The Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS), is a Federal Scientific Institute developing sciencebased activities supporting policy in a wide range of areas, including biology, ecology, and nature and biodiversity conservation. Its Operational Directorate Natural Environment (OD Nature) Marine Ecology and Management team (MARECO) has extensive expertise in marine environmental research in a wide variety of domains. Linking research to policy and management support is a key asset of its work. It contributes to Marine Spatial Planning, Environmental Impact Assessment and environmental status assessments. The team is coordinating several monitoring programs assessing the environmental status of the marine environment and studying the environmental impact of human activities at sea. This includes the long-term monitoring (since 2008) of the environmental impact of offshore wind farms in the Belgian part of the North Sea (WinMon.BE programme). The MARECO team is and has been active in various projects concerning biodiversity conservation and restoration, and management of human activities at sea, including EU projects such as FP7-MESMA, H2020- AQUACROSS, H2020-UNITED and COST-MARCONS. Additionally, MARECO’s expertise serves international bodies like the ICES, OSPAR, and the technical working groups of the European Commission.

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