Gui Menezes announces creation of Geographic Information System applied to the sea
The Regional Secretary for the Sea, Science and Technology announced in Ponta Delgada the creation of the SIGMAR Azores geoportal, "an essential tool for maritime spatial planning as it is an integrated management mechanism based on the spatiality of resources, uses and legal measures".
Gui Menezes stated that SIGMAR Azores will encompass all the "relevant information" produced under the "MarSP - Macaronesian Maritime Spatial Planning" project, adding that "it will be available to all interested parties very soon."
The Regional Secretary spoke at the opening session of the final conference of the MarSP project. On the occasion, he stressed that, in recent years, “the Region has compiled geographic information on the marine space and developed a Geographic Information System applied to the sea,” in addition to carrying out an “exploratory technical work on coherent and consistent maritime spatial planning methodologies.”
According to the government official, the new platform will provide "a considerable amount of geographic information, such as seafloor bathymetry and various oceanographic parameters, including biodiversity data on coastal and oceanic species, corals and sponges, hydrothermal fields, cetaceans, birds and sea turtles."
Gui Menezes also stated that by SIGMAR Azores will provide information on distribution models for commercial species as well as on all the administrative and legal aspects in force, namely the network of marine protected areas, areas with various restrictions and current uses of the sea, such as fishing.
This tool, which will be presented this afternoon during the event, had the technical support of Global EDA, and the "very important contribution" of the University of the Azores and IMAR - Institute of Marine Research. The latter has "has been collecting data and developing spatial models for the distribution of species over the last decades," said the Regional Secretary.