IMarEST to take active role in first world conference on the ocean: BioMarine - the Maritime Initiative of the French Presidency of the European Union

The Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST) and its members are to play an active role in the first world conference on the ocean: BioMarine, the maritime initiative of the French Presidency of the European Union (20-24 October 2008 – Toulon and Marseille). IMarEST now an official partner of BioMarine and will have a stand at the forum; furthermore IMarEST members will be able to attend the milestone conference free of charge.

For the first time, an international gathering of policy makers, business leaders, scientists and experts will address the issues and opportunities presented by the oceans. The Mediterranean cities of Marseille and Toulon will host BioMarine in partnership with Scripps Institution of Oceanography (USA), and with the full support of the European Commission and the French Government, the conference aims to cover all aspects of our interaction with the seas.

José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, is expected to attend the forum. Present at the opening of BioMarine will be Karen Roth, Parliamentary State Secretary of Germany; Koji Omi, former Finance Minister, Japan, leading a large Japanese delegation and Xavier de la Gorce, Secretary General of Maritime Affairs of France.

“We are delighted to be invited to join the august body of organisations supporting BioMarine,” says Dr Bev MacKenzie, IMarEST’sTechnical Manager. “Members interested in attending all or part of this exciting conference should contact me at bev.mackenzie@imarest.org and I will be able to issue them with a letter of invitation that enables them to register free of charge with the conference fee of €3500 waived. We look forward to welcoming them to our stand at BioMarine.”

BioMarine meets for two days in Toulon with a focus on maritime geopolitics—including thawing oceans, opaque law and the use of force (who controls the arctic?); a debate on sustainable development of the Mediterranean; and blue politics and blue multilateralism.

The second focus in Toulon will be security, pollution and prevention—starting with a debate on protecting people and the oceans from maritime disasters. The discussion on pollution with start with a focus on the Mediterranean, and move on to look at advances are on the horizon for cleaning up the oceans, as well as space technology in service of our oceans. Security issues will include piracy and smuggling; and new technologies for building safer ships.

From 22 to 24 October, BioMarine will take place in Marseille, with an initial focus on the oceans, environment and energy and discussions on climate change and how to better manage where the land meets the sea. Abysses, marine biomass, the new world of mining and ocean exploration will be highlighted, and there will be two sessions on energy: the hunt for alternatives to oil and emergent technologies in extracting energy from the sea. We will look at the life resources of our oceans: the living richness of the seas, blue fishing and aquaculture, blue biotech, and maritime clusters, as well as foods from the oceans and the impact of humans on the ocean. A key debate will focus on governing the high seas and their ocean resources.

Finally, discussions in Marseille will wrap up with a look at multimodality: Ports and maritime transport, and a European Maritime Policy Day. Open-access, competition and regulation are issues for maritime transport; ports vs. cities; and the outcome of new regulations on Europe’s motorways of the sea, and Europe’s integrated maritime policy will come under scrutiny for this final day of debates.

BioMarine is made possible by the generous financial support and mobilization of major institutional partners hosting the forum on their territory: the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region, the General Councils of the Bouches-du-Rhone and the Var, the Urban Communities of Marseille and Toulon, and the City of Marseille.

Institutional partners of BioMarine include the European Commission, the French Government through the Secrétariat Général de la Mer, the United Nations Office for Partnerships and the government of British Columbia, Canada. Major industrial partners of BioMarine include, DCNS, EADS, Thales, CNIM, Veolia, Total, Pole Mer PACA and Pole Mer Bretagne among others. Major scientific partners of BioMarine are IFREMER (France), the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (USA), and IMarEST.

BioMarine is an initiative of the National Science Foundation of Lyon, France. It is under the leadership of Pierre Erwes, President and Founder, BioMarine.

Further information on BioMarine is at www.biomarine.org.

Note to Editors:
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