The IUCN Center for Mediterranean Cooperation (IUCN Med) in cooperation with Enalia Physis Environmental Research Centre (ENALIA, Cyprus) organized a first workshop addressing marine invasive species management in Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). This meeting took place in Cyprus close to the Cape Greco MPA between the 24th and 26th of April 2018.

The invasive pufferfish Lagocephalus sceleratus (Picture: Murat Draman)

The aim of this workshop was to enhance the understanding of the impacts of non-native marine invasive species and build the capacity to elaborate efficient management actions and proper mitigation measures in MPAs. Thirty participants came from 16 countries (Croatia, Albania, Egypt, Israel, Montenegro, Cyprus, Greece, Libya, Italy, Turkey, France, Spain, Tunisia, Lebanon, Iran and the USA). France and ECOMERS laboratory were represented by Virginie Raybaud. She presented an overview of 3 ongoing projects from the lab on this topic:

- PAVIS project led by Sylvaine Giakoumi (http://ecomers.unice.fr/index.php/research/en-cours/87-pavis-assessing-the-relationships-between-marine-protected-areas-and-invasive-species),

- ECOCIMED, a citizen science project led by Patrice Francour (https://www.facebook.com/ecocimed/),

- CLIMAT-BIO project led by Virginie Raybaud (http://ecomers.unice.fr/index.php/research/en-cours/121-climat-bio-climate-change-and-biogeography-of-invasive-species-in-the-mediterranean-sea-a-modelling-approach)

The ANR project PAVIS and the EU COST project MarCons organized an expert knowledge elicitation workshop at the University of Vienna, Austria (27-28/03/2018). The aim of the workshop was to bring together experts on marine biological invasions and marine conservation in order to identify the most effective management actions for the control of marine invasive species. The workshop was facilitated by Dr. Sylvaine Giakoumi from ECOMERS, CNRS, University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis (France) who organized the workshop together with Dr. Paolo G. Albano from the University of Vienna (Austria) and Dr. Vesna Macic from the Institute of Marine Biology, Kotor (Montenegro). The participants came from eight Mediterranean countries and the European Commission (the Joint Research Centre). France was represented by Prof. Patrice Francour from ECOMERS.

In the picture from left to right: Vesna Macic (organizer), Carlos Jimenez (Cyprus), Patrice Francour (France), Anna Occhipinti (Italy), Ana Cristina Cardoso (JRC), Stelios Katsanevakis (Greece), Sylvaine Giakoumi (organizer-facilitator), Paolo G. Albano (organizer), Yassine Ramzi Sghaier (Tunisia), Gil Rilov (Israel), Alan Deidun (Malta), Dor Edelist (Israel), Ernesto Azzurro (Italy), Emma Cebrian (Spain).

Dr Sylvaine Giakoumi (ECOMERS, CNRS, Universtity of Nice Sophia-Antipolis, France), Dr Silvia Carvalho (Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, Portugal), and Dr Virgilio Hermoso (Centre Tecnológic Forestal de Catalunya, Spain) will teach an introductory Marxan course with emphasis on connectivity within the framework of the EU COST project MarCons (http://www.marcons-cost.eu/). The 3-day training course will take place at the University of the Aegean in beautiful Lesvos Island, Greece between the 7th and 9th May 2018.

This three-day training school aims to teach participants how to apply the principles of systematic conservation planning using software Marxan. Marxan is the most widely used decision support tool for conservation planning globally. Developed by Ian Ball and Hugh Possingham from the University of Queensland, Australia, Marxan supports spatial prioritization by producing transparent and repeatable results. It is commonly used for the design of networks of protected areas in the marine, terrestrial, and freshwater environments.

If you are interested in the training course please learn more at http://www.marcons-cost.eu/activities/training-schools/item/165-training-school-introduction-to-marxan-with-emphasis-on-connectivity-mytilene-greece-07-09-may-2018