Event

UNOC: Our Ocean Future – Empowering the Next Generation of Ocean Leaders

Our Ocean Future - Empowering the Next Generation of Ocean Leaders

At the 2022 UN Ocean Conference held in Lisbon, the Bertarelli Foundation co-hosted with IOC UNESCO and ZSL an official side event on the morning of Tuesday 28th, June titled ‘Our Ocean Future – Empowering the Next Generation of Ocean Leaders’.

Marine scientists are at the heart of science innovation, translating scientific conclusions into management practises, and increasingly the move towards sustainable development. The technical capacity of ocean science remains unequally distributed among countries and regions, particularly in infrastructure, deep sea exploration and data management. While the number of scientific publications continues to increase, they are heavily skewed in origin and focus to the Global North. Networks of early career marine scientists are central to the innovation of transformative solutions. These networks can be further improved by encompassing diversity of disciplines, racial diversity, and gender. However, the contribution young marine scientists and conservationists can make is often overlooked and the level of support offered to them differs widely among countries. This event took the form of a conversation between three ocean leaders and three ocean youth from the Global South, with the goal of identifying clear actions to overcome barriers and accelerate opportunities for next generation ocean leaders.

Panellists

Ocean leaders:

Professor Rashid Sumaila (University of British Columbia, Canada)
Angelique Pouponneau (Alliance of Small Island States, UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development Advisory Board,
Dr Asha de Vos, Oceanswell, Sri Lanka)

Ocean youth:

Inès Boujmil (BlueMed Ambassador in Tunisia, Fisheries & Environmental Engineer at National Institute of Marine Sciences and Technologies)
Camille Rivera (Oceanus Conservation, Philippines)
Sivajyodee Sannassy (Bangor University, UK)
Lasuni Chathurima Gule Godage (Ocean University of Sri Lanka via video message).

Moderated by: Professor Heather Koldewey, Lead, Bertarelli Foundation’s Marine Science Programme, Zoological Society of London, with an introduction by Dona Bertarelli, Bertarelli Foundation, and Alison Clausen, IOC UNESCO, with concluding comments from Dr Sylvia Earle, Mission Blue.

The recording of the live-event is available to watch below:

Improving MPA ManagementSentinel Species Research

Drifting Fishing Gear Poses Significant Risks to Marine Protected Areas

Researchers hope their findings will help managers mitigate the impacts of drifting fishing gear in protected areas

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) protect biodiversity within their boundaries by regulating fishing. However, the impacts of drifting fishing gear, especially drifting fish aggregation devices (dFADs), are not necessarily taken into account.

Now, a team of scientists led by David Curnick from the Zoological Society of London, UK, has shown the potential harm that dFADs could cause to MPAs. Their study, published in the journal Conservation Biology, found more than a third of dFADs posed a risk to biodiversity in the Chagos Archipelago MPA.

dFADs are floating platforms that attract tuna fish in particular, causing them to accumulate around the devices, making them easier to catch. More than 100,000 dFADs are deployed every year, but they have drawbacks including depleting tuna stocks and catching excessive juveniles and bycatch, such as sharks. They can also be lost and abandoned, becoming marine pollution and stranding in sensitive areas or tangling marine animals, such as turtles, in their trailing nets.

A drifting fish aggregation device (dFAD) beached on a reef in the Chagos Archipelago. Photo: Dan Bayley

A cause for considerable management concern

Using the MPA surrounding the islands and atolls of the Chagos Archipelago as a case study, Curnick and his colleagues modelled the transit of dFADs through the region from 16 different entry points. The devices’ movement was modelled across months and years to account for changing prevailing currents.

The researchers found that over a third (37.5%) of dFADs that drift into the MPA pose a considerable management concern by either beaching on sensitive habitats, such as coral reefs, or drifting through and accumulating fish that could then be exported outside the MPA and into fishable areas.

“The interactions between static MPAs and drifting fishing gears have long been overlooked. However, if left unchecked, we find that drifting fish aggregation devices could reduce the effectiveness of MPAs,” says Curnick. “As such, we need to ensure that MPA managers and stakeholders account for the possible impacts of drifting fishing gears and mitigate against them when required.”

