Black Sea SCENE

International Congress «Integration and Sustainable Development in the Black Sea Region»

Presentation of UBSS on the International Congress «Integration and Sustainable Development in the Black Sea Region», December 4-6, 2010 Burgas (BG), organized by Black Sea Organization for Integration and Sustainable Development"

Focus on ‘Black Sea Outlook’

The third bi-annual Black Sea Scientific Conference ‘Black Sea Outlook' to be held from 31 October to 4 November in Odessa, Ukraine has focused the promotional efforts of the Black Sea NGO Network team on members of the scientific community in the coastal states. A good number of scientists are members of environmental NGOs or provide expertise to NGO projects and take part in civil society activities. The network members over the past two months disseminated information about the conference to their members and scientific advisers. So far eight scientists have confirmed their readiness to participate in the conference. Organizations in Ukraine will make further efforts to involve more local participants.

Despite the large number of project partners, holders of marine data, from the Black Sea countries and the EU, there are quite a few scientific institutes, universities and colleges in the region which are the target group for dissemination of information about the UG BSS project and the conference. Scientists are important users of the project infrastructure and can benefit from closer involvement with the partners. By using the infrastructure they will receive a highly detailed insight in the availability and geographical spread of marine data across the different data centers and institutes across Europe. The ‘Black Sea Outlook' is also expected to provide a regional focus on public awareness on Black Sea issues.

International Black Sea Action Day celebration

As usual the Black Sea NGO Network (BSNN) has been promoting the UBSS project at various public awareness events and campaigns dedicated to dates on the environmental calendar. Promotion and dissemination of Up-grade Black Sea SCENE has been carried out proactively by BSNN through dissemination of fliers and display of a poster at press conference and NGO outdoor activities. Over 70 fliers were distributed among students, teachers and environmental activists taking part in the traditional Clean Beaches campaign alerting the public to problems of the Black Sea and the coast. The activity promoted understanding and dissemination of knowledge about the Black Sea environment and contributed to the introduction of UG BSS to the wider community and key stakeholders.

 

New Bridges in Europe

A regional scientific conference for the wider Black Sea region was held at the Varna Free University (VFU) from 18 to 20 Oct 2010. The event was entitled "New Bridges in Europe - Opportunities for Cooperation in the Black Sea Region" and was organized by the VFU and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Representatives of the Black Sea NGO Network attended the round table at the conference and disseminated UG BSS fliers to 50 participants. The round table discussed several project ideas, one of them focusing particularly on the collection and dissemination of data on regional issues. The participants improved their awareness of the UBSS infrastructure and the opportunities provided to scientific institutes and universities, to local authorities and businesses.

 

ICZM networking meeting in Varna

The networking meeting on ICZM on 5 October 2010 involved a group of 22 experts from NGOs, coastal communities and administrations as well as some media representatives. The meeting made a review of the advance on the implementation of the ICZM principles on national level. It also reviewed the Black Sea NGO Network project ‘Public Support for the Sustainable Management of Natura 2000 Sites along the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast' and planned follow up activities. Promotion and dissemination of Up-grade Black Sea SCENE has been carried out with poster and leaflets for all participants. The chair of the meeting outlined the significance of reliable data in the process of coastal zone planning.

 

The Usage of Euro Union's 7th Frame Program "UP-GRADE BLACK SEA SCIENTIFIC NETWORK" Materials for Recreational Purposes

Pozachenyuk, Е.А., Besedina T.Yu.
Taurida National V.Vernadsky University, Ukraine

The usage of euro union's 7th frame program "UP-GRADE BLACK SEA SCIENTIFIC NETWORK" materials with recreational purposes / E. Pozachenjuk, T. Besedina // Scientific Notes of Taurida V.Vernadsky National University. - Series: Geography. - 2010. - Vol. 23 (62). - No. 3. - P. 154-157.

In the article, possibilities of data usage of the project of the 7th Framework Program "UP-GRADE BLACK SEA SCIENTIFIC NETWORK" (2009-2011) as informational basis for recreational development are explored. The project purpose is the development of system of observation (storage, analysis, visualization and dissemination of information) on the Black Sea basin. The project is carried out by 51 partners, including 43 partners from the countries of the Black Sea region. Within the limits of Black Sea SCENE (BSS), the information reflecting ecological condition of the Black Sea is standardized, including anthropogenous loadings to the Black Sea basin.
The information on the data collected by BSS partners is presented in metadata catalogues of the all-European services. European Directory of Marine Environmental Data (EDMED); European Directory of Marine Research Projects (EDMERP); European Directory of Marine Organisations (EDMO) are being formed. Common Data Index (CDI) is the central service in BSS infrastructure. CDI enables the users to learn the information on data sets (what, where, when, how, who etc.); it is a link between database and users, for it ensures direct on-line access to the data or provides sending of request for the access to the data and their downloading. The project gives to its participants tools for visualization and quality control of the given information.
The contribution of Taurida National V.I.Vernadsky University (Ukraine) in the project realization is illustrated in the article.
Data accumulated in the course of BSS project can be used for other purposes which were not directly provided by the project. These data are accepted as informational basis for strategy development and recreation development programs of Black Sea basin countries, as well as of separate recreational enterprises; they are considered while estimating ecological condition of any water area of the Black Sea; they are also used in landscape planning, as well as in elaborating of actions for stabilization of ecological situation, and are considered at the development of the price policy and estimation of prestigiousness of any recreational object.

