CIGESMED main objectives are
(1) to fulfill the key gaps in the current scientific knowledge of the coralligenous habitats that make it difficult to make recommendations for protecting them by developing barcoding to enhance reliable identification for conservation and protection purposes (invasive and cryptic species), and by studying genetic structuring and effective dispersal potential of keystone/habitat species
(2) to enhance the knowledge on coralligenous populations by deciding on reference states and setting up a network of Mediterranean experts (long term series),
(3) to monitor networks, locally managed and coordinate them on a regional scale, standardizing protocols that could be applied to the entire Mediterranean and testing indices and indicators, specific to coralligenous,
(4) to test population genetic criteria as tools to monitor the GES of the coastal Mediterranean Sea,
(5) to implement a “citizen science” network and
(6) to use data networking as tools to sort, organize and illustrate the large heterogeneous sets of produced data and as a tool of dissemination towards scientists, decision makers, environmental managers and general public.

By working on coralligenous, a typical milieu from the Mediterranean Sea, which houses a tremendous biodiversity creating a lot of ecosystems and seascapes, and of ecological, patrimonial and socio-economical importance, CIGESMED challenges to assess its good state and functioning, to construct operational indicators usable to assess the good state of the Mediterranean coastal waters and to create the structure which will permit to carry on with monitoring after the end of the project.

To achieve these objectives CIGESMED is structured into 6 work packages beside the management, coordination and reporting one (WP1): Coralligenous assessment and threats (WP2), Indicator development and test (WP3), Innovative monitoring tools (WP4), Citizen Science network implementation (WP5), Data management and mapping (WP6) and Outreach and dissemination (WP7).

French dates: 1st March2013 -29th October2016
Greek dates: 1st January2013 -31st December2015
Turkish dates: 1st February2013 –31st January2016