The highest risk of dFADs beaching or remaining in the MPA for longer periods came from those entering the MPA from the east and west. The largest atoll in the region, the Great Chagos Bank, was the most likely to be affected by beaching.

Interdisciplinary approach helped to boost the study’s impact

Curnick says the interdisciplinarity of the project team helped the study succeed. “This project brought together academics, conservationists and fisheries scientists, generously supported by the Bertarelli Foundation,” he says. “By incorporating each other’s expertise and insights, we have produced a more holistic and impactful assessment of the risk posed by dFADs which we hope will lead to a review of their management around the Chagos Archipelago.”

And the approach is designed to be replicable in other MPAs and territories: “We hope the paper will provide a useful reference for others seeking to address the impacts of drifting fishing gears in their waters,” Curnick concludes.

Article details:

David J. Curnick, David A. Feary, and Geórgenes H. Cavalcante (2020)“Risks to large marine protected areas posed by drifting fish aggregation devices,” Conservation Biology

Improving MPA Management

Expanding Marine Protected Areas Could Make a Huge Difference to the Health of the Oceans

“Action is the antidote to despair,” says international expert and advocate for marine protection

Callum Roberts is Professor of Marine Conservation in the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter. He recently chaired the Bertarelli Foundation’s marine science seminar, The Role of Science for Marine Protected Areas. Here, he describes his work with Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and how they are a rising force for hope in ocean conservation.

You and your team designed a network of MPAs in the North Atlantic that were established in 2010. What did you consider when you were developing the design?

Our research underpinned the creation of four huge MPAs in the North Atlantic, covering half a million square kilometres – the first network of MPAs to be established in the international waters of the high seas.

In recommending sites for protection, we were particularly keen to ensure that the richest and most vulnerable ecosystems were included, and that the network represented the range of biodiversity found in open ocean and the seabed habitats of the region.

Some MPAs, like the ones your team designed, have been in existance for several years now. What benefits have they brought to marine life?

Most of the area covered by these MPAs is protected from fishing and hunting – activities which have had the most significant impacts on the region to date – so this is a big win for conservation.

But other threats remain, like deep sea mining. The International Seabed Authority does not consider these protected areas to be off limits to mining and has already licensed exploration around seamounts (underwater mountains) and hydrothermal vents in other parts of the mid-Atlantic.

What are the benefits of expanding MPAs?

For the last 16 years, the international community has pursued a target of protecting 10% of the ocean by 2020. Unfortunately, not enough of this space has been given enough protection to make a real difference to the marine life living there.

We know that species and habitats rebound quickly and thrive given high levels of protection from extractive use. The ‘light’ protection afforded to most MPAs is not enough to deliver such recoveries. If we match efforts to expand protected areas with increases in protection level, we could make a huge difference to the health of the ocean.

How realistic is it to meet the ‘30by30’ commitment to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030?

Momentum has really picked up in the creation of marine protected areas and the coverage curve is bending upwards as efforts accelerate. If we keep up these efforts, there is every reason to think that 30% MPA coverage is achievable by 2030. Some countries are there already, like the Seychelles, Palau, Chile and the UK, with many more having committed to reach the target.

What are the main barriers to overcome to reach this target?

It would make a huge difference if 30by30 were to become the official policy of the Convention on Biological Diversity at its Conference of Parties next year. There are political differences to overcome first, and lower income countries, where much of the richest biodiversity is located, will need cast iron commitments of financial help from richer nations to convince them to back the target.

What gives you cause to be an ‘ocean optimist’?

Most of the great whales are making huge strides towards recovery since the global whaling moratorium in 1984. Losses of mangrove forests have slowed to a trickle in many countries as their natural values – coastal protection, support for fisheries and carbon capture and storage – are better appreciated. Creating national networks of MPAs has been standard government policy almost everywhere since the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development.

I think that pessimism is a significant obstacle to progress because the hopelessness it engenders can become self-fulfilling. Action is the antidote to despair!

Improving MPA Management

Local Heros and Global Collaboration can Protect Threatened Oceans

“It’s time we became more inclusive for the sake of our the oceans,” says marine conservation pioneer

Dr. Asha de Vos is the founder and Executive Director of Oceanswell. She recently chaired the Bertarelli Marine Science Programme seminar, Ocean Optimism: Solutions for a Threatened Ocean. Here, she describes how her work ties into that topic.

