“Port Infrastructure” and the State Agency “Innovation Norway” under the Ministry of Trade and Industry of the Kingdom of Norway signed an agreement for the provision of grant funding for the implementation of project KNRIN – 2014/108164 Norway Grants 2009 – 2014 Monitoring and information System for Black Sea (MISBS) /Monitoring and Information System for the Black Sea. The total value of the project is 1.5 million euros, of which 225,000 euros is national co-financing.
IMG 5012The project’s objective is to create a platform that will accumulate data on the status of various environmental parameters, marine areas, and coastal zones that have ecological impact and are related to the protection and sustainable development of the Black Sea. The system will be built using the best practices of the Norwegian Coastal Administration in developing and managing the BarentsWatch system.
The Black Sea monitoring system will collect data through satellites serviced under the Copernicus program and from sensors that will be installed within the framework of the project implementation. The information system will also provide access to data from existing information systems built and used by SE “Port Infrastructure”, as well as information collected by various institutions and organizations.
Readiness to exchange data generated in the process of work, research or other project activities has been declared by – MOEW – Basin Directorate for the Black Sea region, Institute of Oceanology at BAS, National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (NIMH) at BAS, EA “Maritime Administration”, Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy, Bulgarian Maritime Chamber, “Inea Consulting”, Cluster Aerospace Technologies, Research and Applications. The platform that will be built within the framework of the project will allow for expansion of the monitored parameters and enrichment of the database through the addition of new partners.
The ceremony was attended by H.E. Ms. Gyru Katarina H. Vikjor – Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Norway to Bulgaria, Mr. Knut Ringstad – representative of the State Agency “Innovation Norway”, representatives of the Norwegian Coastal Administration and of state institutions and scientific organizations from Bulgaria.
The project “Monitoring and Information System for the Black Sea” corresponds to three of the main components of the EU’s Integrated Maritime Policy: exchange of data and knowledge about the marine environment, integrated maritime surveillance and development of regional strategies for marine basins. The project will be implemented in accordance with the requirements of the EU Directive on the re-use of public sector information.
