Strengthening Ecosystem-based Assessment and Monitoring for Protected Habitats in Offshore areas and Newly Identified MPAs

SEAMPHONI is dedicated to bringing visibility and safeguarding the vast and largely unprotected offshore marine areas. Current approaches to offshore biodiversity mapping are highly dependent on research vessels and are therefore costly and do not allow for continuous monitoring. SEAMPHONI is structured to promote the testing, coupling, and validation of three innovative monitoring solutions (environmental DNA (eDNA), acoustics, and imaging) and to build a shared observing system for scientists, decision-makers, MPA managers, and citizens in the form of an Intelligent Marine Digital Twin interoperable with the European Digital Twin Ocean. By leveraging and adapting these cutting-edge tools for offshore areas, SEAMPHONI will provide significant advancement towards a broader, more accurate mapping of European seas with baselines for understudied areas