Marine bentho-pelagic fauna and flora of Blue Flag coasts in northern Crete

This dataset concerns marine species from six coasts awarded with a Blue Flag from northern Crete, Greece, Eastern Mediterranean. It includes species of benthic and pelagic mega- and macro-fauna and flora. Visual census and photo-identification were applied as non-invasive recording methods. This resource was created within the INTERREG V-A Greece - Cyprus 2014-2020 project -quot;SocioCoast-quot; co-funded by the European Union (ERDF) and national funds of Greece and Cyprus under the grant agreement No 5050709.
PROJECT DATA
The project SocioCoast aims to offer complementary information and IT tools to the Blue Flag information system, which is the most well known and reliable system for beach quality evaluation applied in more than 50 countries and awarded under strict criteria to organized beaches and marinas. Data and information have been collected during the project for selected beaches in Crete and Cyprus and will be offered to the public regarding: a) biodiversity, and more specifically information on marine species interesting for divers, dangerous species or alien species, and b) oceanographic and meteorological data for leisure activities (e.g. nautical sports, nautical tourism, leisure fishing). Some of the selected locations are part of the Natura 2000 network and at the same time they satisfy some other criteria (e.g. accessibility for people with disabilities). The ICT tools developed during the project will offer updated and enriched information for the visitors and will also offer them the opportunity to interactively contribute to the updating of such information through crowd-sourcing (e.g. tourists will be able to submit information about pollution events, appearance of new species and status of touristic facilities). Finally, the opportunity for big data analysis and the enrichment of the platform with new applications is offered through the project activities.

Title	- SocioCoast - Enhance promotion of beaches and coastal areas and problem reporting through crowd sourcing activities
Identifier -	n/a
Funding	- INTERREG V-A Greece - Cyprus 2014-2020 co-funded by the European Union (ERDF) and national funds of Greece and Cyprus under the grant agreement No 5050709.
Study Area Description	- The project SocioCoast includes data from Blue Flag coasts, more specifically 6 coasts from northern Crete in Greece and 4 coasts from Cyprus.

The personnel involved in the project:
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Eva Chatzinikolaou

SAMPLING METHODS
The biodiversity of mega- and macro- benthic and pelagic fauna and flora in each one of the six Blue Flag beaches in northern Crete has been investigated using SCUBA diving and snorkeling. Three scientific divers applied non-destructive methods for the visual identification of the existing species: a) visual census for in-situ underwater observations and b) collection of underwater photographs for further taxonomic analysis. The divers allocated approximately 2 hours for snorkeling and 2 hours for SCUBA diving in each area, surveying all different habitats, including soft bottoms, vertical walls and overhangs, crevices, meadows and artificial structures.

Study Extent	- The sampling area in this dataset includes six Blue Flag beaches located in the north coast of Crete (Greece): a) Adelianos Kampos near Rethymnon, b) Kokkini Hani and c) Kastri situated between Heraklion and Agios Nikolaos, d) Schisma and e) Porto Elounda located in Elounda, and f) Vai-Foinikodasos in northeastern Crete. Sampling was carried out during June-July 2022, covering both hard and soft substrate habitats within a depth range of 0-7 meters.
Quality Control - All data collected were cross validated by three scientific experts using the existing literature, as well as open access databases (e.g. WoRMS, DORIS) and identification key books. Careful investigation of the close-up qualitative photos was also applied in order to identify additional taxa to the lowest possible taxonomic level.