{"id":4229,"date":"2026-06-23T10:35:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T08:35:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alien.agenceidentity.fr\/the-biomarathon-arrives-in-occitanie\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T13:44:03","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T11:44:03","slug":"the-biomarathon-arrives-in-occitania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alien-occicat.obs-banyuls.fr\/en\/the-biomarathon-arrives-in-occitania\/","title":{"rendered":"The BioMARathon arrives in Occitanie!"},"content":{"rendered":"

A unique initiative to discover<\/strong> and protect marine biodiversity<\/strong> through citizen science<\/strong> is coming to our shores! Originating in Catalonia, where it brought together no fewer than 510 participants in 2025, and after a successful launch in Portugal, the BioMARathon<\/strong><\/a> is taking a new step forward. The concept is now expanding to France, and more specifically to the Occitan coastline<\/strong>. The event kicked off on May 2nd, and the adventure will continue until October 15, 2026<\/strong>. So, grab your cameras<\/strong>!<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"BioMarathon<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>

A fun, science-driven competition<\/h2><\/div>

The BioMARathon is a friendly challenge<\/strong> for sea enthusiasts and users. The goal is to record as many observations<\/strong> and species<\/strong> as possible. Participating is very simple: all you need to do is upload your photos of marine fauna and flora to the MINKA<\/strong><\/a> platform.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"Visuel<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>

If your observations meet the BioMARathon criteria<\/a>, they will be automatically added to the project, and you will be in the running to win a prize<\/strong>! At the end of the season, the participants with the most species and ‘Research Grade’<\/strong> observations will win rewards.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

A key driver for ALIEN-OCCICAT<\/h2><\/div>

Beyond its fun aspect, this citizen science challenge has a major ecological impact<\/strong>. All field-collected data is invaluable for numerous scientific projects<\/strong>. This is particularly true for ALIEN-OCCICAT<\/strong>, which will rely on all your observations of Non-Indigenous Species<\/strong>\u00a0to map<\/strong> and track their progression<\/strong> in real-time.<\/p>\n

By participating, you directly help to:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Detect new arrivals<\/strong> before they become permanent residents.<\/li>\n
  • Track the spread<\/strong> of already known Non-Indigenous Species<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
  • Assess the pressure<\/strong> on local species and key habitats.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>

    How to participate?<\/h2><\/div>

    You don’t need to be a marine biology expert to join the adventure! Just follow these three steps:<\/p>\n

    \"Etapes_minka_En_V2\"<\/p>\n

    The community experts<\/strong> will then validate your identifications!<\/p>\n

    By multiplying the eyes on the coastline from now until October 15<\/strong>, every shared photo becomes a tangible action<\/strong> to help researchers and protect our region\u2019s marine biodiversity.<\/p>\n

    Whether you are on vacation or a local resident, are you ready to take on the challenge?<\/p>\n<\/div>

    The BioMARathon Occitania is part of the project:<\/p>\n<\/div>

    \"Logo_ALIEN-OCCICAT_quadri-retina\"<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>
    \"AFLE_logo_horiz_nom_FR-1-770x93\"<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

    With the support of<\/p>\n<\/div>

    \"Logo-CPIELIDOC\"<\/div><\/div><\/div>
    \"\"<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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    <\/div><\/div>

    Promoted by<\/p>\n<\/div>

    \"\"<\/div><\/div>
    \"\"<\/div><\/div>
    \"\"<\/div><\/div>
    \"\"<\/div><\/div>
    <\/div><\/div><\/div>

    With the financing of European projects:<\/p>\n<\/div>

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    \"\"<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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    \"\"<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4231,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alien-occicat.obs-banyuls.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alien-occicat.obs-banyuls.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alien-occicat.obs-banyuls.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alien-occicat.obs-banyuls.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alien-occicat.obs-banyuls.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4229"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/alien-occicat.obs-banyuls.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5153,"href":"https:\/\/alien-occicat.obs-banyuls.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4229\/revisions\/5153"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alien-occicat.obs-banyuls.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alien-occicat.obs-banyuls.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alien-occicat.obs-banyuls.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alien-occicat.obs-banyuls.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}