CIESM - the Mediterranean Science Commission - held its 42nd Congress in Cascais, Portugal, between 7 and 11 October. CIESM is the largest association of Mediterranean marine scientists, and its congresses, held every three years, are the main fora where scientists from the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, and the adjacent Atlantic, present the results of their latest research and exchange ideas.

Three academic members of staff from the Department of Biology at UM, Prof. Patrick J. Schembri, Dr Julian Evans and Dr Leyla Knittweis, and seven UM postgraduate students participated in this congress and presented their work in the form of posters and short talks.

The topics treated by the UM academics and students included the history of invasion of a non-indigenous species of Foraminifera in Maltese coastal waters, the ecology of an alien alga colonising Maltese coasts, the habitats and biodiversity of the deep-sea (200m-1000m) around Malta, the discards resulting from the trawl fishery in the Malta Fisheries Management Zone and the management of litter from Fish Aggregation Devices used in the dolphinfish (lampuka) fishery. Extended abstracts of the seven works presented will be published in the proceedings of the Congress.

The Department of Biology strives to be a centre of excellence in marine biological research, which is even more important now that the University of Malta is part of the Sea-EU - European University of the Sea, a consortium of European universities with a strong maritime tradition funded by the European Commission through its new European Universities initiative.