Could you explain why you founded Oceanswell and what the organisation does?

Oceanswell is the first marine conservation research and education organisation in Sri Lanka. The fact that it was only established in 2017 should tell you a lot about my island home’s conservation priorities. The unfortunate truth is that in places like Sri Lanka, the ocean has long been seen as a space for extraction rather than a place needing protection.

To save our oceans, every coastline needs a local hero. Oceanswell aims to nurture this next generation of diverse ocean heroes. We do this by equipping individuals from under-represented nations to conduct marine conservation research.

What do you think is the greatest barrier to effective marine conservation?

Colonial or ‘parachute’ science is when researchers from the developed world come to countries like mine and do work that is driven by their own assumptions, motives, and personal needs – often without investing in the country’s people or its infrastructure. This is problematic because it cripples local conservation efforts and creates a dependency on external expertise. Essentially this model is not sustainable.

The most important and meaningful collaborations for me have been those with researchers who acknowledged that working outside their home space is a privilege, not a right. A handful of people from the global North cannot save our oceans, it will take an army of people from around the world. It’s time we became more inclusive for the sake of our oceans.

Why is the seminar topic of ‘Solutions for a Threatened Ocean’ so important?

Most of the news we hear about our planet is shrouded in doom and gloom. Our systems are collapsing, our species are going extinct and at the core of it all, we are spelling sowing the seeds of our own demise. It focusses on how we have failed, and how we continue to fail.

This messaging is incredibly destructive. If we give people nothing to hope for, then we cannot expect them to join us in our efforts to drive change. There is plenty to give us optimism. And the more we bring these conversations to the fore, the more people will grow in hope and potentially even join in and contribute!

Where have you seen the most progress in tackling threats to the oceans?

One thing that has started to change is the sharing of knowledge around our oceans. For too long, the academic narrative has dominated. Little of the work and the wonder of it was accessible to the general public. This means that people often saw the ocean as an infinite space of extraction and dumping rather than as part of their own home. A shift in narrative is important if we are to protect our oceans.

The other obvious area of progress is in the use of technology and innovation. A space to watch is the development of cost-effective tools that can go where humans cannot and can bring back data to help scientists guide decision-makers do what is necessary and right.

What gives you cause to be an ‘ocean optimist’?

My name, Asha, means ‘Hope’ in Sanskrit. So, I guess I was born with a lot of hope in my heart. But jokes aside, in my lifetime I have seen changes that give me a reason to stay optimistic.

When I was growing up and I would tell Sri Lankans that I wanted to be a marine biologist, most responded by saying that there was no scope for such a career in our country. Many questioned the sense of embarking on a degree that would be – in their view – useless. Today, there are more Sri Lankan students than ever before wanting to work in the field and doing degrees in marine biology. If that doesn’t make one optimistic, I don’t know what will.

Coral Reefs

Robotic Diver Reveals the Secrets of Deep-Sea Tropical Reefs

Scientists working in the Indian Ocean Region hope their findings can help conserve shallow-water coral reefs

Shallow-water coral reefs are one of the world’s most important and diverse ecosystems. These tropical habitats are facing rapid destruction by human interference and ocean warming but they may have a hidden saviour deeper below the surface: mesophotic reefs.

Lying at depths of up to 150 metres, these remote marine ecosystems have remained largely unexplored for decades. But now a team of University of Plymouth scientists, led by Nicola Foster, are using a robotic submersible to gather coral samples from mesophotic reefs in the isolated the area surrounding the Chagos Archipelago region. They hope to identify whether these reefs can play a role in supporting shallow-water corals. A new video reviews this vital research.

“When we first descended below 60metres we were amazed at the colourful abundance of life,” says Foster. “It was an incredible privilege to be one of the first people to see these reefs and all the life they support”.

Uncovering hidden species

The team had hoped to find that mesophotic corals are genetically related to shallow-water corals. If this is the case, they could help repopulate damaged reefs in shallower waters. Video footage to date has revealed very few coral species that inhabit both reefs, and it seems unlikely that they are closely related.

However, whilst genetic analysis continues, the research is revealing other uplifting insights into mesophotic reefs.

