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- Three PEACEPLUS projects to strengthen climate resilience in Irish seas
- Major benthic dataset released for Biodiversity Week
- SmartBay to play a key role in Europe’s digital twin of the ocean
- Marine Institute scientist co-authors global roadmap for climate-smart ocean planning
- Selected research publications
Funding award · Ocean climate and ecosystems · Marine spatial planning and policy
Three PEACEPLUS projects to strengthen climate resilience in Irish seas
Three independent projects supported by PEACEPLUS, a programme managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB), launched at a joint event in Belfast. Together, they represent an almost €25 million contribution to marine climate resilience and coastal community engagement across the island of Ireland.
The projects are ACCLIMATISE, led by the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute with €7.1 million; MOSAIC, led by the Loughs Agency with €8 million; and CMAP, led by Ulster University with €9.6 million. More than 30 organisations from Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Canada are involved.
We are a partner in ACCLIMATISE and MOSAIC. ACCLIMATISE will develop monitoring tools, digital models, and adaptation strategies for ecosystem-based marine management. MOSAIC will link oceanography and biodiversity through a cross-border observation network and decision-support tools for threatened species. Dr Caroline Cusack is our Principal Investigator on ACCLIMATISE, and Dr Catherine Waters is our Principal Investigator on MOSAIC.
Milestone · Data, modelling and digital ocean
Major benthic dataset released for Biodiversity Week
In 2026, we made our Water Framework Directive benthic invertebrate dataset publicly available for the first time. This opened more than a decade of seabed survey data to researchers, planners, policymakers, and the public.
The dataset covers 2012 to 2024. It contains records of 650,304 individual organisms from 2,529 distinct species across 4,415 sampling events in Irish coastal waterbodies. We will update it annually. The data support statutory monitoring, maritime spatial planning, and ecological status classification under the Water Framework Directive and Marine Strategy Framework Directive.
Users can access the dataset through our Data Catalogue, via ERDDAP, or through the National Biodiversity Data Centre’s biodiversity maps tool. Quality checking and standardisation followed our Data Management Quality Management Framework and the FAIR principles: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.
Publication · Technology and infrastructure · Data modelling and digital ocean
SmartBay to play a key role in Europe’s digital twin of the ocean
An international study in Ecological Informatics presents an operational strategy for turning the Digital Twin of the Ocean for European waters into an active, adaptive monitoring system. Our SmartBay cabled underwater observatory in Galway Bay is one of two sites central to this work, alongside Spain’s OBSEA observatory.
SmartBay and OBSEA form part of EMSO ERIC. Networks of fixed and mobile robotic platforms can collect and combine data for adaptive monitoring. The European Commission-funded Digi4Eco project is putting this approach into practice.
At SmartBay, our researchers use high-resolution imaging and multi-parameter sensors to build a four-dimensional digital twin of Galway Bay. This supports real-time behavioural monitoring of Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) and AI-driven analysis of stock changes over time and space. The work aims to improve stock-assessment precision and support ecological restoration in fishery-depleted areas.
Marine Institute scientist co-authors global roadmap for climate-smart ocean planning
Marine Institute scientist Caitríona Nic Aonghusa co-authored an international paper on using marine spatial planning to advance climate action. Led by Professor Ana M. Queirós of Plymouth Marine Laboratory, the paper was published in npj Ocean Sustainability on 21 May 2025.
The work developed through four years of dialogue among marine planners, policymakers, and climate researchers in the ICES Working Group on Marine Planning and Coastal Zone Management. It identifies four enablers: stronger climate evidence and science-policy partnerships; communication and co-design with stakeholders; sustained technical capacity, data, and resources; and governance aligned with climate policy.
Examples include offshore-wind priority areas in Germany, Irish spatial advice on seafloor areas with high natural carbon uptake, Dutch regulation of sand extraction, and climate-refuge zoning in the Seychelles. The paper also considers applying climate-smart planning to Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction.
The findings complement our MarinePlan project contribution. They also align with Ireland’s National Marine Planning Framework and the plan-led development of Designated Maritime Area Plans for offshore renewable energy in the Celtic Sea and Irish Sea.
Marine planning provides a systemic mechanism for addressing climate change. It’s a forward-looking process, balancing development needs with environmental protection, that serves as a framework to align ocean use with national climate action plans. By integrating climate data and projections into the marine planning evidence base, it can be used to inform offshore renewable energy development, coastal resilience and protect carbon-rich habitats, like seagrasses, and help ensure marine activities remain resilient to sea-level rise, ocean warming and acidification.
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Selected research publications
Access the publications associated with the SmartBay digital-twin study and climate-smart marine spatial planning update.
View all documentsEcological Informatics
Access the journal destination linked from the SmartBay digital-twin publication details.
A digital-twin strategy using robots for marine ecosystem monitoring
The study describes an operational strategy using robotic platforms and digital twins for adaptive marine ecosystem monitoring.
The opportunity for climate action through climate-smart Marine Spatial Planning
The paper examines practical enablers and international examples of marine spatial planning that incorporates climate evidence and policy objectives.