Within the AWI-HZG research program PACESII, the CSD is located in Topic 2 (Fragile Coasts). The Centre for Scientific Diving is also the home of the working group "In situ ecology" which is part of the AWI [...] for humankind with more than half of the world’s population living less than 50 kilometres away from the sea. Due to the increasing effects of global change, many of these areas are increasingly threatened [...] important for the protection of our coastlines. A good example for this development is the North Sea, were more than 80 % of the coastline is already artificially protected. In 2010, the Centre for Scientific