Can you tell us your role in the project and how your expertise contributes to the project’s mission?
CMMI-Cyprus Marine and Maritime Insitute is leading WP4 – Demonstration of innovative technologies to achieve removal and remediation of chemical polution. Through this WP, pilot demonstrations will be carried out in 5 Use Cases, one of which will be operated by CMMI and the only one performed at sea. Sensor technologies developed through the iMermaid project will be tested on an existing CMMI buoy located at Amathus, Limassol.
Furthermore, the multidiplinary team of scientists from CMMI, which includes marine biologists, oceanographers, digital analyst, educational and policy experts, is involed in most iMermaid WPs inluding WP1 on policy advice and citizen science and WP6 on dissemination, communication and exploitation of results; including participation in the European Junior Water Programme (EJWP).
What do you think are the main benefits that the project brings forward, and in which areas do you envision the project having its biggest impact?
The main goal of the project is to safeguard the Mediterranean Sea from chemical pollution. This is of course an ambitious goal which cannot be attained during the lifetime of a single project in its entirety. However, the main benefit of the iMermaid project is that it paves the way and makes a big step towards this goal. Innovative and state-of-the-art technologies are being developed which aim not only to monitor but also to eliminate chemical pollution from in-land sources before they reach the sea as will be demonstrated in 4 out of 5 use cases. In the situation where the sensors are placed at sea then they will be used for monitoring and acting as early-warning systems of acute events of high-concentrations of targeted chemicals, triggering a fast response from the responsible authorities alleviating or minimising the impact to the marine ecosystem.
If you had to describe the iMERMAID project in one word, what would that be?
Decontaminating. An obvious one, since through the project we aspire to develop and test the tools for decontaminating the marine environment!