders was published last June for Bathymetry. The results are about to be communicated to the successful tenderer.

The lots need to include a legacy strategy in their tender offer to ensure they are available to transfer the products and outcomes of a contract to a potential new contractor should this be the case.

Agenda Item 4: Status update of the list of actions from the previous meeting – Jan-Bart Calewaert

Jan-Bart Calewaert reviewed the actions from the previous meeting that are still ongoing (in italics):

Previous meeting Action 3: Invite representatives from Regional Sea Conventions (RSC) / ICES as well as ROOSs in a future high-level EMODnet-MSFD meeting.

Jan-Bart Calewaert explained that between 2013 and 2015 the Secretariat organised several EMODnet-MSFD meetings to improve the dialogue and exchange of information between EMODnet thematic lots and MSFD actors. Once appropriate connections were established at operational level, these high level meetings were discontinued. Jan-Bart Calewaert asked the SC if there was any value of organising another joint meeting next year to consider regional sea-basin level collaboration between observing and monitoring communities.

ACTION 4: Liaise with the portals coordinators by email to discuss the organisation of a potential EMODnet-MSFD meeting in 2019 or find other ways to open the dialogue between regional observing and monitoring efforts.

Previous meeting Action 7: Liaise with the Marine ID team at Ifremer to get more information about the use of Marine ID to access EMODnet services.

Pascal Derycke had meetings with Ifremer and created an action in Jira. Seabed habitats is working on a proposal to implement the Marine ID.

Agenda Item 5: Updates from the Secretariat – Jan-Bart Calewaert

Jan-Bart Calewaert presented the major milestones for 2018-2019 and the changes in the team:

• New staff: Kate Larkin who works since seven years at the European Marine Board will join the EMODnet Secretariat as Deputy Head of the EMODnet secretariat and Director at Seascape Belgium in January 2019.
• End of contract of Selene Alvarez Peña at the end of November 2018. She will start working for Pew Charity Trust.

Kate Larkin presented updates on EOOS (European Ocean Observing System). She highlighted that 2018 is a big year for EOOS, which will culminate with the EOOS Conference on 21-22-23 November 2018. A consultation on an EOOS strategy and implementation plan took place this Summer and received 39 responses.

The EOOS Conference will be the opportunity to build on the progress made at the EOOS Forum in March 2018 and to discuss about coordination in ocean observing communities to deliver added-value for Europe.

Kate Larkin also took the opportunity to talk about the European Maritime Day 2019 and the call for workshops which will close on 30 November 2018. She proposed a joint workshop (European Marine Board / EMODnet) on “Big Data and Marine Science”.

ACTION 5: Develop a joint proposal for a workshop European Marine Board / EMODnet on Big data in marine science for the next edition of the European Maritime Day. EMODnet Secretariat keep SC informed.

Corine Lochet and Ronan Jarno presented their experience in using EMODnet datasets in the context of their work on Marine Spatial Planning at SHOM.

Main points raised during Q&A discussion:

• One of the issues raised by data users is that the web services are sometimes down. This is known by the EMODnet Secretariat, who proposed to make available information to the public about when and which particular service is experiencing downtimes.
• National authorities should be more active in terms of promoting the ingestion of collected data into EMODnet. This may help to fill current data gaps.

ACTION 6: Investigate how national authorities and relevant institutes may be stimulated to verify current data gaps and data flows to ensure collected data are being made available for re-use.

• According to their contract, EMODnet Human Activities (HA) has to publish a dataset on the Marine Spatial Plans of all countries. As the deadline for the Member States to develop and publish their Marine Spatial Plan is 2020-2021, only 3 or 4 countries have an official Plan yet (Belgium, Germany, Norway and the UK). This dataset will be available soon on the EMODnet HA portal. EMODnet HA will collaborate with SHOM, as the latter collects data on Marine Spatial Projects (which are non-official). Hence, in the end EMODnet HA can show two layers (datasets): one on Marine Spatial Plans and one on Marine Spatial Projects.

Agenda Item 6: Short updates from the EMODnet thematic projects (Thematic projects coordinators)

Each coordinator presented an update about novel items and activities in Phase III. As all projects are in the final months of their contracts, activities have primarily focused on timely completion of all tasks and deliverables.

