The European ECOMARE project is looking for answers at Portugal’s Aveiro estuary.
ECOMARE is a European project focused on the impact of climate change on flora and fauna as well as the protection of marine animals.
Artur Silva, the vice chancellor at the University of Aveiro explained how the project came about: "The ECOMARE initiative was introduced after the oil spill from the Prestige tanker in Galicia... The first major intervention was rescuing animals that were covered in oil".
Ricardo Calado is the scientific coordinator for CEPAM, ECOMARE's research centre. "We do a lot of work here on the effects of heatwaves: how do they affect marine life? How do animals adapt to these changes?"
"Those of us in academia, research centres and public aquariums, are trying to create a Noah's Ark of sorts to save some of these animals and figure out which ones will have the best chance of survival. Not in today's oceans, but in the oceans of 2025, 2050 and 2100. We use models developed by scientists who have predicted the conditions that corals will face in the future."