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A five-day International Deep-sea Macrofauna Taxonomy School was held at CMLRE, Kochi, India, from 7 to 11 September 2026.
Deep‑sea Macrofauna Taxonomy School: Standardizing Methodologies for Biodiversity Assessments
Deep-Sea Macrofauna – Macrofauna are relatively large organisms that inhabit the seabed and are typically identified using morphological and microscopic techniques.
- Dates – 7-11 September 2026 (five days).
- Venue – Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology (CMLRE), Kochi.
- Held under – Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India.
- Platform – Sustainable Seabed Knowledge Initiative (SSKI) of the International Seabed Authority (ISA).
- Collaborators
- CMLRE (MoES)
- International Seabed Authority (ISA)
- Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA)
- National Marine Biodiversity Institute of Korea (MABIK).
- Participants – About 30 early‑career researchers/scientists from ISA Member States in the Indian Ocean Region.
- Participating nations include South Africa, Kenya, Bangladesh, Mauritius, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Mozambique, Tanzania, Thailand, Oman, and India.
- Over the five-day intensive curriculum, participants will engage in:
- Specialized lectures, field visits, and benthic sample collection
- Hands-on laboratory training in macrofauna identification and result reporting
- Advanced technical instruction in traditional taxonomy, DNA barcoding, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and biodiversity data analysis
- Workshops on sample curation and open-access biodiversity data publishing
- Strategic Importance
- Enhances India's leadership in deep-sea biodiversity research.
- Facilitates scientific capacity building within the Indian Ocean Region.
- Advances standardized methodologies for the assessment of benthic biodiversity.
- Encourages environmentally responsible practices in deep-ocean exploration.
- Fosters international scientific collaboration through initiatives led by the International Seabed Authority (ISA) and the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES).
Reference
PIB | Deep-sea Macrofauna Taxonomy School
