Return of the schooner Tara and the EMBL mobile laboratory after an unprecedented 18-month land-sea expedition
On October 5th 2024, the scientific schooner Tara returned to its home port of Lorient, France, after 18 months of research as part of the Traversing European Coastlines (TREC) expedition. Covering the entire length of the European Coastline, the expedition gathered unprecedented data on marine microbial diversity, carbon sequestration processes, and how these ecosystems are being affected by human activity and environmental changes.
Two days of talks, boat visits, panel discussions, games, art performances and more celebrated the return of the Tara Ocean schooner to its home port in Lorient, accompanied by EMBL’s mobile laboratories. This unique, one-of-a-kind collection of data allows an unprecedented study of Europe’s coastal & marine ecosystems and analysis is already underway by many different researchers, groups and projects, including EMBL, Fondation Tara Océan, BlueRemediomics & BIOcean5D.
For the BlueRemediomics project, which aims to develop novel tools and approaches to explore marine microbiome data, these samples provide an exciting opportunity to study human impact on coastal ecosystems in unprecedented detail. They also provide critical insights into the search for novel products and cosmeceuticals derived from valuable marine bioresources.
In a combined effort, the Tara Ocean Foundation and EMBL have published an in-depth press-kit, highlighting the expedition’s purpose, some initial findings and a future outlook. Access the press kit below for more information.