The German Centre of Marine Biodiversity Research (DZMB) has had the opportunity to present one of ist most fascinating research fields, the deep sea, and the international project CeDAMar which is managed from there, twice in only a few weeks.

On 27 March, an information booth was put up in the Wadden Sea House as a contribution to the “Night of  Explorers”. There was a lot to explore indeed! Several DZMB researchers could report first hand from expeditions that they had participated in themselves. Curious visitors of all ages stopped and listened. The very youngest were offered a crayoning corner with colouring books, where deep-sea animals, research ships and submarines could be designed to one’s own taste. There certainly was no lack of future artists and explorers!

On 20 May, the European Day of the Oceans was celebrated for the second time after its inauguration by the European Union in 2008. While in Brussels an international conference on regional implementation of marine policy was held, the latter could be experienced firsthand in the shopping mall “Nordseepassage” at the railway station of Wilhelmshaven. An information booth with exhibits, posters, brochures, photographs and handouts showed interested passers-by some of the gear used in deep-sea exploration and, of course, some of the animals that are brought to the surface with these gear. Researchers from the DZMB were present here as well, telling stories of the exciting day-to-day life of a deep-sea researcher with a very personal angle. And who knows- the colouring book corner, set up here as well, may have inspired some future marine explorer.