DEVelopment Of innovative Tools for understanding marine biodiversity and assessing good Environmental Status) project is the collaborative effort of 22 partners distributed across 15 countries, in the Baltic, Atlantic, Mediterranean, Black Seas, and Red Sea, after four years (2012-2016) of research. The overall goal of DEVOTES is to better understand the relationships between pressures from human activities and climatic influences and their effects on marine ecosystems, including biological diversity, in order to support the ecosystem based management and fully achieve the Good Environmental Status of marine waters.