Integrated Hydrographic System for Sustainable Development of the Marine Ecosystem

The paper presents a new methodology and results of hydrographic research on the project: HIDROLAB - Integrated hydrographic system for sus- tainable development of the marine ecosystem. The project is carried out as part of the experimental development of the system for spatial data collection using modern methods of remote sensing and analysis of the dispersion of the return acoustic signal in the entire water column with the purpose of detailed and ef- fective mapping of underwater and coastal habitats. Existing methods have not proven to be effective enough for supplementing the map of underwater and coast- al habitats of the Croatian part of the Adriatic Sea, which Directive 2014/89/ EU prescribes. The coverage of the territorial sea of the Republic of Croatia with the currently mapped habitats is about 2%, and Republic of Croatia is obliged to complete this record in accordance with Directive 92/43/EEC as a basis for the assessment of the fish stock and the determination of quotas at the level of the Eu- ropean Union. The data collected so far on the habitats of the marine part are of different precision and formats and were collected by different methods (e.g. direct measurements and indirect modelling), which is why they are unreliable and only informative. On the other hand, a new methodology was applied, which, using a multibeam echo-sounder system, maps the seabed and marine habitats several dozen times faster, more accurately and cheaper.