Α three-day working meeting concluded yesterday between the Archipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation and FLOATS (Floating Laboratory for Action and Theory at Sea). “Aegean Explorer” hosted the meeting in the eastern Aegean Sea.

FLOATS consists of academic researchers in social anthropology, politics, history, art, architecture and political ecology from Greece, Egypt, Lebanon, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Turkey and the USA, and specializes in sea research from the point of view of social sciences.

The purpose of the meeting was to define common fields of action and research between the two organizations for the immediate future while laying the foundations for the cooperation between the social sciences of the sea and the marine sciences for the protection of the natural environment and the cultural wealth of the Mediterranean communities.

The main objectives of the working meeting were: 1) the launching of an “Inter-Mediterranean School of the Sea” for the collection, processing and exchange of sea-borne knowledge between scientists and local communities; and 2) the preparatory steps for the “Archives of the Sea” which, while reviving the ancient seaways of the Mediterranean, aim to document, map and highlight the common maritime heritage of its peoples.

Learn more about FLOATS here.