“We’ve discovered extensive, diverse coral communities that are positively thriving between 40 and 150 metres,” says Foster. “These reefs host huge biodiversity and potentially rare and endemic species.

“Like shallow-water reefs, mesophotic reefs support the marine ecosystem by providing food, regulating climate, offering essential nursery habitats and providing shoreline protection. It’s vital that we protect the mesophotic reefs to maintain the support they provide to shallow-water reefs.”

Their ongoing research to reveal the reefs’ secrets ties closely into the Bertarelli Foundation’s recent seminar ‘Secret Biodiversity: Uncovering Hidden Species and Behaviours’.

Deep diving

The state-of-the-art remotely operated vehicle (ROV) the team are using to survey the reefs is equipped with on-board lights and a camera system which streams high-resolution video to a surface unit on the boat. This means researchers can observe coral communities in real-time at depths where sunlight is limited. Capable of diving to depths of up to 1,000 metres, the ROV is also able to collect biological samples using its manipulator arm.

The ROV is especially useful for exploring mesophotic reefs in the MPA surrounding the Chagos Archipelago; because of its remoteness, human divers are not able to dive more than 25 metres below the surface.

A united effort across the Indian Ocean Region

As part of the Bertarelli Foundation’s Marine Science Programme, Foster’s team share data and collaborate with other experienced researchers from a range of disciplines.

“We’re planning another cruise,” says Foster. “We’ll be documenting where mesophotic reefs occur within the MPA and describing their diversity. We want to see how they connect with shallow reefs and with other mesophotic reefs around the Chagos Archipelago and the wider Indian Ocean.”

The Bertarelli Foundation and the Garfield Weston Foundation fund this research as part of the Bertarelli Marine Science Programme.

Improving MPA Management

Physicists, Biologists and Geneticists Join Forces to Protect the Ocean

Professor Heather Koldewey leads the Bertarelli Foundation’s marine science programme, which is dedicated to advancing our understanding of the ocean. The programme fosters collaborative science that combines the skill sets and disciplines of a range of scientists, all of whom conduct their research in the British Indian Ocean Territory’s Marine Protected Area.

Here, Professor Koldewey describes how the marine science programme helps scientists make progress in this important area, and what she considers to be ocean conservation’s biggest challenges.

Can you explain the collaborative approach that this marine science programme has adopted?

The idea behind the programme is that by bringing together scientists from diverse fields, working on different projects and with their own particular insights, we can solve bigger, more complex problems. Within our team of more than 70 scientists we have a wide range of disciplines including physicists, geneticists, biologists and ecologists and many others; so although everyone’s working in the same study site, everyone approaches the research with their own particular perspective.

For example, physicists are looking at how underwater waves move around seamounts. At the same time, we have biologists studying the distribution of sharks around the same underwater mountains. By working together, they are finding out how the physics of the ocean is affecting where sharks are found. The more you understand these processes, the more you can start to identify “hot spots” where sharks will be found.

How does the Bertarelli Foundation support marine protected areas in particular?

The Bertarelli Foundation played an important role in helping establish the British Indian Ocean Territory’s Marine Protected Area (MPA) in 2010. Since then, the Foundation has worked with the Pew Charitable Trusts to establish new MPAs around the world, including around Easter Island, the Pitcairn Islands and many others. The Bertarelli Foundation is helping to safeguard these large ocean wilderness areas and help governments achieve international targets for ocean protection.

Can you describe some of the more significant results that have arisen thanks to the collaborative approach taken by the marine science programme?

One of the biggest insights has been the relationship between the land and the water – we’ve discovered that what happens on oceanic islands has a huge influence on the neighbouring reefs. For example, there is a much higher biomass and diversity of various reef species adjacent to islands that don’t have rats. These islands are not only much richer in seabirds and natural vegetation, but there’s also evidence suggesting that islands without rats, and therefore healthy bird populations, have better resilience to detrimental events like coral bleaching.

How does this programme link science to policy making?

In the UK, there’s a very large marine science community, but it can be difficult to translate research into effective public discourse. Scientists often focus on their research but the work of this marine science programme ensures that science is used to inform policy, not just in the Indian Ocean but globally.

2020 is the deadline for governments to meet their targets for ocean protection. Programmes like this are providing robust science to give policymakers the ability to make confident decisions and take much needed action.

