PANEL 1.     Signs of Change
Moderator: Paulo NUNES (Ca’ Foscari Univ. of Venice, Italy).
Panelists: Michael ANGELIDIS (UNEP / MAP); Jean-François CADIOU (Ifremer, La Seyne, France); Paula MOSCHELLA (CIESM); Katrin SCHROEDER (CNR-ISMAR, Lerici, Italy) and Martin ZUSCHIN (Geocenter, Univ. Vienna, Austria).
The presentations and debate will embrace hydrological change (temperature, salinity), trends in biodiversity (tropicalization), contamination state in coastal waters (uptrends, downtrends), pollution hotspots around large coastal harbours, and marine 'dead zones' where anoxia leads to mass mortalities of benthic organisms.

PANEL 2.     Restoration of the Venice Lagoon
[Jointly organized by CNR ISMAR, Consorzio Venezia Nuova - Magistrato alle Acque and CIESM]
Moderators: Alberto Giulio BERNSTEIN (Consorzio Venezia Nuova, Venice, Italy) and Roberto ZONTA (CNR - ISMAR, Venice, Italy).
Panelists: Pierpaolo CAMPOSTRINI (CORILA, Venice); Sandro CARNIEL (CNR ISMAR, Venice); Daniele CASSIN (CNR ISMAR, Venice); Giovanni CECCONI (Consorzio Venezia Nuova); Thomas GALVAN (AGRITECO, Venice); Andrea RISMONDO (SELC, Venice); Francesco SCARTON (SELC, Venice); Patrizia TORRICELLI (Univ. Cà Foscari, Venice); Georg UMGIESSER (CNR ISMAR, Venice); Luca ZAGGIA
(CNR ISMAR, Venice).

PANEL 3.     Blue Biotechnologies
Moderator: Henry NICHOLLS (New Scientist).
Panelists: Haim AVIV (Biotechnology General, S.A., Israel); Milton DA COSTA (Univ. Coimbra, Portugal); Monia EL BOUR (INSTM, Salammbô, Tunisia); Peter PROKSCH (Inst. Biotechnology, Univ. Düsseldorf, Germany) and Andrée SONTOT (INRA, Versailles, France).

PANEL 4.     Marine Observatories Networks
Moderator: Luis VALDES (IOC / Unesco).
Panelists: Anne CHENUIL-MAUREL (Univ. Med., Aix-Marseille, France); Cécile GUIEU (Lab. Océanogr., Villefranche s/m, France); Salvo MAZZOLA (IAMC, Mazzara del Vallo, Italy); Nadia PINARDI (SINCEM, Univ. Bologna, Italy) and Ingrid PUILLAT (Ifremer, Brest, France).

PANEL 5.     SESAME – Main findings
Moderator: Vangelis PAPATHANASSIOU (HCMR, Athens, Greece).
Panelists: Marilaure GREGOIRE (Univ. Liège, Belgium); Emin OZSOY (METU, Mersin, Turkey); Micheal SKOURTOS (Univ. Aegean, Greece) and Marco ZAVATERELLI (Univ. Bologna, Italy).
Emphasis on the added value of SESAME, including data base and dissemination activities targeting policy makers and stakeholders. Focus on assessing changes in the Mediterranean and Black seas ecosystems over the last 50 years, on assessing new data collected through multinational and multidisciplinary cruises, on simulation of future status and ability to provide goods and services through the integration of natural science and socio-economic studies.

PANEL 6.     New Options for Sustainable Fisheries?
Moderator: Sybille van den HOVE (MEDIAN, Barcelona, Spain).
Panelists: Ernesto AZZURO (ISPRA, Italy); Ferdinando BOERO (Univ. Salento, Lecce, Italy); Yves HENOCQUE (Ifremer, Paris, France); Pilar PEREDA PEREZ (IEO, Madrid, Spain) and Douglas WILSON (Univ. Aalborg, Denmark).

PANEL 7.     Maritime Industry and Marine Science
Moderator: Willem LAROS (WATERBORNE).
Panelists: Patrick BARAONA (Pôle Mer PACA, La Seyne, France); Mario DOGLIANI (RINA, Genova, Italy); Hassan ER-RAIOUI (Fac. Sciences & Techniques, Tanger, Morocco) and Isabelle TAUPIER-LETAGE (Lab. Oceanogr., La Seyne, France).
The potential for increasing cooperation between marine scientists and operators from numerous maritime industry sectors looks immense. The presentations will focus especially on concrete examples of collaboration with maritime transport, harbour development, maritime security, nanotechnologies, marine energy resources.

PANEL 8.     Mapping Top Marine Predators
Moderators: Giuseppe NOTARBARTOLO di SCIARA (Tethys Res. Inst., Milan, Italy) and Tundi AGARDY (Sound Seas, Washington D.C., USA).
Panelists: Carles CARBONERAS (Univ. Barcelona, Spain); Erich HOYT (Whale Conservation Society, UK); Kristin KASHNER (Albert Ludwig Univ., Freiburg, Germany); Susana SAINZ (WWF Mediterranean, Spain) and Fabrizio SERENA (ARPAT, Livorno, Italy).