Black Sea Environmental Management in Oil and Gas Exploration and Production

On 27 of August 2010 in Burgas held a meeting concerning Black Sea Environmental Management in Oil and Gas Exploration and Production with14 Organizations, among which the Burgas Regional Governor, Varna Regional Governor, Black Sea Basin Directorate, Marine Administration, Gas and Oil companies (LUKOIL, NEFTOCHIM), NGOs and the general public. 

Aiming to establish a set of conservation strategies related to the presence of oil industry, to identify not only where but why and how much it is necessary to protect in order to ensure the natural system's viability and its capacity to provide environmental services. The future of spatial planning for management is in interactive decision support systems, which provide transparency and engage a diverse array of people in the planning process.
Interactive decision support systems can capture, share, and compare many people's ideas about planning options; help people understand the real-world implications of different management regimes and environmental conditions; and reveal tradeoffs among possible management scenarios.
During the meeting also relevant information was given about the Upgrade Black Sea SCENE project and promotion was made.
The Forum had wide media coverage - the interviews were published in a number of Newspapers.

Marine Environmental and Socio-Economic Problems

Promotion and dissemination of Upgrade Black Sea SCENE project and presentation of Content Management Tools and Importance of Data Management was organised by Balkan Environmental Association (BENA)

26th-30th of August 2010 UBSS Project was presented on a meeting related to Marine Environmental and Socio-Economic Problems. The meeting attended:

- Municipality of Constanta, in Romania;

- Municipality of Varna, in Bulgaria, with the Head of Environmental Department; Institute for     Ecological Modernization; Regional Development Agency-Varna; Black Sea Economic Centre, NGO; 

- University of Burgas, Bulgaria.

 

 

DATA CENTRE - Institute of Fishing Resources – Varna, Bulgaria

 

 IFR is a state research institute, established in 1932, as a Biological Station belonging to the University of Sofia. IFR - Varna comprise departments of hydrobiology, ichthyology, laboratory of population genetics and public Aquarium. The IFR is the main responsible for the monitoring programme of the Bulgarian Black Sea waters. Since the early 1950-s routine seasonal observations have been carried out in coastal and open-sea areas of the Bulgarian Black Sea. Since 1995 monthly observations have been included into the monitoring programme. IFR-Varna is the only marine Institute operating regularly in Bulgarian Black Sea waters and studying: some hydrophysical (temperatures, salinity) and hydrochemical parameters (dissolved oxygen, oxygen saturation, nutrients - nitrogen forms, oxydizability (organic matter)) of the water domain, bacterioplankton, phytoplankton, zooplankton, ichthyoplankton, benthic communities, fish population dynamics parameters. The Institute dispose data from 40 years monitoring of gene frequencies of polymophic gene loci of commercial fishes in connection with their population structure and their rationalize exploitation.

Scientific investigations include: Black Sea biodiversity; changes in the Black Sea ecosystem resulting from anthropogenic and climatic factors; Danube river impact on the nutrients level and on the living organisms in the Bulgarian Sector of the Black Sea; invasive zooplankton and potentially toxic phytoplankton species investigations; commercial fish stock dynamics (population parameters, condition factor, catch per unit effort) and trophic base; determination of the biomass of sprat by using of the Virtual Population Analysis (VPA), length-cohort analysis, production models: Schaefer, Fox, Pella-Tomlinson for the estimation of fish stock biomass and related reference points, long-term monitoring of lipid's dynamics of sprat, anchovy and horse mackerel related to changes in the Black Sea ecosystems and fish abundance indices (stocks), using of genetic-biochemical methods for a rapid identification of fish species (sea and fresh water species) and hybrids, and for unknown caviar and fillet, estimation of the pollution of the breeding material by genetic markers, and using of the latter markers for the recognition of fish molecular diseases; anadromous fish spawning research in the Danube; biology and ecology of coastal lakes;

Maps of investigated areas:

 

Map of sampling stations monitored by IFR-Varna in Bulgarian Black Sea waters: transects Kaliakra, Galata, Emine (A) ; Bourgas Bay (B).

 Fig . Map of Varna Lakes and Varna Bay.  

  

Map of Varna/Beloslav Lakes and Varna Bay

Services offered by IFR:
• Delivery of data under request
• General information to the public