Università Politecnica delle Marche
CSIC
Ifremer
Geomar
Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research
HCMR
University of Galway
Universidade de Aveiro
University of Gothenburg
University of Haifa
Marine and Freshwater Research Institute
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
Sorbonne Université
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn
ESI
dees
Eco Reach
SER Europe
Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research
WUR
Universidade dos Açores
Institute of Marine Research (IMAR)
National Oceanography Centre
The University of Edinburgh
Plymouth Marine Laboratory
Deep-Sea Biology Society
REV Ocean

Restoration of deep-sea habitats
to rebuild European Seas

REDRESS aims to provide a key contribution to the EU commitments towards restoring degraded deep-sea ecosystems. REDRESS will provide solutions to prioritize future restoration actions, extend deep-sea restoration to previously neglected habitat types, and demonstrate the feasibility, potential, and value for success of deep-sea ecosystem restoration. The project will focus on habitats that have great potential to contribute to carbon sequestration and climate mitigation but have been degraded by deep-sea fishing, especially trawling. Specifically, REDRESS will study vulnerable marine ecosystems, including sea pens and bamboo corals on soft sediments, coral gardens, cold-water coral reefs, sponge fields, and cold seeps. REDRESS will map degraded deep-sea habitats and identify habitat refugia to prioritize restoration efforts that will adapt to future scenarios of climate change. To adopt and adapt cutting-edge solutions for both restoration interventions and monitoring. REDRESS will offer nature-based solutions to public authorities and operators to advance ecosystem restoration in the deep sea following the EU’s marine restoration strategy. Finally, REDRESS will provide novel insights into the advantages and limits of active vs passive deep-sea restoration, and related cost-benefit analysis of restoration in different deep-sea habitats supporting policies and decision makers.

Specifically, REDRESS will address the following interconnected actions:

WP1

Prioritization of active deep-sea restoration interventions in a climate change scenario

WP1

WP1 will increase our knowledge on the degradation of deep-sea habitats in the EU Seas...
Read more

WP2

Innovative approaches for deep-sea restoration of vulnerable habitats

WP2

WP2 will carry out in field demonstration of the technological readiness of...
Read more

WP3

Innovative and cost-efficient technologies to monitor deep-sea restoration efforts

WP3

WP3 will i) explore, adapt, and utilize established technological solutions...
Read more

WP4

Enabling deep-sea ecosystem restoration: socio-economic costs, benefits and financing

WP4

Enabling deep-sea ecosystem restoration: socio-economic costs, benefits and financing
Read more

WP5

Governance structures and processes to support deep-sea restoration interventions

WP5

WP5 will give insight into the governance of active and passive deep-sea restoration activities...
Read more

WP6

Dissemination and Communication

WP6

WP6 aims to facilitate behavioral and policy changes to promote deep-sea conservation through...
Read more

Events

17th Deep-Sea Biology Symposium
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong SAR, China.
57th European Marine Biology Symposium
Napoli, Italy
14th European Conference on Ecological Restoration
Tartu, Estonia
REDRESS WP2 workshop on 3D eco-reefs design and deployment
Pisa, Italy
REDRESS Steering Committee
Online meeting
REDRESS WP1 workshop
Task 1.1. Analysis of the current knowledge about habitat degradation & Task 1.2. Habitat suitability modeling incorporating climate change and identification of habitat refugia
REDRESS and Digi4Eco Join Summer School
Sweden
World Ocean Day
Ocean Decade Conference 2024
Barcelona (Spain)
Kick-off meeting
Genoa
12-17 January 2025
16-20 September 2024
26-30 August 2024
24-25 July 2024
24 June 2024
17 June 2024
10 - 17 June 2024
8 June 2024
9 April 2024
26-28 February 2024

THE AMBITION

In the hidden depths of the ocean, vital deep-sea habitats crucial for carbon sequestration are degraded or under threat. REDRESS will demonstrate the feasibility, sustainability, and value of deep-sea ecosystem restoration and provide public authorities with solutions to plan and upscale restoration operations. REDRESS will provide a new vision of ecosystem restoration in European deep seas and contribute to a roadmap for the European Green Deal.

The ambition of REDRESS is to:

  • identify priority areas for deep-sea restoration to support future EU policies and investments (i.e., Biodiversity Strategy 2030 and European Mission “Restore our ocean and waters by 2030”);
  • allow the replicability of the upscaling of marine restoration across the EU and beyond;
  • demonstrate the technological readiness for the upscaling of deep-sea ecosystem restoration;
  • implement low-cost monitoring systems to assess the success of deep-sea ecosystem restoration;
  • provide the tools needed to empower society and governance to support sustainable and effective marine restoration activities in the mid- and long-term.

THE TARGET

REDRESS will identify the drivers of deep-sea habitats’ degradation and biodiversity decline by collecting new and existing data and will prioritize deep-sea habitats needing restoration considering current and future climate scenarios. REDRESS will apply proven ecologically and economically cost-effective protocols for the restoration of threatened and damaged deep-sea ecosystems in upscaling restoration actions at European level.

REDRESS contributes to:

  • reverse biodiversity decline of key deep-sea habitats through several restoration interventions in EU seas;
  • provide robust protocols for the restoration of deep-sea habitats, including VME;
  • improve the health status of both species and habitats, from cold-water corals to coral gardens, and to soft-bottom sea pens and bamboo corals, and cold seeps;
  • highlight areas relevant to the design of effective MPA networks and climate refugia.

A TECHNOLOGICAL CHALLENGE

REDRESS will adopt and integrate guidelines, protocols, indicators, and available tools to demonstrate the feasibility of upscaling restoration in the deep sea, its cost-effectiveness, scalability, and replicability. REDRESS will combine new technologies for on-site restoration and temporal and spatial monitoring of restoration actions, using new autonomous devices. REDRESS will apply a multi-technological monitoring approach to assess the effects of restoration on different attributes of the species/habitat target.

REDRESS can count on:

  • the application of the most advanced technologies to develop nature-based solutions to restore deep-sea habitats;
  • the development of new technologies to expand deep-sea restoration at large spatial scales;
  • the use of cutting-edge technologies to monitor the success of restoration interventions in different deep-sea habitats;
  • the application of common low-cost solutions to assess the effect of restoration on key variables to monitor: a) Biodiversity; b) Health of restored habitats and c) Connectivity.

SEARCHING FOR INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS

REDRESS results will adopt innovative solutions for monitoring restoration efficiency, its benefits, and trade-offs with a potentially important impact on the European job market. REDRESS will promote a better awareness amongst society (at all levels) of the potential and value of marine restoration to contribute to provision of healthy seas for all. REDRESS will support the EU Commission in defining guidelines for restoring deep-sea ecosystems, biodiversity, and ecosystem services in European seas and oceans.

REDRESS aims to:

  • assess the cost-benefit of the restoration of different deep-sea habitat types and the risks related to climate change scenarios and multiple stressors.
  • assess the potential economic impact of deep-sea restoration at EU level and set a framework for funding restoration interventions.
  • provide a robust contribution to decision-making and policy formulation, particularly to EU initiatives, such as the restoration law, fisheries, and offshore infrastructure policy.
  • engage society, practitioners and (end)users in deep-sea habitats restoration and fill the gap in assessing the values of deep-sea biodiversity recovery.