ANERIS is a European project dedicated to tackling the rapid loss of ocean biodiversity by creating, testing, and implementing next-generation scientific tools and methods for marine life sensing and monitoring. Since its start, the project has introduced numerous innovative technologies, trainings for citizen scientists, and the concept of Operational Marine Biology (OMB).
The project includes 25 partnering organisations from 13 countries across the European Union, Norway, and Israel, led by its coordinator, Dr Jaume Piera, from the Spanish Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC) .
Approaching the end of the project - 31st December 2026, ANERIS’ consortium members gathered for a Final Consortium Meeting between the 27th and the 28th of May in Barcelona. The organiser was the coordinating institution - ICM-CSIC . During this gathering, project partners and consortium members discussed all ANERIS’ achievements since its start, showcasing case study results, progress and updates.
To best support marine biodiversity and achieve its goals for creating innovative technologies, four Case Studies have been established within the ANERIS project. Those case studies are connected to different Research Infrastructures (RIs), which validate the 11 technologies developed within the project.
Matias Carandell Widmer, an assistant professor at the Electrical Engineering Department at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) , presented ANERIS’ Case Study 1. This study, with VLIZ , Sorbonne University (SU) , UPC , Marine Institute - Foras na Mara (MI) , CytoBuoy (CYBO) , OsloMet and University of Haifa (UH) as leading partners, focuses on high-temporal marine life resolution monitoring in Research Infrastructures (RI) observatories. The developed technologies, AIES-PHY , AIES-ZOO , AIES-MAC , EMUAS and ATIRES , support high-resolution time series of the plankton community, image-based indexes, and taxonomy composition. A key focus of his talk was the development of two main Operational Marine Biology (OMB) products: Automated plankton community time series and Automated microfauna biodiversity time series. Both OMB products deliver continuous, AI-driven biodiversity time series, enabling real-time ecosystem monitoring and Digital Twin integration that connects physical assets with virtual ones. In Widmer’s presentation, a key focus was also the deployment and test sites of the case study: EMSO-OBSEA and EMSO-SmartBay, showcasing updates from each deployment throughout the past year.
Case Study 2 of the project focuses on improving the spatial and temporal resolution of genomics-based marine-life monitoring. To do so, project partners within the case study, VLIZ , SU , UPC , MI , CYBO , OsloMet and UH , have developed three advanced and low-cost technologies. During ANERIS’ final meeting, a project partner from VLIZ , Hanneloor Heyndeickx, a marine genomics (eDNA) researcher, introduced the technologies validated by the Case Study: NANOMICS , MARGENODAT and SLIM 2.0 . These technologies focus on providing indicator maps for species diversity, interspecific genetic variation, and non-indigenous species occurrences. Another highlight from her talk was the raw data samples of the multidimensional scaling, alongside shared insights on the Case Study’s Campaign, focusing on implementing citizen science kits and the upcoming technologies training workshop this October in Crete, Greece, including 10 fully funded and 10 additional self-funded participants.
Berta Companys, a PhD candidate in Marine Science and an environmental educator at the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC) , presented ANERIS’ 3rd Case Study during day 2 of the Final Consortium Meeting. The Case Study is highly focused on large-scale marine participatory actions, or bioblitzes, with ICM-CSIC , Quanta Labs , Marsbased , Dribba , Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR) , BIOPOLIS , MedCities and FECDAS as lead partners. In 2021, ANERIS organised its first bioblitz - BioMARató , in Catalunya, which showed great success in citizen science participation and monitoring of marine and coastal biodiversity. Following its success, ANERIS’ Case Study 3 works to validate the technologies which ease and support these activities, and has organised a second bioblitz - BioMARtona, in Portugal. The technologies developed include ATIRES , AMAMER , AWIMAR and AMOVALIH . Each one is designed to support citizen scientists in their journey of collecting, preserving and sharing marine-life observations. During her talk at the meeting, Companуs highlighted current updates on the technologies, as well as participatory actions in Northern Portugal and Catalonia this year. The planned bioblitzes organised for 2026 are a continuation of the great success of the BioMARathons in 2025, during which almost 100,000 observations were collected across the Portuguese and Catalan coastlines. She also gave insight into recent updates of the MINKA observatory - an important tool, developed within the project, for the collection of marine data during the BioMARató and BioMARatona.
Research Assistant at BIOPOLIS-CIBIO , Rocio Aime Nieto Vilela, participated in the Consortium Meeting, delivering insights into ANERIS’ 4th Case Study, dedicated to merging imaging and genomic information at different monitoring scenarios. The Case Study’s goal is to develop algorithms based on image information, metabarcoding information and AI approaches, generate accurate quantitative data of high-taxonomy resolution and thus, combine the technologies of Case Study 1 and Case Study 2 to validate and test them. With leading partners: BIOPOLIS , HCMR , CSIC , and the entire ANERIS consortium, this Case Study is dedicated to producing information on marine and coastal flora and fauna, as well as identifying biodiversity hotspots and climate refugia spots that need prioritisation in conservation actions. During her presentation, Vilela highlighted the coordinated eDNA sampling campaign (conducted in Northern Portugal and Barcelona) and the citizen science contribution through the MINKA observatory. The integration of imaging and genomics for enhanced biodiversity detection and monitoring, and the development of an integrated visualisation platform for comparing taxa distribution and combining multiple data streams were also key topics of her presentation.
The project’s Final Consortium Meeting shared insights into its achievements and results over the last four years since its start. ANERIS has made a great contribution to marine science as well as provided technologies tested within the 4 case studies that ease the collection of marine data and create an accessible way of sharing, identifying and preserving observations.
On behalf of the ANERIS consortium, we would like to express our appreciation to all project partners for the hard work before and during the Final Consortium Meeting, and we are excited to continue advancing marine-life biodiversity monitoring and management.
ANERIS receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101094924. Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the EU nor the EC can be held responsible for them.