Organized every two years by the Total Foundation, these meetings are dedicated to biodiversity issues.

Organized on Porquerolles Island, together with the UICN(International Union for the Conservation  of Nature), these symposiums address specific marine biodiversity topics, systematically chosen for their interdisciplinary quality. The Foundation invites about sixty specialists of natural sciences, economic and social sciences, nature preservation associations and ocean professionals.

The findings of each symposium are then written up in a report and transmitted to researchers and managers, who may find them thought-provoking and a help in decision-making.

The Total Foundation appointed Columbia River to organize the Port-Cros symposium on the topic of "Biodiversity and maritime transport".