Citizens of the Sea Workshop

Overview

On May 2nd, 2024, The International SeaKeepers Society South Pacific attended and presented at the Citizens of the Sea workshop held in Opua, New Zealand.

"Citizens of the Sea is a pioneering science program that calls upon offshore sailors to address some of the ocean's most urgent questions with cutting-edge technology. Cruisers and racers contribute vital scientific data through sampling oceanic eDNA and conducting photogrammetric surveys of Pacific coral reefs, enhancing our understanding of ocean biodiversity at scale."

During the workshop over 20 vessel owners participating in the project were informed on the importance and advanced technology of this large-scale data collection project. The Director of South Pacific, Melissa White, presented on Seabed2030, a global crowdsource bathymetry project that vessels can participate in simply by installing a small data logger into their navigation system. With the combined efforts of all the data collection scientists will have a better understanding of biodiversity in an area that has little to no information recorded.