Preparations for the next MedGOOS Annual meeting are underway. This year the MedGOOS members are meeting on 18th March in Nicosia, Cyprus under the kind invitation of George Zodiatis from the Cyprus Oceanography Centre, University of Cyprus. The meeting will be held back to back to the MOON (Mediterranean Operational Oceanography Network) assembly scheduled on 16-17th March. Click here to download the agenda.

One important item to be discussed in detail during the meeting is the Al-Bahri project proposal that we wish to prepare as a joint MedGOOS-MOON initiative with a full partnership from all the Mediterranean countries.

The name of 'Al-Bahri' derives from the Arabic word 'the sailor', is intended to use the setting of the current EU integrated Maritime Policy (already in its first year of implementation) as a basis. The project targets to use concrete actions from operational oceanography to support the development of a coherent maritime policy in the Mediterranean. The name of the project is very appropriate as it symbolises the sailor, like the hero and mythical Sinbad, travelling along all the Mediterranean shores and bringing the message of a single ocean for all, a sea that we need to save and which provides the medium joining all peoples in their quest for the peaceful progress in the region.

The key elements of the proposal are to:

• match the targets/deliverables set in the EU Integrated Maritime Policy (especially the establishment of EMODNET) through the implementation of supportive activities in collaboration and with the participation of all the Mediterranean countries;
• showcase the support that operational oceanography can deliver to the conduction of marine affairs in the Mediterranean through dedicated pilot applications and demonstrators;
• deliver prototype tools (such as decision support systems) and applications deriving from operational marine observations and forecasting, share and exchange experiences that serve to promote the concept of a common management of the Mediterranean Sea.
  

Under this framework the project plans to undertake specific pilot implementations in selected sites of non-EU countries.