The overall objective of WP4 is to build upon the groundwork laid by restoration activities in other ecosystems, to develop principles, guidelines and tools for deep-sea restoration, including pilot studies in the deep sea.

Specific objectives:

1) applying the lessons learned from terrestrial and coastal ecosystems to develop principles of deep-sea restoration;

2) promoting the integration of the deep-sea Restoration Agenda into policy objectives;

3) developing conceptually coherent ecosystem tools and methodologies for deep-sea restoration; 4) assessing the ecological benefits of cost-effective restoration activities in the deep-sea, including the role of passive restoration.

WP4 will set the stage for future deep-sea restoration to create leverage for long-term monitoring programs, and to open a window for further funding and consideration of this important topic. All activities developed in this work-package can be applied elsewhere regardless of the spatial scale considered in any region in Europe or beyond.

Co-leaders: Partner 4, Instituto do Mar Centro da Universidade dos Açores (Telmo Morato) and Partner 28, Heriot-Watt University (Andrew K. Sweetman)