There are a lot of issues facing ocean conservation today. If you had to choose just one, what do you think is the primary issue that we should be focusing on?

Having worked in ocean conservation for over 25 years I’ve seen many far-reaching changes. Although some are positive – and obviously the creation of marine protected areas is a positive development – they are often overshadowed by concerning declines in marine species and habitats.

If I were to pick just one, the climate crisis would be it. Marine protected areas can build resilience over time but they can’t get to the root cause of the problem. It really is going to be down to policy makers to deliver on their promises such as the Paris Agreement!

Sentinel Species Research

Remarkable increase in turtle numbers on uninhabited islands

Dr Nicole Esteban and Dr Jeanne A. Mortimer authored a new study that reveals a massive increase in the number of turtles nesting on the Chagos Archipelago in the British Indian Ocean Territory, one of the world’s largest Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).

The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), a British overseas territory that is located in the Indian Ocean about halfway between Tanzania and Indonesia, spans 640,000 km² and tops the list of global marine no-take areas. The Territory has some of the most biodiverse waters on the planet with over 220 species of coral, 855 species of fish and 355 species of molluscs swimming through its water. BIOT also contains the Chagos Archipelago, a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 individual tropical islands.

Dr Esteban, your study revealed an increase of between 225% and 525% from 1996 to today for the critically endangered hawksbill turtle, and between 465% and 930% for the endangered green turtle. Were you expecting these results?

There haven’t been any detailed studies of the numbers of turtles besides the very baseline figures that we had from 1970, 1996 and 2006. We didn’t actually expect the number of turtles to have increased as much as they did. We were quite surprised.

What do you think the results mean for the conservation of these turtle species?

It’s fantastic news. In terms of conservation efforts, hawksbills are one of the most endangered species of marine turtles; they’re critically endangered on the IUCN Red List.

The British Indian Ocean Territory is a nesting refuge for a large proportion of the turtles nesting in the Western Indian Ocean – up to 51% of all hawksbills nest there. The fact that there’s such a large proportion nesting on uninhabited islands, well-protected by the MPA, is a really good for their conservation.

Do you think that this success is because of the MPA?

I think we have to be a little bit cautious because the MPA has only been formally in existence for just under ten years, and it takes 30-40 years to be able to document the recovery of sea turtle numbers. However, exploitation of turtles has been prohibited in the Territory since the 1970s so we can certainly attribute the recovery of sea turtle numbers in the British Indian Ocean Territory to long-term sea turtle conservation and protection. Laws were introduced in the early 1970s that protected turtles in the Chagos Archipelago and I would expect that this recovery will continue with the additional protection provided by the MPA.

One of the ways that you documented turtle activity was by counting turtle tracks. But how did you know that a single turtle didn’t make multiple tracks?

In fact, each turtle does make multiple tracks, and one of the assumptions that we made was to estimate how many tracks each turtle makes before laying eggs. Typically a turtle emerges from the ocean multiple times and may dig several trial nests before actually laying a clutch of eggs. This is because she may encounter obstacles on the beach or sand that is too soft or too hard before she is finally able to lay eggs. In our data analysis we’ve made the assumption of an average of 1.8 tracks for every egg clutch laid. This is based largely on data from turtles in Seychelles which are genetically related to those in the Chagos Archipelago and utilise very similar nesting habitats.

The other thing to bear in mind is that it’s really difficult to go to a remote island and count the number of tracks because much of the beach gets washed clean every spring tide. Therefore much of the data collected, especially in the remote outer islands, was based on counts of “body pits” high up on the beach platform. Body pits are the depressions turtles leave on the beach when they dig nests. These body pits can last for weeks or months, so they’re a much more reliable source of information.

How did you get involved with the Bertarelli Foundation, the funders of this study?

The Bertarelli Foundation started a marine science programme which involved a number of projects carried out in the British Indian Ocean Territory. Our team applied for a grant to fund key research relating to hawksbill and green turtles breeding and foraging across the five islanded atolls of the Chagos Archipelago.

Were there any other unexpected discoveries?

