Underwater radiated noise (URN) by ships is one of main anthropogenic sources of noise in the marine environment. Transport by ship has been hailed as a green mean of transportation, at the same time, trapped under the water surface, the noise has been overlooked when considering the impact and the effects of human activities on marine species. On 11 March 24, a notice from the EC has been issued on the threshold values for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive 2008/56/EC. For continuous URN, the threshold for the habitat size of target species exceeding the Level of onset of Biologically adverse Effects (LOBE) has been set to 20%. While this notice does not set a specific limit for ship noise levels, it requires member states to evaluate the state of conservation of waters and take actions as needed. Many projects have brought to light that the marine environment is influenced by marine traffic to a level and in ways that were not obvious to predict. E.g. AQUO project has drawn attention to the effects on different marine species. SONIC looked into the noise generated by cavitating propeller. Both projects led to the development of a series of criteria to quantify the harmfulness of URN and measures to reduce it, though without demonstrating the measures in full scale. These projects were followed by PIAQUO and SATURN that have moved the focus towards regulating the noise emission of ships and implementing solutions for its reduction. The LOWNOISER project aims to bring the effort towards quieter ocean closer to reality than previous projects by showing the effectiveness of noise reduction solutions, i.e. technologies, measures and management strategies, that have a high TRL with full/large scale demonstrators. Also, the project is developing better tools for predicting URN, showing that noise reduction solutions are environmentally friendly in the sense of GHG emissions while being economically viable and safe.

NEXUS will develop and demonstrate novel, beyond state of the art, specialised vessel and logistics for safe and sustainable servicing of offshore wind farms. NEXUS includes: simulation, model testing, consideration of the most suitable construction and production principles for small series or one off vessels of this type. Key aspects of NEXUS include environmental impact assessment, cost estimation as well as both the marketability (technology push), and the cost effectiveness of the offshore operations concerned (demand pull). The project will develop the concepts and validate on a demonstrator at a technology readiness level (TRL) 5 with the overall aim to reduce the marine logistics cost of offshore wind turbine maintenance by 20% compared to current practices. In addition NEXUS will enable the increase the professional skills of workers and the capability of European industry and in particular SMEs within the marine and maritime sectors to develop and commercialise specialised vessels and related technology, and will support European growth and employment through development of a blue economy.

Currently, both maritime and aviation sectors are lacking a systematic approach to collect and assess Human Factors information in normal and emergency conditions. There is also a lack of agreed methodology to assess human-related risks with the aim of influencing design and operation of aircraft and ships. Therefore, the research question being addressed in this project is “How to fully capture human elements and their interaction with the other system elements to enhance safety in maritime and aviation operations?” It is important to address Human Factors aspects in relation to risk-based design of system and operations in a measurable manner by taking the variation in human behaviour over time and the non-flexibility of machines into consideration. The main aim of SAFEMODE project is to develop a novel HUman Risk Informed Design (HURID) framework in order to identify, collect and assess Human Factors data to inform risk-based design of systems and operation. These aims have not been achieved previously at a desirable level due to the unavailability of systematically collected data and lack of cooperation between different transport modes. The focus will be to reduce risks for safety critical situations, (e.g. mid-air collisions, grounding, evacuation, runway excursions etc.) through the enhancement of human performance. This will be achieved through investigation of past accidents, incidents, near-misses, reports, data from everyday operations, including previously unknown uncertainties such as increasing levels of automation and increased number of drones in transportation. This information will be incorporated the HURID framework and tools and into SHIELD, the open data repository and the living database, that will be maintained and continuously updated.

Observing the oceans in coastal and deep offshore zones nowadays relies on coordinated deployments of multiple types of platforms equipped with multiple types of sensors. The ‘multiplatform’ approach is now recognized as the most relevant and cost-effective way to fully describe spatial and temporal oceanic variability for the needs of marine research, ocean observing systems (OOSs) and for the blue economy. Observing and monitoring biological communities (from plankton to fish) is still very challenging, but it is essential to unveil complex ecological processes and ultimately allow adequate marine environmental protection measures and a sustainable exploitation of the ocean. Underwater gliders equipped with novel optical and acoustic imaging sensors have a significant potential to collect and deliver ecosystem data, in particular in extreme environments like the Arctic ocean. Most of the technological building blocks to meet this challenge are available: extremely low power sensors, gliders and software for control and analyses, such as artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, have been integrated and operated in coordination with other observing platforms, and open new perspectives for comprehensive observations in coastal and deep seas. BIOGLIDER addresses this scientific and technological challenge with an innovative and unique 'bio glider' integrated solution. Three smart devices, a vision profiler, a scientific echosounder and an acoustic modem will be integrated on commerciallyavailable gliders to provide a ‘smart’ service for zooplankton and fish ecology applications. It will be tested in Nordic seas and the Arctic ocean, meeting the needs of a wide range of customers, from research to the energy and fishery sectors. BIOGLIDER will develop this innovative marine technology expertise in Europe through a strong, organized public-private collaboration, leading to the only commercialized solution for a glider-based ecosystem payload available worldwide.