The objective of the "Channel Program" is to contribute to knowledge acquisition necessary for marine living resources management through the development of an integrated and multi-disciplinary ecosystem approach on this marine ecosystem. Another ambition is to provide transparent and accessible information which can be effectively integrated in public policies. This can be achieved by increasing communication effort, knowledge transmission and sound information exchanges between involved partners.

The "Channel Program" is a framework that aims at merging scientific work and unifying developed research projects focused on the Channel marine living resources under a common label (wwz.ifremer.fr/defimanche). This unifying ambition implies the rapid creation of a scientific committee that will support the Franco-British interregional political structure "Chanel Arc Manche". This committee intends to gather together specialists in marine science implicated in existing or future research projects (http://www.unicaen.fr/ufr/ibfa/cresh/, http://www.ifremer.fr/charm/, http://www.emdi.certic.unicaen.fr/) and will facilitate the transfer of scientific breakthroughs towards local and European decisional structures.

We wish to invite you to take part in the kick-off meeting of "The Channel Program: An ambitious challenge for a sustainable exploitation of marine ecosystem". The meeting will be held on the 30th and 31st of March at the Hôtel de Région, Rouen.

On-line registration form and practical information are available at: http://wwz.ifremer.fr/defimanche