The PLASMAR Project, lead by IU-ECOAQUA at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is addressing Marine Spatial Planning through an ecosystem-based approach adapted to the biogeographic characteristics of the Macaronesian Region (Azores, Madeira and the Canary Islands). In short, it is about promoting the development of Blue Growth sectors while ensuring the conservation of natural marine heritage. PLASMAR bases its activities on the development of robust methodologies and tools funded on scientific knowledge, supported with marine and maritime spatial data and information. From the Copernicus Marine Service, PLASMAR project has used standardized global products with inter-regional coverage (the whole Macaronesia). These are homogeneous products in terms of quality, spatial and temporal resolution, thus filling the oceanographic information requirements of the project for the immense marine extension of the Exclusive Economic Zones of Azores, Madeira and Canary Islands. In summary, four Copernicus Marine products have been used, focusing on 17 variables, generating 77 by-products.
Marine spatial planning (MSP) is a process that brings together multiple users of the ocean to make informed and coordinated decisions about how to use marine resources sustainably. The European Parliament and the Council have adopted legislation to create a common framework for maritime spatial planning in Europe. Data gathered in the PLASMAR include: marine parameters defined by Marine Strategy Framework Directive, marine protected areas, land and marine use spatial information and oceanographic data (EMODnet, INSPIRE, EIONET and COPERNICUS MARINE SERVICE, and national, regional and local spatial data infrastructures such as GRAFCAN, IDE IEO, IDEE, SIGMAR, SNIMAR).
Benefits for users
- The products cover the whole area of interest, which is the entire European Macaronesia, including all three Exclusive Economic Zones of Azores, Madeira and Canary Islands.
- Standardized products with inter-regional coverage which facilitate to compare conditions between archipelagos.
- Homogeneous products in terms of quality and spatial and temporal resolution allow to apply the same analysis for the whole area covered by the product.
- Long time series for parameters included in the products.
- Availability and speed of service.
- Wide range of tools available for processing data encoded in NetCDF format.