Develop commercially-oriented, operational EO based services in sustainable fisheries & aquaculture under a common service delivery platform leveraging on Copernicus data and services, complemented by other EO and in-situ data streams while delivering economic, social and policy value to European citizens, developing a new market of product and services.

NextOcean aims at developing (co-designing) 6 commercially-oriented, operational Earth Observation-based services for the public and private sectors in sustainable fisheries and aquaculture under a common service delivery platform leveraging on Copernicus and GEOSS data and resources, complemented by other EO and in-situ data streams. It envisages to deliver economic, social and policy value to European citizens by developing a new market of product and services, targeting 1) fisheries authorities wishing to have an improved control over marine resources; 2) responsible fishing companies willing to certify their compliance to sustainability by ecolabeling fish provenance; 3) the fast growing aquaculture industry, for assessing their risks and potential revenues; and 4) aquaculture regulators in understanding the impact of fish farms, in order to decide based on bespoke scientific solutions.

It builds on past activities, proposing an integrated solution and the services will address 4 User Scenarios: Monitoring Fishing Activities and Impact; Minimisation of Bycatch and Ecolabeling; Monitoring Aquaculture Impacts; and New Fish Farms. The involvement of potential clients is done progressively, with an initial group of Alpha Users already engaged, supporting co-design of solutions. The buyers group is then enlarged to a wider group of Beta testers and potential clients, who will define further developments, and the path to integration into their decision-making processes. NextOcean will define clear KPIs and success criteria for the services, including on the integration in the value chain. Dedicated workshops and training sessions will be held with the larger community, where the services will be advertised, explained and assessed in light of the interests and knowledge of the communities.

NextOcean webpage