The first field expedition for the SPINAQUA project took place on 12 December 2019 by the SPINAQUA diving team (Thanos Dailianis, Julius Glampedakis, Emmanouela Vernadou) in Akrotiri Peninsula (Chania, Crete). This dive marked the initiation of WP2 and aimed at the development and evaluation of the working protocol for the assessment of natural sponge populations.