"Sea Change is a national plan, aimed at addressing our national capacity to utilise and derive value from our vast ocean resources, " said Dr Peter Heffernan, CEO of the Marine Institute (which manages the programme on behalf of the state). "We are very excited by the new opportunities this research programme will allow us to explore in partnership with key government departments and sister agencies in the public sector, the third level sector and key industrial stakeholders."

Sea Change has already been hailed by Europe as a model strategy, and the twoyear process of its preparation included global market analyses, external consultation and an overall focus on how we, as a nation, can derive the greatest use from our surrounding seas. Earlier this week, the first call was made for suitably qualified scientists and industry experts to tackle a wide range of maritime issues. These include the building of new Irish industries in cod and seaweed farming, an assessment of Ireland's capability to respond to a major pollution incident, and other issues relating to the sustainable development of Ireland's 220 million acre marine resource.

"We identified a number of opportunities and gaps in the market which we felt would benefit from high-level research, " said Dr Heffernan. "There is already a healthy crop of researchers in Ireland, but we are also interested in creating opportunities for the inward migration of specialists. Our plan is to dramatically expand both the number of scientists, and the quantum of science that is taking place regarding applied marine research."

The call, which is funded under the Marine Research Sub-Programme of the National Development Programme (NDP) 2007 . . . 2013, consists of 24 specifically targeted studies at industry, PhD and Post-doctoral level, including fisheries, fish farming, seaweed cultivation, marine environmental quality and marine data management. The topics for the studies were identified during the formulation of the Sea Change programme.

"We will be looking for a mix of respondents, " said Heffernan. "We would expect a significant number of industry-led and industry-generated ideas, but we are also looking for third-level institutions to interact with industry to produce leading-edge research. We very much support collaborative funding, and, indeed, it is a major part of the success ingredients of the programme. But altogether there are 24 specifically targeted studies which are pertinent to industry, so there are significant opportunities for companies to come forward to avail of funding for research."

In addition to further research on cod farming, other fisheries-related projects identified under "Sea Change" include an investigation into the effects of rapid climate change on important commercial fish stocks - harnessing the knowledge of fishermen as part of the scientific process of stock assessment, and looking at ways of reducing the practice of "discarding" unwanted fish at sea.

The programme also examines fish health and food safety, offshore fish farming, marine environmental quality and the management of large sets of marine data.

"The objective of the programme is to impact on social, economic, environmental and governance areas, all of which are key to enhancing our marine industry, " said Heffernan. "We believe that there is clear momentum for the research, and Ireland has already shown that it is a country in which world-class research can take place. The country has been recognised as having made phenomenal progress in the past decade, and we have recently bridged a 90-year infrastructural deficit. We have qualified for the Champions League, and it is now time for us to get out of the group stages."

A special information day for potential applicants will be held at the Marine Institute's headquarters at Oranmore, County Galway on the September 10. The closing date for receipt of applications is Wednesday 26th September, 2007. For further information on all the proposed studies, as well as details of the application procedure, visit www. marine. ie.