Strengthening Ecosystem-based Assessment and Monitoring for Protected Habitats in Offshore Areas and Newly Identified MPAs

SEAMPHONI is a European project that aims to improve biodiversity monitoring in offshore marine areas. It combines DNA traces collected from seawater, underwater sound recordings and imagery to help identify areas to protect and assess the effectiveness of conservation measures.

GREENOV’s contribution

GREENOV’s contribution focuses on two complementary areas:

• Monitor: assessing how existing submarine fibre-optic cables can support continuous, cost-efficient acoustic monitoring of cetaceans and vessel traffic through Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS). An initial campaign characterised a cable’s acoustic response and compared it with other measurement systems. GREENOV will investigate how installation conditions, including cable burial, affect detection performance. This work supports the project’s passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) and underwater radiated noise (URN) measurement campaigns, to which GREENOV contributes.

• Measure and model: measuring and modelling underwater noise from offshore wind turbines, from structural vibrations to sound propagation towards nearby marine protected areas. These models also help assess noise reduction solutions, including GREENOV’s SubSea Quieter®.

Key information

• Programme: Horizon Europe — Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030”

• Duration: June 2025 – May 2029

• GREENOV’s role: Contributor to acoustic monitoring and underwater noise assessment

European Union funding

Funded by the European Union Horizon Europe Programme, Grant Agreement No.101206245. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

ATLAS – Atlantic Tracking with Lightwave Acoustic Sensing

ATLAS explores how existing submarine telecommunication cables can be used to monitor the ocean through Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS).

By turning fibre-optic cables into acoustic sensors, the project aims to improve ocean observation and explore new applications for marine biodiversity conservation and maritime safety.

Key objectives

• Marine mammal monitoring: Explore the detection of cetaceans to support ship-strike prevention.

• Underwater noise monitoring: Study noise from shipping activities and vessel acoustic signatures.

• Geohazard detection: Investigate the monitoring of underwater earthquakes and submarine landslides.

GREENOV’s contribution

GREENOV leads the development of thematic services designed to transform DAS measurements into practical applications.

Our team is actively involved in the DAS installation and measurements in the Canary Islands, as well as the design of acoustic testing procedures.

Our work focuses on two main applications:

• Cetacean detection: Developing AI-based methods to identify low-frequency cetacean sounds, with the aim of sharing relevant detections through Whale Alert to support ship-strike prevention.

• Vessel acoustic monitoring: Analysing underwater noise generated by ships and developing a platform to share vessel acoustic signatures with shipowners.

These applications are currently being developed and evaluated within the project.

Key information

• Programme: Interreg Atlantic Area 2021–2027

• Duration: 20 November 2025 – 20 May 2028

• Total project budget: €3.5 million

• Project website: https://www.atlasinterreg.eu/

European Union co-financing

This project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg Atlantic Area Programme.

The views expressed herein should not be taken, in any way, to reflect the official opinion of the EU, and neither the Commission nor the Interreg Atlantic Area programme authorities are responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

The AGESCIC project offers an innovative, unique, and economical technological solution to the two main environmental problems created by coastal works. The AGESCIC project aims at developing new technological solutions to reduce the impacts of coastal works on marine environments, in particular the impacts of noise pollution and turbidity on marine fauna and ecosystems.

The AGESCIC project is the test phase in real conditions for three innovative technologies. They form a completely disruptive solution:

• Noise mitigation and turbidity containment system: SubSea Quieter® Blue Shield.
• System to control acoustic and turbidity impacts: Smart-PAM+.
• System to restore the ecosystems necessary for coastal fish: HAREST

Greenov is involved in this project by creating the SubSea Quieter, which is responsible for reducing noise and turbidity.

The I-NOV SEALENCE project aims to develop the “SSQ® Pile Driving Jacket” acoustic and turbidity containment system to reduce the environmental impact of pile driving work on offshore wind turbine foundations of jacket type (piles of approximately 2-3 m diameters). The I-NOV SEALENCE project also aims at demonstrating the system in real size and conditions on wind turbine piles, possibly in a French wind farm, as a prerequisite to the marketing of the SSQ® Pile Driving jacket version in 2025.

Key information:

• Two demonstration phases: the first at reduced scale in Saint-Nazaire dry dock and the second at full scale for a jacket pile (about 2.5m diameters) in a real pile on an offshore wind park.
• An in-depth study about the mechanical resistance of the SubSea Quieter membrane collaboration with ENSTA Bretagne and IFREMER through a CIFRE doctoral position.
• A certified AIP scheme of the SubSea Quieter Pile Driving system as Noise Mitigation System.

The EIC-SEALENCE project aims to develop the “SSQ® Pile Driving” acoustic and turbidity containment system in a monopile version. Thus, reducing the environmental impact of pile driving work on the foundations of offshore wind turbines of the monopile type (piles with a diameter of up to 12 m). The EIC SEALENCE project also aims at demonstrating the system in real size and conditions as a prerequisite to the marketing of the SSQ® Pile Driving.

Key information:

• An in-depth study of the hydro fluid-structure interaction model of the SubSea Quieter Pile Driving system through modeling and testing in a basin.
• The finalization of the detail design of the SubSea Quieter Pile Driving System for monopile application.
• The full-scale test at sea of the SSQ Pile Driving on a real monopile of offshore wind farm.
• The launching of the industrialization and commercialization phase.

LIFE-SEADETECT aims to halt the biodiversity loss caused by ship strikes with cetaceans by implementing and developing new technologies that can considerably reduce the risk of collision. The project aims to develop two innovative systems that can ensure the detection of cetaceans with a radius range of 1 km in most weather conditions, day and night in real-time. The system will be deployed on three specific vessels that represent the highest risk of collision with cetaceans.

The systems will be composed of:

• Multiple high-sensitive complementary sensors will be fused and processed with AI.
• Network of Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) buoys will detect the position of cetaceans in real-time.

Detections will feed REPCET sharing detection software to inform equipped vessels of the risk.

SAFENAV, a digital collision prevention project, aims to significantly reduce the probability of ship strikes, impact damage, grounding and contribute to a safer navigation. The project uses state-of-the-art sensors and other relevant sources to detect obstacles in the marine environment, providing a visual representation of the data to navigators for quick decision-making.

Key information:

• 11 key partners from the maritime industry and academia
• Collision avoidance algorithms built on multisensory data input from proprietary and off-the-shelf sensors
• Creates a holistic decision support system.

TRIDENT aims to develop a reliable, transparent, and cost-effective system for continuous environmental impact monitoring of the sea and the deep sea. The TRIDENT project will develop and integrate technology and novel solutions to operate autonomously in remote areas under extreme conditions and provide real-time data.

Key information:

• Identifies all relevant physical, chemical, geological, and biological parameters to be measured
• Establishes statistically robust baselines, indicators of good environmental status, and impact thresholds to standardize tools and methods
• Integrated system of observatory platforms with automated sensors and high-capacity data handling to prevent serious environmental damage.

MALO  aims to be a unique and first opportunity to assess and optimize the impacts of the offshore wind turbine on marine ecosystems. The projet is suported by the FEDER (European Regional Development Fund).

Key elements: 

• Noise abatement from wind turbines in operation