Kick-off Event for the DAM Pilot Missions

On 1 March 2020, two pilot missions of the German Alliance for Marine Research (Deutsche Allianz Meeresforschung, DAM) have started as part of the research mission “Protection and Sustainable Use of the Oceans”. The pilot missions will investigate and assess the environmental status in selected regions inside and outside Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the North and Baltic Seas after the exclusion of mobile bottom fishing.

On the launch of the two pilot missions, a kick-off event of DAM will take place on 30 November 2020, which – due to COVID-19 requirements and travel restrictions – will be held as a digital event (in German only).

Registered persons will receive the link to the digital venue by e-mail.

PROGRAM
(in German only)

3:00 p.m.
Welcoming Statements
~ Bettina Martin, Minister of Education, Science and Culture for Mecklenburg-West Pomerania
~ Volker Rieke, Director General, Federal Ministry of Education and Research
~ Christiane Paulus, Director General, Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety

Short film “OZEANEUM Stralsund – Underwater Worlds” of the German Oceanographic Museum

Speeches
~ Karin Lochte, Board Member, German Marine Research Alliance (DAM), on the objectives and tasks of the DAM
~ Ulrich Bathmann, Director of the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research, Warnemünde (IOW), on the research mission “Protection and Sustainable Use of the Oceans”

Break (5 min)

Panel discussions
Social relevance and background of the pilot missions
~ Klaus Jürgens, Deputy Head of the Department Biological Oceanography at the IOW and Project Manager of the Pilot Mission Baltic Sea
~ Britta Knefelkamp, Head of the Department II 3 Marine Nature Conservation, Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN)
~ Karen Wiltshire, Deputy Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) and Project Manager of the Pilot Mission North Sea

Chair: Gesine Meißner, Member of the Mission Board for Healthy Oceans, Seas, Coastal and Inland Waters of the European Commission

Protection and opportunities for sustainable use
~ Peter Breckling, Secretary General of the German Fisheries Association
~ Heike Vesper, Head of the Marine Program at WWF Germany
~ Christopher Zimmermann, Director of the Thünen Institute of Baltic Sea Fisheries

Chair: Gesine Meißner, Member of the Mission Board for Healthy Oceans, Seas, Coastal and Inland Waters of the European Commission

4:30 p.m. End of the event

Contact:
Stephanie Uibel, DAM Team Assistant
e-mail: uibel@deutsche-meeresforschung.de

Status: 11 November 2020

Header image: Shrimp fishing for research; Photo: Alfred Wegener Institute/S. Löschke