The SponGES Project

SponGES is an EU funded (Horizon 2020) project with the overall objective of developing an integrated ecosystem-based approach for the preservation and sustainable exploitation of vulnerable deep-sea sponge ecosystems in the North Atlantic. The SponGES project will be delivered by an international and interdisciplinary consortium of partners, including research institutions, environmental non-governmental, and intergovernmental organisations.

The SponGES project has the following aims:

• To improve our understanding of North Atlantic sponge grounds by investigating their distribution, diversity, biogeography, function, and dynamics.
• To unlock the biotechnological potential of sponge ground ecosystems, improving innovation and industrial application.
• To understand the threats to sponge ground ecosystems, and to model and predict the impacts of future climate change on these ecosystems.
• To inform policy-making with regards to vulnerable deep-sea ecosystems and to develop tools for improved resource management and good governance of these ecosystems.

Visit the project website: http://www.deepseasponges.org/.