Bathymetry – Thierry Schmitt

Main points raised during Q&A discussion:

• The “estimated coastline” needs to be finished by the end 2018. It is based on Landsat and Sentinel satellite data, which have a spatial resolution close to 10m.
• The EMODnet Secretariat emphasised the importance of clearly describing EMODnet data in the metadata.
• Satellite data are not as precise as for example acoustic data. Currently, LIDAR data (i.e. shallow water measurements) are being gathered in Europe along coasts, which are better than satellite derived data, but unfortunately, this has not been done yet for the whole of Europe.
• COPERNICUS data could be used to complement coastline data for waters shallower than 10-20 m.
• EMODnet Bathymetry receives 2 to 3 requests per week through the Helpdesk.

Seabed Habitats – Natalie Askew

Points raised during Q&A:

• EMODnet Habitats will most likely implement a filter function to show e.g. time variation in seagrasses.
• For Seagrass mapping, false thresholds can be avoided by looking at non-impacted seagrasses (i.e. if seagrass is not present, it’s due to environmental conditions).

Geology – Arno Kotilainen

Main points raised during Q&A:

• The new DTM has helped Geology with the interpretation phase of several products.
• Geology asked about the plans to develop common design guidelines for printed maps (later addressed by Trust-IT as part of Agenda Item 7).

Physics – Antonio Novellino

Main points raised during Q&A:

• EMODnet Physics will organise a major event in Spain to improve connections between major actors within the country leading to reduce gaps in data and blind spots. This will also allow these stakeholders and potential data providers and/or users to be informed about the EMODnet initiative. In this regard it was recommended to identify an EMODnet-liaison in different countries as this would be very useful to provide information about marine data landscape and developments. This way best practices and use cases would also be discovered more easily.

ACTION 7 (for Physics): Inform other EMODnet communities about the event, so they can contribute or join.

• In light of the noise-related maps, EMODnet Physics are also connected to national representatives (MSP teams). Most of the work for the noise maps is done at this level.
• The problem EMODnet Physics is facing with the “Continuous noise” product could maybe be a topic for the Hackathon? Maybe a code can be developed to analyse or calculate things in another way.
• The “Continuous noise” maps cover the whole of Europe; the temporal and spatial resolution are the same everywhere in Europe.
• The question was raised whether EMODnet could help in data digitisation, because some countries have data but they are not always digitised. Some lots have some money for this, such as the Data rescue programme in EMODnet Biology. It was recommended to roll this approach out for all EMODnet thematic projects.

Biology – Simon Claus

• Bird data are from the organisation “European seabirds at sea” from UK and Belgium, but EMODnet Biology currently has no access to data from other countries. EMODnet Biology is in contact with ICES, who are trying to make available the ACES database.
• Birdlife International was interested to share data, but they said they couldn’t because these were under a scientific embargo.
• The layers of the Atlas of Marine Life will be available through the website of the Central Portal as well as Biology (and later the European Atlas of the Seas).

Chemistry – Alessandra Giorgetti

• All marine litter data are now available within the EMODnet Chemistry CDI system.
• New maps on beach and seafloor litter are available online in the map viewer since the first day of the SC10 (19 November 2018). The Secretariat emphasised the importance of communicating the launch of new EMODnet maps/products to the Secretariat, at least one week before the actual launch, in order to coordinate communication.
• EMODnet thematic coordinators share their concern about the potential lack of continuity, or the gap between the end of the current (Phase III) contracts and a possible re-opening of some of them via tenders in 2019 for follow up contracts. A gap between contacts raises issues in terms of continuation of service and ensuring uninterrupted data flow into EMODnet thematic portals. The EMODnet Secretariat as well as EASME are aware of these issues which are largely beyond their control, and will continue to strive to minimise the impacts as much as possible.

Human Activities – Alessandro Pititto

Alessandro Pititto presented updates from EMODnet Human Activities with emphasis on development of the vessel density maps based on AIS data.

Main points raised during Q&A:

• Good progress is being made but some challenges still need to be resolved (e.g. the majority of the data is from vessels with only one record per year and there are currently no clear algorithms to process these in production of vessel density maps).
• SeaShare have a project around datamining to predict problems. It was suggested that lessons learned could be useful for the Human Activities team to deal with data errors.
• Adding a temporal dimension to the vessel density maps would be a great added-value. EMODnet Human Activities will therefore strive to make historical maps over time, using the same methodology and using a time slider.
• EMODnet Human Activities will also be making available near-real time vessel density data in 2019, month by month.
• The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is working on developing fishing effort maps based on AIS data.

