The EuroGOOS 2015 Annual Meeting took place in Brussels on 20-22 May attended by 45 delegates. Presentations were given from chairs of ROOSes and EuroGOOS working groups and task teams. The meeting also discussed the EuroGOOS involvement in pan-European initiatives, such as EMODnet, JERICO Next, AtlantOS, etc. The Secretariat presented the structure of the EuroGOOS Communication Strategy to be launched during the summer, with the aim of strengthening the EuroGOOS role in the marine landscape in Europe and globally.
The meeting welcomed three new EuroGOOS members: Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, Croatian Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, and The Liguria Cluster of Marine Technology, Italy. Now, EuroGOOS represents 40 members from 19 countries (full membership list is available here). During the Executive Board elections, the EuroGOOS delegates thanked Alessandro Crise, outgoing vice-chair, and Harm Oterdoom, outgoing Board member, for their strong contributions to the EuroGOOS operations. Three new Board members were elected: George Petihakis (HCMR, Greece) – also elected as vice-chair, Antonio Santos Martinho (Hydrographic Institute, Portugal) and Rosalia Santoleri (CNR, Italy). The meeting also thanked Yota Antoniou, who will leave EuroGOOS at the end of June, for her dedication and unstinting support to the office over the last two years.
