The Mediterranean Sea is characterized by rich biodiversity, and its region hosts people living in several countries with a rich variety of cultures, but – at the same time – it is “under siege”, due to anthropogenic pressures. To address these pressures, many actions are needed aiming, among others, at establishing Ocean Literacy (OL) across the Mediterranean countries and preparing the future generation of Mediterranean Sea-literate citizens. Towards this aim, the present cross-national study investigated OL issues in relation to content knowledge, possible common misconceptions, attitudes, and the self-reported behavior of 2,533 middle school students from eight Mediterranean countries (Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Malta, Spain, and Turkey), as well as certain background elements (e.g., gender, grade level, environmental education experience, sources of relevant information). The results of this study revealed that middle school students of all studied countries possess a moderate level of ocean sciences content knowledge, while they showed satisfactory pro-environmental attitudes and behavior. These findings along with further research are expected to function as a baseline for the design, implementation, and launch of specifically targeted programs, educational activities, teaching resources, curricula, and school textbooks, which will be achieved through close collaboration between schools, universities, research institutes, and Ministries of Education, thus contributing to the future protection and sustainable development of the Mediterranean Sea region.

Ocean Literacy (OL) has been defined as an understanding of the ocean’s influence on people and their influence on the ocean. The OL movement was born in the US and its framework consisted of seven essential principles and 45 fundamental concepts; it is now largely accepted worldwide for use in both formal (schools and universities) and non-formal (research institutes, aquaria, museums, etc.) education settings. Based on this framework, marine scientists and educators developed the “Mediterranean Sea Literacy” (MSL) guide adapted to the specificities of the Mediterranean region, presented here. The MSL principles (7) and concepts (43), serving as guidance for research, education, informed decision-making, and improved citizens’ lifestyles, aim to contribute to environmental protection, conservation, and restoration of the Mediterranean Sea as well as to help to achieve a blue innovative and sustainable economy.

The Mediterranean Sea is recognized as a key component in the development, economy, and culture of European, North African, and Middle East countries. With respect to heterogeneity across the region in different sectors, Ocean Literacy, though still in its infancy, is nevertheless a requisite for a better understanding of the two-way interaction between the Sea and its people. In the present study, marine issues in relation to the content knowledge of 154 high school students from the Mediterranean region were investigated by using a structured questionnaire based on the recently published Mediterranean Sea Literacy guide. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics to portray frequencies and knowledge scores of the participants, and inferential statistics to assess the effects of grade level on students’ knowledge. The study which focused for the first time on the unique features of the Mediterranean marine ecosystems, found the level of content knowledge of the participants to be low to moderate. It is therefore of the utmost importance for the organizations and networks working on marine issues in the Mediterranean Sea to develop synergies and coordinate research programmes to broaden engagement with human societies in the region.

The colonization of artificial structures by benthic organisms in the marine realm is known to be affected by the general trophic patterns of the biogeographical zone and the prevailing environmental traits at the local scale. The present work aims to present quantitative data on the early settlement progress of macrofaunal benthic assemblages developing on artificial reefs (ARs) deployed at the Underwater Biotechnological Park of Crete (UBPC) in the oligotrophic Eastern Mediterranean. Visual census and subsequent image analysis combined with scraped quadrats were used to describe the establishment of the communities and their development over three consecutive campaigns, spanning 5 years post-deployment. Macroalgae consistently dominated in terms of coverage, while sessile invertebrates displayed different patterns over the years. Polychaeta and Bryozoa were gradually replaced by Cnidaria, while Porifera and Mollusca displayed an increasing trend over the years. Motile benthos was mainly represented by Mollusca, while the abundance of Polychaeta increased in contrast to that of Crustacea. For both sessile and motile assemblages, significant differences were observed among the years. The results of this study indicate that ecological succession is still ongoing, and further improvement in the monitoring methodology can assist towards a more accurate assessment of the community composition in complex AR structures.

The checklist of Tanaidacea of Greece was developed in the framework of the LifeWatchGreece Research Infrastructure (ESFRI) project and coordinated by the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research during the period 2013-2015. By applying the Greek Taxon Information System (GTIS) of this project, a complete checklist of species recorded from Greek Seas has been developed. The objectives of the present study were to update and cross-check all tanaidacean species known to occur in Greek Seas. Inaccuracies and omissions according to recent literature and the current taxonomic status were also investigated. The up-to-date checklist of Tanaidacea of Greece comprises 20 species, classified to 11 genera and five families.