Dear All, We are pleased to invite you to participate in the First Conference on Ocean Literacy in Europe, which will be held in Bruges (Belgium) on 12th October 2012. At this conference marine scientists, educators, policy makers and experts explore how Ocean Literacy can improve the future of European seas. While worldwide people express serious concern for the protection and health of the ocean, Europe has yet to provide a structure to make Ocean Literacy its priority. Being 'ocean literate' is understanding how the ocean affects us, and how we affect the ocean. The objectives of the conference are to address the lack of ocean-related content in science education standards and to envision how to bring ocean sciences into the mainstream science education. Furthermore, the conference will emphasize how marine education projects lead to more public involvement and active participation. We strongly encourage all members of MARMAN to submit a poster, as Cetecean research and education are inextricably linked to each other. Accepted abstracts for the poster session will be included in the conference abstract book. Poster deadline is 1th August. You can find more information on the conference website on http://www.emsea.eu/conference-2012-bruges Early bird registration until 15th July 2012. Please share this information with colleagues that might be interested. Thank you for your interest and we look forward to welcoming you in Bruges! With kind regards, on behalf of the organizing committee Evy Copejans oceanliteracy2012@vliz.be Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee Flanders Marine Institute InnovOcean site Wandelaarkaai 7 B-8400 Oostende T 0032 (0)59 34 21 30 M 0032 (0)472 41 99 02 www.vliz.be evy.copejans@vliz.be