ACTION 8: EMODnet Human Activities will share a test page with the Secretariat, to test the vessel density maps before the actual launch.

Day 2 – Tuesday 20 November 09:00-17:30

Agenda item 7: EMODnet progress monitoring – Sara Garavelli (Trust-IT)

Sara Garavelli (Trust-IT) presented updates and pending issues related to the progress monitoring scheme and set of indicators:

• The Progress Indicators (reported on in the quarterly progress reports) will undergo a simplification process in the coming months. Basically, Trust-IT and the Secretariat will make a selection of the indicators to identify which ones are too complicated to implement technically, or do not provide added value or useful information (e.g. tables related to SEO); and which core ones really generate critical information and can be kept. Future changes will be either simplification of existing indicators or removal if not relevant anymore.
• The monitoring differs between the portals in terms of Webpages monitored as was mentioned during the last TWG meeting. The selection of Pages/Sections to be monitored by each portal may be adapted to be more aligned. This will be part of the simplified monitoring scheme.

ACTION 9: Trust-IT and the Secretariat to revise and simplify the EMODnet progress indicators.

ACTION 10: Replace one table for indicator 6 (on web pages) by another one (on web sections), instead of reporting on two tables.

• The indicator regarding the use cases: some portals do not provide use cases on their own portal but rely on the use case section of the central portal. In that case, this indicator should indicate the number of use cases attributed to the thematic portal. In case use cases are displayed on a thematic subportal, Trust-IT requested to have one page dedicated per use case, making it easier to track which use cases attract readers and how many.

ACTION 11: Within the scope of Action 9, look into the possibility to publish the use cases on each individual thematic sub-portal, possibly mirroring the central portal overview and have one page per portal.

• Visual harmonisation score: Trust-IT will provide some guidelines on the secondary menu.

ACTION 12: Trust-IT to provide guidelines on the secondary menu.

• Trust-IT will create guidelines and a common template on printed maps, based on what the lots have done so far. This is different from the issue that all lots use a different basemaps. The level of accordance with the printed map guidelines will also be included as part of the visual harmonisation score.

ACTION 13: EMODnet Geology and Seabed Habitats will provide their template on printed maps to the Secretariat and Trust-IT.

ACTION 14: Trust-IT will create a template on printed maps, and make it a priority action.

ACTION 15: Trust-IT to include an item on printed maps in the visual harmonisation score, as soon as the template and guidelines are ready.

Agenda item 8: Report from the Technical Working Group – Pascal Derycke and Paula Oset García

Pascal Derycke ran through the minutes and 37 action points agreed during the previous TWG (October 2018). The minutes are ready and will be circulated to the Steering Committee and TWG before the end of 2018.

ACTION 16: Ensure that SC and TWG minutes and PowerPoints are available on the internal area (Intranet).

The main goals of the TWG4 were to set the tools and approach to (i) improve coordination and (ii) make the collaborative work easier. A JIRA system was put in place by the Secretariat to enable exchanging expertise and managing tasks to develop solutions for cross-cutting technical challenges. Tasks will be put into the system by Pascal Derycke and accessible by the coordinators, who can then inform their technical coordinator.

Paula Oset García presented the updates on the Central Portal Services (i.e. the query tool, catalogue and map viewer, and services documentation).

ACTION 17: Share documentation on the web services (e.g. how to download and use data in R) with all portals.

ACTION 18: Develop the Query tool as a portable tool so all portals can re-use the code and achieve the same types of services.

ACTION 19: VLIZ and EMODnet Secretariat will have a coordination meeting on the Query tool.

Main points raised during Q&A:

• The Secretariat invited all portals to share their solutions and tools.
• The last TWG recommended, for convenience, to (develop and) agree on a common and empty base layer (with a global coverage) to be used be all map viewers. Such a base map would be useful to implement on official EC data portals and map viewers.
• Dick Schaap presented the concept of base map for the thematic portals. At the moment, the map background of each portal is different and he proposes a common « world base layer » for all EMODnet portals to support a common identity.

• There’s no problem to keep other base layers in parallel (such as the Google background).
• Credits mentioned at the bottom of the map will increase our communication.

