The Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR) is a governmental research organization operating under the auspices of the General Secretariat of Research and Technology. It has the mandate to promote basic research in all fields of aquatic environment and to deliver comprehensive scientific and technical support to the public. It is currently composed by three Institutes: Oceanography, Marine Biological Resources & Inland Waters, and Marine Biology Genetics & Aquaculture. The scientific personnel numbers 200 researchers and 90 technicians while 55 people support its administration. HCMR operates the 62-m R/V ‘Aegaeo’ & the 27-m R/V ‘Philia’.
The contributions to the project will be provided by staff of the Institute of Marine Biological Resources & Inland Waters (IMBRIW) and the Institute of Oceanography (IO) which will work close together. Hydrodynamic and ecosystem models fully implemented within the POSEIDON prognostic system (www.poseidon.hcmr.gr) by staff of the IO and data on small pelagic fish collected by the fisheries surveys carried out by the IMBRIW will form the basis for the development of project’s actions.
The IMBRIW is a major Fisheries Institute of the Mediterranean specialized in numerous aspects of Fisheries Ecology and Management. It is the Institution responsible for the collection and management of fisheries data in Greece, for carrying out the eacoustic and egg production surveys for small pelagic fish and for producing assessments of the stocks. Major recent projects of IMBRIW focusing on small pelagic fish, habitat & end-to-end modeling include SARDONE (Improving assessment and management of small pelagic species in the Mediterranean. FP6-44294), Envi-EFH (Environmental Approach to Essential Fish Habitat Designation. FP6-22466), MEDISEH (Mediterranean Sensitive Habitats. DG MARE SI2.600741), REPROdUCE (understanding REcruitment PROcesses Using Coupled biophysical models of the pelagic Ecosystem. ERANET MARIFISH Project 2010-2012) and SEAMAN (Spatially resolved Ecosystem Models and their Application to marine MANagement, ERAC-CT2009-249552, EU ERA-Net initiative).
The IO is specialized in numerous aspects of oceanography and is responsible for the POSEIDON system that represents the center’s response in the field of Operational Oceanography. The POSEIDON system comprises of a large infrastructure for monitoring, forecast and data collection for the state of the Greek archipelagos and the Mediterranean Sea. It provides high quality scientific data that are further implemented in ecological modeling, and in the study of climate change and the environmental impact of human activities (e.g. oil spills). Major recent projects of IO include MATER-MAST II, THETIS, MFSPP, COST-IMPACT, MFSTEP, INSEA, INTERREG III-A, POSEIDON I&II, MEECE, REPROdUCE, OPEC, ADAMANT, SEAMAN.