Marine biology focus of Barcelona congress

The Commission Internationale pour l'Exploration Scientifique de la mer Mediterranée (CIESM) was officially launched in 1910, making it one of the oldest and most enduring scientific intergovernmental organisations in the world.

The commission is currently funded by 23 member states which support the work of a large scientific network - some 500 institutes and over 2,500 researchers in 50 countries - united by a commitment to promote marine science for the lasting protection of the Mediterranean Sea and for the well-being of its coastal populations.

CIESM's holistic approach tackles all aspects of the Mediterranean, the largest enclosed sea in the world, from deep-sea biology to the ecology of its 46,000 km-long coastline.

The pioneering states of this scientific venture were Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Tunisia, Turkey, Egypt and Monaco, the last being the permanent headquarters of the organisation.

By 1970, Germany and Switzerland joined CIESM (despite their doubtful Mediterranean credentials); in 1992, the Balkan states, such as the former Yugoslavia, acceded while the latest to join this year is Portugal, the 23rd member state. Despite the quintessential Mediterranean nature of the organisation, it also fosters good contacts with Scandinavia and North America.

The culture of marine research inculcated by CIESM has resulted in at least 24 monographs and other publications, all of which can be downloaded for free from www.ciesm.org They include Human records of recent geological evolution in the Mediterranean Basin - historical and archaeological evidenc; Mare Incognitum? Exploring Mediterranean deep-sea biology and Ecology of marine viruses.

Other publications are an Atlas of Exotic Species of the Mediterranean Sea (in three volumes - fishes, crustaceans and molluscs), an illustrated guide of marine institutes and Cartography by multi-beam ecosounder of the Mediterranean seabed.

37th CIESM congress

As part of the long string of biannual meetings, the 37th CIESM congress was held between June 7 and 11 in the vibrant city of Barcelona at the invitation of the government of Spain, one of the founding members of CIESM. It was held at the newly-built convention centre on the seafront near the mouth of the Besós river.

Proceedings were initiated under intense media glare by Prince Albert of Monaco, CIESM president, followed by exhaustive reports on CIESM operations by the secretary-general, Professor Francois Doumenge, and by the director-general, Professor Frederic Briand.

The latter's delivery was quite riveting - it started by stating that CIESM is a strange 'cocktail' since it must espouse a challenging geography (of the Mediterranean) with a modest budget. He tried to explain why CIESM endured for 85 years (four generations of researchers), including the gauntlet of two world wars, and concluded that CIESM offered total intellectual freedom (no political shackles for freedom of speech when it came to expressing dour scientific data), offered original linkages and established new synergies.

Professor Briand showed a map of IT (Information Technology) exchanges on a global scale, though it was evident that most exchanges are on a horizontal basis (i.e. North America-Europe) with few vertical North-South exchanges.

The overcoming of this phenomenon in scientific research was a major challenge for CIESM, he said, urging other researchers to come under the CIESM umbrella as long as they are quintessential 'explorers', i.e. dynamic, open-minded and ready to dialogue with others.

CIESM's interlocking web of research is parcelled out in six scientific committees, after the initial 12 were winnowed down and condensed. The six committees are:

* C1 Marine GeoSciences (chair: Professor Jean Mascle) - addressing issues such as the structures and processes of the continental shelf (i.e. less than 200m depth); processes along the coast and in deltas; the continental slope and geodynamics.

* C2 Physics and Climate of the Ocean (chair: Professor Alex Lascaratos) - currents, circulation, climate variability, water masses, oceanography, tides and sea level.

* C3 Marine Biogeochemistry (chair: Professor Nicholas Fisher) - water chemistry, primary productivity, chemical fluxes in the ocean, bio-accumulation and effects of contaminants and sediment geochemistry.

* C4 Marine Microbiology (chair: Professor Gerhard Herndl) - bacteria in sediments, diversity of microbes and the dynamics of phytoplankton.

* C5 Marine Ecosystems and Living Resources (chairs: Professor Angelo Tursi, Professor Kostas Stergiou) - pollution impact of fish farming activities, management of species of commerical interest and fauna and flora of the water column.

* C6 Coastal Ecosystems (chair: Professor Ferdinando Boero) - ecology of protected areas, the fauna and flora of the sea bottom and confined habitats.

Apart from the 'standard' committee meetings, the hectic agenda was suffused with even more items, such as round table meetings, poster sessions and joint sessions between different committees.

CIESM's future work will centre on the introduction of alien species through port transfers (i.e. ballast water, etc), sea physical parameters and oceanography (MedGoos) and using mussels as sentinels of the biogeochemical state of the sea (Mussel Watch).

Malta's low profile

Of the 600-odd participants in the congress, only six came from Malta. This is symptomatic of the chronic dearth in research our islands are facing, fuelled by Government's restricting of research funds towards the University, despite ministerial pledges that funds for research and development (R&D) will be bolstered after reports indicated our country's lacunae in scientific teaching and expertise.

Apparently, scientific research was not included in the R&D bracket, probably because it does not cover 'profit-related' activities, such as industry.

The Maltese flag was kept flying, however, by the following contributions:

Borg, J. Deidun, A., Schembri, P.J., Population ecology of Phaleria acuminata (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) from sandy beaches in the Maltese Islands - incidentally, this was the only presentation within the CIESM congress concerning insects.

Galdies, C., Improving the prediction of an ocean model using novel remote sensing data.

Drago, A., Vallerga, S. and the MAMA Consortium, MEDGOOS - Building a strong regional partnership for operational oceanography in the Mediterranean.

Rizzo, Y. and Pauly, D. Applying the Ecopath Ecosystem modelling approach to the Mediterranean Basin.

World Cultural Forum

The same state-of-the-art premises hosting the CIESM congress also witnessed the hustle and bustle of the World Cultural Forum, under the auspices of UNESCO, which will be held over four months (May-September), and seeking, through a whole multi-hued array of exhibitions, visual and music displays and public lectures, to convey the world's mesmerising diversity of cultures and to propose viable solutions for growing global concerns, such as poverty, access to freshwater resources and illiteracy.

One of the exhibitions which impressed me most concerns the world's 5,000 languages, 95 per cent of them facing extinction since only 80 languages have access to satellite TV. Two vintage excerpts from such an exhibition were that "Languages are a murmur of life" and that we should be concerned about preserving the diversity of languages in the same way as we are concerned with conserving ecological diversity.

Visit: www.ciesm.org

www.barcelona2004.org

deidunfever@yahoo.co.uk