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There is a new threat advancing along the Portuguese coast, and Cascais is preparing a counter-offensive. No, it is not a new species of shark or a predator out of a horror film. In reality, the culprit is a brown seaweed native to the Asian Pacific: it is called Rugulopteryx okamurae, it was detected in the Mediterranean in 2002, and it has been expanding rapidly across the Atlantic.
In recent years, this invasive species has accumulated in several European coastal areas, causing high cleanup costs, an impact on tourism, difficulties for fishermen, and the degradation of natural habitats. To respond to this phenomenon, the municipality of Cascais is turning to a solution that merges space technology, artificial intelligence, and ocean science to predict when and where the seaweed might wash ashore.
The project, dubbed EO4RO (Earth Observation for the Mapping and Monitoring of Rugulopteryx okamurae), will be developed over 12 months. The work is the result of a consortium comprising the GMV team in Portugal and the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, one of the leading international scientific centres in marine research, with direct funding from Cascais Municipal Council.
At present, the monitoring of these occurrences is mostly reactive, meaning that authorities only act once the seaweed has already washed up on the coast. The objective of this project is to reverse this approach and anticipate the problem before it reaches the beach. By using satellite imagery, oceanographic data, meteorological information, and artificial intelligence algorithms, the system will test the capability to predict coastal accumulation episodes, map the extent of the invasion in near-real-time, simulate the transport of the seaweed by currents and wind, chart the affected marine habitats, and issue automatic alerts to the authorities and the public. This same technological approach is currently used to predict oil spills, monitor the environment, and analyse extreme weather events.
If the results of this testing period are positive, Cascais could be the first Portuguese municipality to trial an integrated solution of this kind and a European case study in smart coastal management. This model could then be replicated in other vulnerable areas. "If we can predict the problem before it happens, we save time, reduce public costs, and improve environmental protection. That is the true potential of this project," explained the Senior Project Manager at GMV Portugal, Filipe Brandão, as quoted by Líder magazine.