Field areas

The selection of the field areas was based in 2016 on a survey concerning the excepted level of involvement of the different members of PI AGIR. The projects are primarily situated in the laboratory workshop sites, sometimes equipped for a long time, with large data sets already available, currently acquired or in perspective. Given the influence of the regulation, the institutional partnership, and the managerial networks on the activity of PI AGIR, these projects concern mainly the Mediterranean (72%), but also the Atlantic (13%) and the Pacific (12%) and Asia (3%).

At the forefront of the field areas, we find the areas dedicated to conservation (49%). Thus, National Parks, very old like Port-Cros National Park, or more recent like Calanques National Park, are invested for a long time by the members of the laboratory. These partnerships contribute to the identification of the M I O teams on protected areas and feed collaborations on other reserves and remarkable Natura 2000 area at sea (Scandola, East Corsica Area, Beauduc, etc.).

In contrast to protected areas, highly anthropized sites (25%) are essential. Thus, the LMI COSYS-MED in Tunisia stands out first, with the major issue of the impact of phosphate inputs in the Gulf of Gabes and in the Boughrara lagoon. Other sites stand out, in France, with the Gulf of Fos, the Berre lagoon and Marseille Bays, and in Vietnam, where the project of concerted research structure, centered on the question of the impact of the "Black Carbon", is being put in place.

Finally, a set of problematic areas (26%) has been identified. In this category we find the "Sargasses" program, whose objective is to understand the origin of mass strandings that occurred since 2011 in the French West Indies, Guyana and Africa. Two oceanographic campaigns were performed in 2017 on NO Antéa and Yersin. The establishment of a network of "model" lagoons in New Caledonia and other countries of Oceania was put forward with the prospect of an integrated approach to the effects of climate change and human pressures on these marine ecosystems identified among the most vulnerable on the planet. Other projects remain important, such as the artificial reefs of the Prado in Marseille, the ecosystem-based fisheries management and the Cassidaigne canyon (impact of bauxite effluents for more than 40 years).

Photo: In situ environmental monitoring