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Submarines, robots and even artificial intelligence are some of the tools scientists will use to identify new species in the ocean.
Ocean Census, launched on April 27, aims to identify 100,000 marine species in the next decade.
“Well, at the moment, our knowledge of where life is in the ocean, how much of it there is, is very limited. And without that knowledge, we can’t modify our human activities to conserve that life for future generations,” says Professor Alex Rogers, director of Ocean Census, who will participate in the organization’s first mission, in the Arctic.
Founded by Nekton, a UK-based research institute, and The Nippon Foundation, a Japanese non-profit, Ocean Census is an alliance of scientific organizations wanting to accelerate the discovery of marine species.
“People are too focused on outer space, however, little is known beneath our feet – the ocean. That’s why it’s so important to bring attention to the ocean through these new discoveries,” says Yōhei Sasakawa, chairperson of The Nippon Foundation.
And the clock is ticking.
Talking during a Nekton mission in 2022, Aya Naseem, co-founder of Maldives Coral Institute said: “We’re moving to a 1.5 degrees rise in global temperatures by 2030, and at that rate, corals of the world will be reduced by more than 90%. So unless we can drastically reduce global carbon emissions, coral reefs will not survive.”
Ocean Census aims to be the “largest program in history to discover new marine life.”
It’ll be based in Oxford, U.K., at the University Museum of Natural History, which houses specimen finds dating back to the time of Charles Darwin.
“It is an ambitious endeavor, but ambition is what we need at the moment,” says Professor Steve Widdicombe, director of science at Plymouth Marine Laboratory, who isn’t associated with Ocean Census or its partners.
This article was provided by The Associated Press.