OBJECTIVES
		The project is targeted at users of marine information as shipping industries, oil and gas industries, port and harbour authorities, commercial fisheries, mariculture operations, re-insurance industries, tourism and recreation industries, governmental agencies that support the needs of marine related industries, coastal zone managers, the marine-science community, and non-governmental organisations in Bulgaria and Black Sea Basin.
		Direct beneficiaries are marine scientists in Bulgaria. By making data available globally, the project will make a contribution to the scientific community world-wide.
			Institute of oceanology is located in Varna – the third biggest Bulgarian city, and considered the sea capital of the country. It is the centre of marine industry, tourism and science. Bulgaria is one of the countries that expects and make great efforts to be part of the third expansion of the EU. Eventually, in 2007 the Black Sea will become the eastern border of the EU. Bulgaria is one of the six Black Sea riparian countries and thus Europe will have the longest Black Sea coastal line – 375 km. The state of the Black Sea affects the lives and prosperity of more then 160 million people. Therefore, a good science base, adequate information and data management, and predictive modeling are vital for the society. These are the pillars on which informed decision making and sustainable management of the environment are built.
		Users need useful, up-to-date and easily accessible marine data and information. Fundamental elements of the success of marine community efforts to support effectively the marine economic activities are the speed and the ease with which users can identify, locate, get access, exchange and use oceanographic and marine data and information. The goal of the project is to develop necessary prerequisites to obtain a user-oriented infrastructure.
		SIBEMA will improve the national and regional resources aiming to provide data and analysis to meet societal needs. This will be achieved through elaboration of management strategies, institutional capacity building and development of pilot activities in specific fields. Merging best European practice and modern technologies will help to translate already existing and newly generated data into highly informative products to meet end users needs. The results obtained can be easily transferred from local to regional and basin wide scale.