By integrating cutting-edge environmental DNA (eDNA), acoustic and imaging technologies, the project builds a new generation of tools and knowledge to support effective marine conservation.

Its core objectives are to:

• Provide baseline data for remote and poorly studied marine areas, creating the foundations needed to characterise ecosystems, understand their functioning and identify priority zones for protection.
• Enable continuous and predictive biodiversity monitoring by validating cost-efficient, scalable and complementary techniques capable of capturing changes across the water column and through time.
• Support evidence-based conservation and restoration strategies, offering reliable indicators, models and assessments that enhance decision-making for MPA managers, authorities and policymakers.
• Improve understanding of how different protection levels influence ecosystem health and services, helping to evaluate resilience, human pressures and the effectiveness of management measures.
• Address regulatory complexity and governance fragmentation in offshore MPAs by analysing limitations, identifying gaps and contributing to clearer, more coherent management frameworks.
• Contribute to the designation and effective implementation of Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas (PSSAs) and strengthen collaboration with key international databases and agreements.
• Support the achievement of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) 2030 goals, creating the data, tools and methodologies needed to reinforce Europe’s move towards strict protection and large-scale restoration.

Together, these objectives feed into the creation of six site-based blueprints, the Intelligent Marine Digital Twin platform and a comprehensive set of interoperable, standardised solutions that bring transparency, efficiency and scientific rigour to the protection of offshore marine ecosystems.