ACTION 20: EMODnet Bathymetry to develop and share a common base layer (a projected and a non-projected one) with all the portals. This base layer will probably be an extension of the “mean depth full coverage” layer, and be made available as a set of WMTS services.

Pascal Derycke will attend the TG DATA conference in the beginning of December, which will take place in Montenegro. At the conference, EMODnet has been given 2 hours to present their work related to MSFD. The Secretariat wishes to coordinate the approach to make a strong, joint voice (provide the big picture) and have more impact. By coordinating, we know better in general where we are with EMODnet in terms of INSPIRE compliance.

Agenda item 9: Short update from Data Ingestion – Dick Schaap

Dick Schaap presented a brief update on the Data Ingestion Portal (DIP). Currently, datasets are published as is, or the team works on it to make the data fir for standards that are being pursued.

Main points raised during Q&A:

• The DIP has been promoted during meetings with the JRC, but no one has an idea what exactly happens internally.
• The datasets are downloadable as is from the DIP.
• The end date of the project is May 2019. When no additional funding is foreseen (we will know by December 2019), a back-up plan is the SeaDataCloud 2 project.

Agenda item 10: EMODnet Data Policy and EMODnet Catalogue – Nathalie Tonné

Nathalie Tonné presented an overview on the current status of the EMODnet Data Policy, summarizing the different parts that are currently available and scattered on the different portals. To harmonise efforts, a proposal/skeleton for a Terms & Conditions of Use was presented containing all these elements. The purpose is to have all information on one and the same webpage, to make it easier for the users to find all information concerning the use of EMODnet data and products. The Central Portal will publish a Terms and Conditions page, with a direct link to the Terms and Conditions of each of the portals. All portals publish the same Terms and Conditions, specifically applied to their portal.

ACTION 21: Finalise and circulate the proposed EMODnet Terms and Conditions of use (Secretariat). Each portal should provide to the Secretariat a URL link with their Terms and Conditions and should publish them on their portal.

Agenda item 11: Updates on the Checkpoints, status and future – Jan-Bart Calewaert

• No immediate renewal of the Checkpoints is foreseen. It would be ideal, however, to repeat the exercise post 2020-2021.
• Jun She discussed his presentation on EMODnet Checkpoints’ results for the EOOS Conference.
• Jan-Bart Calewaert presented the key messages of EMODnet at the EOOS Conference. After the conference, the EMODnet Secretariat will move back to the core objective and focus its attention on EMODnet.

Agenda item 12: Communication and Stakeholder Engagement efforts – Andrée-Anne Marsan

Andrée-Anne Marsan presented several updates from the communication side of EMODnet.

Main points raised during Q&A:

• Should we start giving hands-on sessions/trainings to Associated Partners (APs)?
• Would it be an idea to send 1 or 2 people from each APs to the Hackathons?

All partners agreed to investigate ways to engage more with the Associated Partners.

Agenda item 13: Strengthening the coordination and the flow of information between the Secretariat and the Portals – EMODnet Secretariat and all portal coordinators

Any ideas to strengthen the communication between the Secretariat and the portals are welcome.

Agenda item 14: Looking forward: EOOS Conference & Jamboree – Jan-Bart Calewaert

Kate Larkin presented the vision of the EOOS Conference, which took place immediately after the Steering Committee.

Another Jamboree event is planned to take place towards the end of 2019 or early 2020. The goal is to bring together all partners for their project meetings (2-3 days), back to back with at least one day of “open stakeholder conference” to discuss about use cases and long-term sustainability of EMODnet. We might make it more international this time and to have more discussion cross-portals.

ACTION 22: Inform the Secretariat of any major events in the period November-December 2019; January-February 2020 that might clash with the organisation of the next EMODnet Jamboree. In addition, any suggestions for venues or ideas for the conference are welcome.

Agenda item 15: Next Steering Committee Meeting: format, date and location – Jan-Bart Calewaert

A proposal for a next venue for the SC is Nausicaa in Bologne-sur-Mer (France). This would allow also to sign the MoU between DGMARE/EMODnet and Nausicaa.

ACTION 25: The Secretariat to send around a doodle to set the date for the next Steering Committee Meeting.

Agenda item 16: Administrative and reporting issues & AOB – EMODnet Secretariat and portals

Nothing to report.

Agenda item 17: Wrap up and closing of the Meeting – Jan-Bart Calewaert

The meeting was closed around 15h00.