The oldest living animal group on earth, sponges are known to have existed for over 600 million years. They are remarkably diverse, with the number of species estimated at over 25 000. Sponge grounds are themselves complex ecosystems and sponges also play a crucial role in the functioning of wider deep-sea ecosystems.

Although ubiquitous in deep sea and of huge ecological importance, sponges have been largely overlooked in research and conservation work. Often found in areas such as shelves, slopes, ridges, canyons and fjords, they are vulnerable to human activities such as fishing, mining for minerals or drilling for oil and gas.

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The AtlantOS project is dedicated to the creation of an integrated Atlantic Ocean observing system. “We are working on several measures to advance the strategic development of this system, to connect existing activities to make them more efficient,” says project coordinator Martin Visbeck of GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, in Germany.

The consortium is also aiming at extending the scope of information available from observation of the Atlantic, Visbeck adds. “There is a rapidly growing desire among decision-makers – both in the public and the private sector – for more and in particular more data based information from the ocean,” he notes.

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The EU is the largest fish market in the world, but the EU’s own fisheries and aquaculture industries are facing tough competition from abroad. EU fish consumption is increasing, but most of this increase has been met by fish imports which now account for 64 % of the market.

EU-funded project PRIMEFISH is undertaking a wide-ranging analysis of Europe’s fish market in a bid to uncover why the EU’s fish industry is not able to meet the rise in demand.

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The Evaluation Criteria builds on the principles set in the EIT Regulation and the EIT's core values of impact, excellence and partnership. Aligned with the EIT's mission, the criteria will ensure that the selected Innovation Communities have all the elements that make a successful Innovation Community.

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