MARINER

Located by the Red Sea, Eilat is one of the EU Climate Neutral and Smart Mission Cities that have pledged to reach climate neutrality by 2030. Hence, enhancing water quality monitoring and remediation in the Eilat Marina and North Beach area (from the tourism district until the oil company pipelines), a critical hub for tourism, recreation, and marine biodiversity, is one of our most pressing priorities to be a clean city respectful of the precious marine environment on which our tourism relies. Through this MARINER project, we aim to deploy water monitoring sensors to identify chemical pollutants, including hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and other contaminants originating from boating activity, fuel spills, cleaning agents, and urban runoff by integrating iMERMAID's innovative monitoring and remediation technologies.  

MARINER is crucial because Eilat's marine ecosystem supports both economic activities and a fragile coral reef system. By demonstrating the feasibility of iMERMAID technologies in a high-traffic coastal environment, MARINER will serve as a model for replication in other Israeli cities and Mediterranean marinas.  

• 68,000 residents 

• 3,000,000 tourists a year 

• Over 270 species of reef-associated fish 

• Around 120 species of hard corals 

• Presence of "Supercorals" uniquely resilient to extreme temperatures (Maoz Fine & Naama-Rose Kochman) 

Our Eilat pilot focuses on advancing marine pollution detection through cutting-edge technologies and collaborative research. We are deploying the iMERMAID solutions at two key sites: the Eilat North Beach, and KATZA (a location with former activity of the oil industry). This pilot will integrate remote sensing data, on-site sensors, and baseline sampling to expand the database of coastal environmental conditions. All data will be collected in collaboration with local stakeholders and research partners to ensure community-led monitoring and informed decision-making. By combining digital tools and locally relevant monitoring protocols, we aim to enhance global marine pollution datasets as well as to contribute to improving our city mitigation and adaptation plans.  

Expected results:

Thanks to iMERMAID tools, MARINER will detect and map pollution hotspots in the marina and surrounding waters (1), assess real-time data on chemical pollutants to guide policy and mitigation efforts (2) and test scalable iMERMAID remediation solutions to reduce contamination (3). We will engage stakeholders, including port authorities, local businesses, the Eilat-Eilot environmental education forum, marine conservation organizations and a range of our municipal departments (engineering, social, environmental and smart city units), in co-developing pollution prevention strategies.  

The expected outcomes are a detailed pollution map of the marina and North Beach area (1), successful demonstration of iMERMAID's monitoring and remediation solutions in another real-world setting (2),  enhanced policy recommendations for pollution mitigation in coastal cities like Eilat (3), increased public and stakeholder awareness of chemical pollution and prevention strategies (4).