Dear all, Thank you for participating at the 4th meeting for developing a Blue Growth Initiative for Research and Innovation in the Black Sea, held in Istanbul on 27 March 2018. We are particularly grateful to BSEC, and the Secretary-General Amb. Christides, for hosting us in the BSEC Headquarters and for the tasty dinner at the Bosporus!

Summary, participants' list, relevant documents and presentations given

The Ministers of Western Mediterranean countries gathered in Naples (Italy), on 30 November 2017, in an Informal Ministerial Meeting endorsed and launched the Initiative for the sustainable development of the blue economy in the Western Mediterranean – a goal-oriented series of joint actions to make the common sea space safer, cleaner and more productive.

With growing demands for sea-space, the planning of new activities requires knowledge of what is already happening. EMODnet already provides many data on human activities but, so far, shipping has not been included. The increasing use and availability of information from ships' AIS anti-collision systems offers a route to provide this information. The aim of this meeting is to see how this can be done.