At the time we began our study, seagrass meadows (the favourite food of green turtles) were believed to be relatively rare in the Chagos Archipelago. We anticipated that most of the green turtles that nested in the archipelago would migrate to foraging sites elsewhere in the Western Indian Ocean. Thanks to funding from the Bertarelli Foundation, however, we’ve discovered that after nesting in the MPA some of the satellite-tracked green turtles remain within the archipelago and forage on the Great Chagos Bank, the largest living coral atoll in the world. With the help of these satellite-tracked turtles we were able to discover large areas of deep water and previously unknown seagrass meadows in the MPA.

What comes next?

We still have many things to learn about the ecology of sea turtles in the Chagos Archipelago. We would like to do more surveys of nesting activity in the remote uninhabited islands of the archipelago. We need to try to reduce the assumptions that we’re using to calculate total number of turtles nesting.

We also want to learn more about the survival rates of egg clutches and the hatching turtles they produce, so that’s another area of enquiry. We’ve started looking at the effects of temperature on incubation and how beach litter affects the success of turtle nesting. We’re also starting to test different technologies to enhance the ability to monitor remotely.

There’s lots to find out!

This research was published in Oryx and was supported by the Bertarelli Foundation.

Mortimer, J. A., Esteban, N., Guzman, A. N. and Hays, G. C. (2020) “Estimates of marine turtle nesting populations in the south-west Indian Ocean indicate the importance of the Chagos Archipelago,” Oryx. Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–12. DOI: 10.1017/S0030605319001108.

Improving MPA Management

How can Innovative Technology Protect Wildlife from Extinction?

Original post:

How drones and AI are protecting endangered wildlife.

Melissa Schiele, a marine ecologist from Loughborough University, uses a fixed-wing UAV drone to monitor the Marine Protected Area (MPA) of BIOT, in the Indian Ocean.

With only one British vessel patrolling more than 640,000 km², the conservation of an MPA of this size is a challenge.

The main reason for the creation of this MPA is to prevent South Asian fishing vessels targeting tuna stocks and shark fins from operating in the area. However, despite restrictions illegal fishing still occurs. Prosecuting illegal fishers is extremely hard as finding definite evidence of the activities in real time is a challenge. Schiele stated: “We believe that we are the first to develop a fixed wing unit for landing in water specifically designed for marine surveillance and ecology” making their research a pioneer in the field. The use of drones could tackle this issue by obtaining photographs of the illegal fishing as well as the ships ID creating solid evidence.

The research was largely based on the BIOT ship and presented a unique set of challenges. Dynamic home positioning will bring the drone back to its starting point, which can be confusing when the launch point is a moving ship. Sea landing caused seawater to leak in the machine forcing Melissa to spend several sleepless nights fixing the drone.

“We hope that the drone will become a powerful tool in ecology and surveillance once it is fully waterproof. The aim for the drone to be a revolutionary tool for potential MPA managers in developing countries as well as marine scientists with limited funding.”

Coral Reefs

How do you Know if a Coral Reef is Growing or Shrinking?

Original post:

How do you know if a coral reef is growing or shrinking?

Dr. Ines Lange, a marine biologist and postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Exeter, as well as a project partner in the Bertarelli program on marine science, participated in an exploration of coral reefs in the British Indian Ocean Territory.

Here is her report from a wet and windy Indian Ocean: Professor Chris Perry and I are studying the carbonate budgets of coral reefs around the islands of the Chagos Archipelago. Chris has developed the “Reef Budget” method that we use to calculate how much carbonate is produced by coral and calcifying algae, and how much is eroded by grazers such as sea urchins and fish, as well as by internal bioerosion from boring worms and microorganisms. The results provide a metric on reef “health” informing on its growth or erosion.

The reefs in Salomon and Peros Banhos atoll that we have visited so far have displayed a massive decline in coral cover due to severe bleaching in 2016, which resulted in carbonate production rates dropping to one third of 2015 values. Nonetheless, many Porites and some Acropora colonies survived the bleaching event, and there are large numbers of small recruits of different species. We found many live encrusting coral, especially in the understory of reef structure. Thanks to the abundance of herbivorous fish, the substrate is clean from macroalgae. Calcareous algae that cover the dead coral substrate continue to produce a significant amount of carbonate, which “glue” the reef structure together and provide a great substrate to recruit more coral. We therefore hope that the once glorious coral reefs will recover quickly in the coming years.