PROJECTS /
Citizens of the Sea
Project Summary
A new citizen science project empowering sailors to map marine biodiversity and ocean health using cutting-edge technology
Photo Credit / James Frankham
SAILORS REVOLUTIONISING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF MARINE BIODIVERSITY IN THE PACIFIC
A new citizen science initiative is empowering sailors to map marine biodiversity and ocean health in the Pacific, equipping blue-water sailors with the latest technology to gather important data while at sea. The Pacific Ocean is the world’s largest ocean and will provide crucial insights into the effects of climate change and biodiversity loss on the region.
Citizens of the Sea, a charity co-founded by Cawthron Institute and New Zealand Geographic, and supported by Live Ocean Foundation, has recruited sailors in the 2024 Pacific Rally to help understand the health and function of the world’s biggest ocean.
On their voyage, the sailors are encouraged to help scientists understand the biodiversity and marine environments in the Pacific by collecting eDNA samples to identify thousands of species from a cup of water, create 3D model of coral reefs using their mobile phone camera or build a dataset of environmental variables using information on their boat instruments.
“With over 10,000 boats traversing our oceans at any given time, sailors represent an enormous untapped resource to help map ocean health.”
Dr Xavier Pochon
Founding Scientist – Citizens of the Sea
OUR IMPACT
Live Ocean has proudly partnered with New Zealand Geographic on citizen science that has contributed to the development of Citizens of the Sea and is now proud to partner with this exciting project. Citizens of the Sea fills an urgent and important scientific need for high quality environmental data in Pacific.
Sally Paterson, Chief Executive of Live Ocean says, “as an ocean organisation born from sailing, we understand the valuable role that Citizens of the Sea can play in engaging the seafaring community, and in enabling sailors and voyagers to make a valuable contribution to the health and understanding of our ocean. Live Ocean is delighted to support this innovative new initiative that brings true scale to the science of ocean biodiversity.”
Results from the Rally sailors will be publicly accessible via www.citizensofthesea.org in late 2024.
PROJECT PARTNERS
Dr Xavier Pochon
Founding Scientist, Citizens of the Sea
Xavier leads the Molecular Surveillance team within the Biosecurity group at Cawthron and holds a joint position as Associate Professor at the Institute of Marine Science of the University of Auckland.
His research expertise focuses on developing multi-trophic molecular detection tools to analyse environmental DNA (eDNA) and measure biodiversity changes associated with natural and human-induced stressors in aquatic ecosystems. Xavier is involved in multiple research projects using DNA and RNA proxies for monitoring New Zealand’s aquatic health, tracing migratory patterns of eels in the south-west Pacific, detecting non-indigenous marine species, and unveiling the diversity and dynamics of open-ocean biomes.
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