A brief by Geoffrey O’Sullivan, from the Marine Institute (Ireland)
It is with great pleasure that we attach SEAS-ERA D 6.1.4 Atlantic Report FINAL 28.11.2013: Towards a Strategic Research Agenda / Marine Research Plan for the European Atlantic Sea Basin (November 2013).
The Report will be uploaded shortly to the SEAS-ERA website.
The final Report (November 2013) is based on the 2011 Discussion Document and reflects the views/ideas expressed at the three SEAS-ERA Stakeholder Workshops (2012) as well as inputs from the five Regional Atlantic Fora Workshops organised by the Commission to inform the EU Atlantic Action Plan (2014-2020). Thanks to the Commission, the SEAS-ERA Discussion Document was included on the Atlantic Fora (2012/2013) website as background reading/documentation, which provided additional feedback.
We have purposely kept this Report short, as it is more a policy document than a scientific tome. More detail is contained in the Discussion Document (2011) and in the three Stakeholder Workshop Proceedings (published in September 2012). For each sector/topic, we have included a vision, referenced key sectoral research prioritisation exercises (as many of these go into much more detail than the SEAS-ERA Atlantic Partnership could) and have listed indicative research priorities.
The real success of the SEAS-ERA Atlantic partnership was not, however, in the production of the above Report (Deliverable 6.1.4), but rather the input and influence the SEAS-ERA Atlantic partnership had on the development of the EU Atlantic Action Plan (May 2013). This Action Plan, unlike SEAS-ERA, can draw on significant co-funding (e.g. Structural/Cohesion Funds, Horizon 2020, etc.) for its implementation. (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:DKEY=726433:EN:NOT).
Thus, we see the SEAS-ERA Atlantic Report as an important source of input to those developing future Work Programmes within the European Atlantic Sea Basin and for trans-Atlantic cooperation.
We would like to thank you all for your inputs and patience and look forward perhaps to meeting you again at the 3rd SEAS-ERA Forum in Brussels on 25th February 2014 (http://www.seas-era.eu/np4/242.html)
Geoffrey O’Sullivan
Senior Policy Advisor – International Co-Operation
Office of the CEO
Marine Institute