"Marine and Coastal Waters Monitoring and Assessment Program Meeting" of the Project on Determination and Classification of Quality Status of Marine and Coastal Waters was held on 29 July 2013 at TUBITAK Presidency.

"Determination and Classification of Quality Status of Marine and Coastal Waters Project (DeKoS)" The project started on December 16, 2011 with the contract signed between the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Environment and Urbanization and TUBITAK Marmara Research Center and the duration of the project is two years. The project aims to create the necessary information and implementation tools to support the implementation of the principle of "ecosystem approach management" for transitional-coastal and coastal-marine waters for the implementation of the Marine Strategy Directive (DSÇD) (2008/56/EC) and the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) (2000/60/EC). It is also a strategic objective of the Project to provide information and recommendations for the sustainable use of our coastal and marine resources, based on good environmental status objectives, to decision makers and practitioners who need to make joint planning.

The project covers all Turkish seas and coasts including the Black Sea, Marmara Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Aegean Sea. The main objectives are to identify and classify coastal waters according to their ecological and chemical quality, to assess the "good environmental status" of the seas regionally and to set targets and indicators for this, and to propose an integrated coastal and marine waters monitoring program and implementation structure based on these assessments and targets.

Within the scope of proposing an integrated coastal and marine waters monitoring program and implementation structure in the project, "Marine and Coastal Waters Monitoring and Assessment Program Meeting" was held on 29 July 2013 at 09:30 at the TUBITAK Presidency Meeting Hall No. 3. A total of 29 experts from relevant public institutions/organizations, universities and non-governmental organizations attended the meeting.

Following the opening speeches of Mr. Murat Turan, Head of Marine and Coastal Management Department of the General Directorate of Environmental Management of the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization of the Republic of Turkey. Following the opening speeches of Mr. Murat Turan and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ziya Sedat Çetiner, Deputy Director of TÜBİTAK MAM Environment and Cleaner Production Institute and their explanations on the content of the project, DeKoS Project Coordinator Assoc. Prof. Dr. S. Çolpan Polat Beken presented the activities carried out and suggestions for the planning of future monitoring activities in her presentation titled "Marine and coastal monitoring program in line with WFD/SEA: scope and content". Prof. Dr. Sinan Hüsrevoğlu presented the legal processes and needs on which monitoring programs in Turkey are based, followed by presentations on other country examples and the situation in Turkey in relation to the institutional structure. Following Assoc. Prof. Dr. S. Çolpan Polat Beken's general outline of the existing monitoring infrastructure in Turkey, information was received from monitoring institutions/organizations about their infrastructure and their work on monitoring with the use of new technologies. Finally, short/medium and long term needs, planning and recommendations were discussed with the participants within the framework of establishing monitoring programs and a list of recommendations was created.

The names of the institutions/organizations participating in the meeting are given below:

 TÜIAK Marmara Research Center, Environment and Cleaner Production Institute

 Republic of Turkey Ministry of Environment and UrbanizationGeneral Directorate of Environmental ManagementDepartment of Marine and Coastal Management

 Republic of Turkey Ministry of Environment and Urbanization General Directorate of EA, Inspection and Audit Department of Laboratory, Measurement and Processing

 Republic of Turkey Ministry of Environment and UrbanizationGeneral Directorate for the Protection of Natural Habitats

 Republic of Turkey Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, General Directorate of Fisheries and Aquaculture

 Republic of Turkey Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs General Directorate of Water Management

 OSI - State Water Works

 DKK- Department of Navigation Hydrography and Oceanography

 Middle East Technical University Institute of Marine Sciences

 Dokuz Eylü University Institute of Marine Sciences and Technology

 Itanbul University Institute of Marine Sciences and Management

 Karadeniz Technical University Faculty of Marine Sciences Dean's Office

 T.C. Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock Central Research Institute for Aquatic Products