POPOyster PhD students Niko Bujas and Ratko Cvitanić successfully defended their first and second doctoral seminars, respectively, completing another important milestone in their doctoral studies.
During her stay in Split, Dr Eve Galimany Sanromà also delivered a lecture for researchers at the Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries. The lecture explored the effects of rising sea temperatures on Mediterranean and Atlantic mussel populations. The Mediterranean mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) is an important species for shellfish farming along both the Spanish Mediterranean and North Atlantic coasts, with Spain ranking as the world’s third-largest mussel producer. However, rising seawater temperatures over the past two decades have increasingly threatened mussel production in the Mediterranean, where summer mortality events have become recurrent.
The POPOYster project team gathered in Split on 20 of November 2025. The project’s new member, Dr. Ivana Prusina Conde, delivered a lecture on Nature-Based Solutions—approaches that work with, rather than against, nature. Since the talk was closely linked to the activities of the POPOYster project, the focus was on oysters, but she also shared other fascinating projects. This topic is particularly important today. As human interventions in nature are more frequent than ever, we recognize that such activities are sometimes unavoidable.
PhD student Ratko Cvitanić successfully defended his seminar as part of the Doctoral Study of Oceanology at the University of Zagreb. His doctoral research will be conducted within the framework of the POPOYSTER project. Congratulations to Ratko on this milestone and best of luck in his future research!
The POPOyster kick-off meeting took place on March 28th. During the meeting, all project activities were presented, and a plan for the first year was outlined. Several new ideas were also introduced. The meeting was conducted in a cheerful atmosphere, as depicted in the photos, and we anticipate that the implementation will proceed with the same positivity and enthusiasm.
Some team members have previously collaborated on the project COCOA - “Competition between native Ostrea edulis and invasive Crassostrea gigas oysters in the Adriatic Sea – effects on the ecosystem, fisheries, and aquaculture, funded by the Unity through Knowledge Fund and the World Bank. Within the COCOA project, the focus was on the interactions between the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas and the native species Ostrea edulis. The project involved extensive field and laboratory work, resulting in published papers on the distribution, abundance, and aspects of genetics, reproduction, and feeding ecology of these oysters.
Today marks the official start of the POPOyster project. This collaborative initiative unites scientists from five institutions across Europe, all dedicated to investigating the natural populations of European flat oysters. Their combined efforts seek to deepen their understanding of these populations, with the ultimate aim of protecting and developing effective management plans for the conservation of their habitats, which are gradually vanishing across Europe.
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