Responseable Sails in the Mediterranean!

Our ResponSEAble journey that started in Plymouth a year ago made a stop over in Athens this May.

Thanks to our partners in Greece, Maggie Kossida & George Karavakiros from SEVEN,  we experienced the Mediterranean flavors and had 3 days meeting close to the seaside. Some of our Ocean Literacy Think Tank members joined us there: Paul Snelgrove (Memorial University), Linwood Pendelton (Duke University), Marta Ruiz (HELCOM), Ingo Sartorius (Plastic Europe), Gail Scowford (COSEE) and  Francesca Santorio (UNESCO).

The meeting helped us to progress with the development of our so-called “key storylines” (building on the example of a first key storyline on microplastics) that combine our expertise in marine ecosystems, marine and maritime activities, value chain and knowledge systems and perceptions.

We discussed also the launching of: (1) stakeholder processes for addressing ocean literacy at the regional sea scale (first regional workshops expected in the second semester of 2016); and (2) the development of our ocean literacy initiatives/products building on the “living lab” approach. And Athens provided opportunities to work with our SEAChange colleagues on issues such as transatlantic cooperation, the knowledge that ocean literacy should build on, and possible approaches to assess the effectiveness of ocean literacy initiatives.

Ahead of us? A challenging summer 2016 with much information collection, interviews, focus groups…!