19-05-2010. Within the celebration of the European Maritime Day, PLOCAN has organized in the Laboral Ciudad de la Cultura located in Gijón, the round table "Common challenges in establishing ocean observatories".

The event contributes to the strategic discussions currently taking place on the planification of deep ocean observing infrastructures. It was convened by the Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands (PLOCAN) and co-convened by University of Bremen/MARUM. Principals of some of the world's main ocean observing initiatives, whether planned or already in operation, as well as representatives of governmental and intergovernmental organizations participated in the meeting. While the list is incomplete, representatives of the following organisations, initiatives and projects attended the event: the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, the European Commission, the Group on Earth Observations , the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, International ocean observatory initiatives from Europe, America and Japan.