The Eye of Andromeda: enhancing the sea and the coastline

The Œil d’Andromède association was created in 2000 by Pierre Descamp, Laurent Ballesta, Mathieu Geoffray, Cyril Frances and Daniel Collin.

It contributes to the preservation of the marine and coastal environment by :

• The development of its aesthetic potential
• Awareness actions for all audiences
• The conduct of research for a better knowledge of the marine and coastal environment
• The development of tools to promote eco-responsible behavior.
• The provision of monitoring data of Mediterranean coastal waters through the creation (in 2013) and the animation of an online mapping platform (MEDTRIX).
  Ecological restoration (notably the REPIC program).

One diver transplanting fragments of Posidonia meadows, within the REPIC program. @Laurent Ballesta

L’Œil d’Andromède has been innovating in the exploration and study of the marine environment for 20 years. Thanks to this extensive experience, the multiplicity of marine environment monitoring networks to its credit, its research collaborations with the academic world and the ability of its teams to innovate and develop monitoring methods, L’Œil d’Andromède is able to conduct projects to acquire knowledge and preserve the marine environment, and to develop useful long-term monitoring of marine ecosystems.

Among its large-scale projects, l’Œil d’Andromède created in 2013, in partnership with the Rhone Mediterranean Corsica Water Agency, the MEDTRIX platform. This online work tool allows the exchange of data acquired by monitoring networks and is at the service of the various stakeholders in the marine environment (scientists, managers, technical agents …). It facilitates access and consultation of spatialized monitoring data of very high resolution (between 0 and 80 meters deep; maps at 1/10000) along the French Mediterranean coast and for some areas in the Atlantic, Italy, Tunisia, Spain, Morocco and the Philippines. This platform has been evolving every year for more 10 years, and welcomes new projects (currently about forty), new needs, new partners (nearly sixty) and new users (more than 3500, figure for the end of 2023). Today, it allows everyone a free, easy and structured access to the monitoring data of the French Mediterranean coastal zone.

Another project supported by the association since 2019 is REPIC, restoration of Posidonia meadows impacted by anchors in the French Mediterranean, a project that allows to initiate a dynamic restoration of Posidonia meadows whose ecological and economic roles are major but are undergoing a serious decline. This program was launched by the association for an initial period of six years (2019-2024) with the objectives of accelerating the recovery of the remaining meadows and reclaiming the destroyed surfaces by reintroducing hundreds of fragments of meadows torn up by anchors (or broken naturally). REPIC is implemented in three restoration areas located in the Alpes-Maritimes: Golfe Juan, Rade de Beaulieu sur Mer and Villefranche-sur-Mer.

Site of Beaulieu sur mer in lower limit, REPIC program @Lauren Ballesta