Ocean Census and IFREMER announce marine life discovery partnership

By DIVE Staff

Ocean Census, the global alliance of scientific institutions co-founded by the Nippon Foundation and Nekton to hasten the discovery and protection of marine species, has announced that the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (IFREMER) will be joining the partnership.

Based in Plouzané, France, IFREMER’s mission statement is ‘to improve knowledge about the ocean and its resources, monitor its environments, as well as design and wield tools to manage the French ocean research fleet — all while ensuring the sustainable development of marine activities.’

IFREMER currently has more than 1,500 personnel spread along the French coastline in more than 20 sites, and also manages the French Oceanographic Fleet, which has undertaken missions in the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

The partnership will operate within the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030), and will add another national resource to Ocean Census’ commitment to discover 100,000 new marine species by 2030.

More from Ocean Census

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• 100 new ocean species discovered in New Zealand
• Scientists find more than 100 new species off the coast of Chile
• New species of mussel discovered in Alabama underwater forest
• Mobile laboratories deployed to enhance ocean species discovery

‘The scientific community estimates that 60 to 80 per cent of the world’s biodiversity is hidden in the oceans,’ said Daniela Zeppilli, head of the IFREMER’s Deep-Sea Laboratory. ‘Last estimations support that millions of species still need to be discovered, when today only 300,000 marine species are described. IFREMER, with partners such as Ocean Census, contributes actively to the efforts of the international scientific community.’

IFREMER and Ocean Census will collaborate through scientific expeditions and taxonomic research, with some emphasis on the emerging field of cyber-taxonomy, the ongoing process of digitising older, written taxonomic records and collating them with newer digital records into quick and easy-to-searh databases.

Additional activities to be undertaken through the partnership will include the use of technological advancements in high-resolution imaging, DNA sequencing, and machine learning to accelerate species discovery.

‘I am delighted that Ocean Census has entered into a partnership with IFREMER, an institution with such an amazing history of technical innovation, ocean exploration and discovery,’ said Alex Rogers, Science Director at Ocean Census. ‘I look forward to working with my colleagues in France to further the mission of Ocean Census, the discovery of marine life.’

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