Overview

Mission Ocean: Restore our Oceans and Waters

The health of the ocean and its diverse ecosystems is crucial for life on Earth. To understand its current state and predict future changes, it is essential to gather detailed information about how the ocean is impacted by society, ecology, and human and environmental pressures. The SURIMI project is part of the European Digital Ocean Knowledge System under the EU Mission ‘Restore Our Ocean and Waters’.

This mission plays a key role in the European Green Deal, which aims to make Europe climate-neutral by 2050 by promoting sustainable practices and reducing environmental impacts. Additionally, SURIMI aligns with the goals of the UN Ocean Decade, a global initiative focused on improving ocean health by fostering scientific research and collaboration to address the challenges facing marine ecosystems.

Together, these efforts aim to ensure SURIMI’s contribution to a sustainable future for both the ocean and life on Earth.

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Industry

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Science

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Policy

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Society

SURIMI’s Mission

SURIMI’s mission is to build partnerships with stakeholders from industry, science, policy, and society to develop nine socio-ecological models for integration into the European Digital Twin of the Ocean (EU DTO). By using simulated ecological and fisheries data, SURIMI aims to enhance our understanding of how fishing activities affect sensitive species, seabed habitats, and biodiversity hotspots. Additionally, SURIMI seeks to broaden participation in ocean sciences and sustainability efforts by making the EU DTO more accessible through a user-friendly toolkit, graphical user interface, and the co-creation of tools. These innovations will strengthen the EU DTO’s ability to support informed decision-making and policy development, particularly in marine management strategy evaluation (MSE) analyses.

SURIMI will utilise various databases and employ advanced programming solutions to automate data flows between SURIMI component models and the EU DTO. By integrating data streams and coupling computational models, SURIMI will provide a comprehensive socio-ecological layer to the EU DTO. This contribution will transform the EU DTO into a holistic tool that not only simulates physical ocean conditions but also offers critical insights into the interconnectedness of human fishery activities and ecological systems.

SURIMI’s socio-ecological models, coupled with policy and assessment models will enable the creation of “what-if” scenarios and exploration of plausible effects of those scenarios at different geographical scales. Embodying a truly interdisciplinary approach, the integration of SURIMI models to the EU DTO will contribute to more effective sustainable marine-resource management and conservation efforts in Europe. By bringing socio-economic and ecological models online, SURIMI will elevate the EU DTO from a simple repository of data and sensor information to a powerful decision-support tool for policymaking.