News
Friday, February 7, 2014
The First Mares Conference on Marine Ecosystems Health and Conservation, the place to be in November 2014 !
The First Mares Conference, an initiative from the MARES Joint Doctoral Programme, will be held in Olhão, Portugal, on November 17th-21st, 2014. Ghent University, jointly with the University of Algarve, is responsible for its organization. This international and open conference will bring together scientists from different levels and disciplines to discuss and address main issues about marine ecosystems health and conservation.
Six themes will be developed... Learn more
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Together with the multitude of human beach functions, beach nourishment potentially threatens the natural balance of the beach and coastal ecosystem. The impact of beach nourishment is investigated.
Friday, January 31, 2014
A mysterious five-metre long 'sea monster' washed ashore on the beach of Ostend in the night of 15 January 2014, and appeared to be an action from the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ).
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Marine@UGent launched a video contest for its young marine researchers. The deadline for submission of the video has been extended. New deadline: 21 February 2014.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
The second Deep-Water Circulation congress will take place in Ghent, Belgium from 10 to 12 September 1014 (with an optional field trip on Saturday 13 September). Prof. David Van Rooij, prof. Marc De Batist and prof. Jean-Pierre Henriet (Renard Centre of Marine Geology) are part of the organizing committee.
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
After another successful edition of the Sustainable Fish week, the winners of our contest can be announced.
Read here what they have promised to promote sustainable fishing.
Monday, December 16, 2013
Marine@UGent members from the Marine Biology and Aquatic Ecology Research groups are organizing 2 conferences in 2014:
(1) The first international MARES Conference, 17-20 November 2014, Olhão, Portugal.
(2) BENELUX conference on invasive species, 2 April 2014, Ghent, Belgium.
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
All young scientists (PhD-students, postdocs etc.) from Marine@UGent are encouraged to take part in our video contest!
Find out more!
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
The first edition of the Sustainable Fish Week at Ghent University took place in May 2012, with the concern ‘How long can we still eat fish?’. A lot of fish stocks are overfished and jellyfish are taking over the oceans. As an alternative for the disappearing Bluefin tuna, students and staff could taste jellyfish. The UGent Board of Directors signed a charter with the commitment to serve more sustainable fish in their restaurants.
After a fist successful edition, the second Sustainable Fish Week is now organized, from 18 until 22 November 2013, with the central theme... Learn more
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
On November 21th, Marine @UGent organizes a lecture evening with scientists from Ghent University and the Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO). This is one of the actions during the ‘Sustainable fish week’.
When? 21 November 2013, 20h. Where? Campus Sterre, S8, Valère Billiet
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Not all fish is caught in a sustainable way. If you want to know which kind of fish you can eat without having to worry about your conscience, have a look at the ‘VISWIJZER’. Fish are divided into a blue, green, orange and red column. ‘Blue’ indicates that the fish acquired a sustainability label, and ‘green’ means that the fish is carefully cultured or caught with minimal damage to the natural environment and is not overfished. These two categories are preferred!
Download the VISWIJZER or the app for iPhone or Android.
You can also make a promise yourself! Visit... Learn more
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Ghent University evaluated in 2012 the sustainability of all fish that is offered in the student restaurants. Before 2013, ‘sustainability’ was not taken into account when purchasing fish. Criteria were solely price, quality and delivery modalities. In 2013, sustainability is taken into account with a weighing factor of 15% and for 2014, this weighing factor has been raised to 25%.
When comparing purchased fish from 2012 and 2013 (figures below), we see that ‘red’ fish (overfished or the fishing/culturing method is too burdensome for nature) decreased from 3.4 to 1.4... Learn more
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Marine @UGent members will be present at the Day of Sciences on Sunday 24 November 2013, with a varied set of activities.
Both the Nematology Research Group (in Ghent, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35) and the Laboratory of Environmental Toxicology (at the Research Vessel Simon Stevin in Ostend) will be present. You can also visit the Simon Stevin!
You can read general information about all activities on the Day of Sciences here (in Dutch).
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
In September, researchers from the Protistology & Aquatic Ecology lab and the Laboratory for Environmental Toxicology participated in an outreach activity for nature guides, entitled ‘a beach lab for everyone’.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Flanders Marine Institute, partner of Marine@UGent, has a brand new website: http://www.vliz.be/en. Here you can access a wealth of information, imagery, publications and data regarding a wide range of marine topics. You can also follow the activities of the research vessel Simon Stevin.
Browse through the website and discover images, scientific articles, maps, datasets, educational material, or learn more about marine science by topic.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
In this recently published paper, scientists warn against the high risk of degradation of marine ecosystems and human hardships. Previous analyses have focused mainly on ocean warming and acidification, considerably underestimating the biological and social consequences of climate change.
Monday, October 7, 2013
Recently the Marine Art project was presented at two international audiences, during the second European Ocean Literacy conference (Plymouth, UK) and during a workshop of the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists-Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil).
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Earlier this year, a white-beaked dolphin stranded at the Belgian coast, in Blankenberge. This is an indigenous species in the North Sea which prefers however to swim at a certain distance from the coast, so it is rarely seen.
The skeleton of this male specimen of 2.24 m long can now be viewed at the Museum of Morphology. It makes the collection of indigenous cetacean species at the Museum complete as there already are preserved skeletons of a harbour porpoise, minke whale, and common bottlenose dolphin.
You can see more pictures of the dissection at the Facebook... Learn more
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Recently, Ann-Katrien Lescrauwaet from Flanders Marine Institute defended her PhD on 'Belgian fisheries: ten decades, seven seas, forty species'.
Friday, September 20, 2013
Microplastics are small plastic particles (<1 mm) originating from the degradation of larger plastic debris. These microplastics have been accumulating in the marine environment for decades and have been detected throughout the water column and in sublittoral and beach sediments worldwide.
