Genetic tools for Ecosystem health Assessment in the North Sea region (GEANS)

The quality of the seafloor habitat is an important barometer for marine ecosystem health. In order to accurately measure the quality, GEANS will mainstream implementation of fast, accurate and cost-effective DNA-based assessments. This will enable national authorities to improve the management of human activities and protection of the marine environment across the North Sea Region in a transnational coherent way. GEANS will conduct pilot studies concerning environmental impact assessments (renewable energy, aquaculture and sand extraction and suppletion), and concerning monitoring in relation to European directives (non-indigenous species and hard substrates). These pilots will be conducted in close cooperation with stakeholders.

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View videos from GEANS final event webinar

01 August 2023

On June 27th, GEANS scientists presented results, products and recommendations generated during the course of the project.

New GEANS video: Phd research within the sand extraction pilot explained

19 June 2023

The bottom of the North Sea is not only full of sand, but also full of life, such as crabs, starfish, worms, snails, .... But what impact do humans ha…

New publication on methods comparison

06 April 2023

A Danish case study covering six major harbors confirms the potential of metabarcoding as a cost-effective monitoring tool for non-indigenous species.…

Save the date - GEANS Final event – Online lunch meeting Improving marine environmental monitoring through application of DNA-based methods 27 June 2023 (12:30 – 13:45 CET)

24 March 2023

GEANS strived to harmonise DNA-based tools for routine monitoring programs conducted in support of policy and decision making concerning marine ecosys…

Help the GEANS consortium to harmonize analytical approaches and data storage!

10 February 2023

As part of GEANS project, we aim to harmonize and consolidate existing genetic tools and methods throughout the whole genetic workflow, from field and…