Funding ocean conservation research

As well as being at the base of the marine food chain, plankton are also responsible for the biological carbon pump, absorbing a considerable amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide and transporting it to the depths of the ocean! 

✨ But how does it work?That's where our new 2024 winner comes in! Microcean aspires to pick the mysteries of plankton to better understand its essential role in climate regulation! 

🧬 Scientists will sequence the genomes of planktonic species to understand their complex interactions and impact on our environment. By describing the links between these microorganisms and human beings, they will be able to shed light on the challenges of the deep ocean and raise awareness of the importance of the diversity of marine ecosystems. 
Find out more: https://www.pure-ocean.org/microcean/

Every year, tens of thousands of rays, sharks and cetaceans are victims of "by-catch", i.e. fished accidentally, without being targeted by fishermen. Caught in nets, these sensitive marine animals find themselves trapped with no hope of survival. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), up to 40% of the world's fishing catch is by-catch. 

❌ Worse still, a large proportion of these catches are not even reported. Artisanal fishermen, faced with technical and logistical difficulties, lack the means to report these incidents. The animals are therefore discreetly thrown back into the water, leading to their silent extinction. 

✨ This is where the Bycatch & Beyond project comes in. Its aim is to involve artisanal fishermen in monitoring endangered species in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh. How? By providing them with low-tech, easy-to-use radio-GPS boxes. These devices will not only make it possible to report bycatch of skates and sharks, but also to create a network of fishermen-actors in the collection of conservation data. 

📽️ Discover in video, Alifa Bintha Haque, Zoology researcher at the University of Dhaka, the bearer of this fascinating project! 

Do you know what a gorgonian is? These jewels of the Mediterranean are elegantly shaped, arborescent colonies essential to marine biodiversity. They serve as nurseries for many fish, but also as life support, like trees, at all levels of these animal forests, thus contributing to the balance of an entire ecosystem.
🌡️ Unfortunately, increasing marine heatwaves are threatening these precious treasures. Faced with this new climatic reality, some gorgonians are resisting, while others are succumbing. Why this disparity?That's where the Buffer project comes in.
🧬 The Buffer team is embarking on a study of the genetic variability of red gorgonians in the Parc des Calanques. They will seek to understand the resistance mechanisms of these corals in the face of climate change.
🪸 Their goal: produce scientific, political and awareness-raising tools to guide targeted management of this ecosystem in a marine protected area. Because protecting gorgonians means preserving the future of an entire ecosystem. 

Imagine, at 3000 meters depth, in total darkness, hide marine species never discovered.... For in fact we know only 10% of marine species! 

This is alarming, because without knowledge, it's difficult to protect effectively. Yet these ecosystems are threatened by global warming and seabed mining.
Why is this so crucial? Each species plays an essential role in the delicate balance of our ecosystems. Like perfectly adjusted gears, if one of them were to disappear, it would cause a catastrophic domino effect, disrupting the entire ecosystem. By protecting marine biodiversity, we preserve the ecosystem services it provides, such as climate regulation, oxygen production, etc. 

But how do we discover and protect new, hitherto unknown species? Did you know that 76% of abyssal species are bioluminescent, using this ability to attract mates, hunt or defend themselves? That's where the Antarctic Biolum project comes in! 

✨ This groundbreaking project, which we're backing with the support of our patrons, will use bioluminescence to attract species non-intrusively, paving the way for exciting new discoveries! 

The scientific projects supported by Pure Ocean are selected through an annual international call for projects. Closing on November 15, 2023, the latest call for projects attracted the exceptional mobilization of researchers around the world, with a total of 173 projects submitted, more than double the number from the previous year. This increase once again testifies to the growing need for ocean research funding.
The 4 major themes of the Pure Ocean Challenges, aligned with the United Nations' 10 Ocean Decade Challenges, were largely covered, with - of note - a very large number of innovative projects on plastic pollution. The Pure Ocean scientific committee is currently evaluating the proposals before the winners are announced on March 21, 2024. 

The proliferation of microplastics is a real scourge for wildlife, whether terrestrial or marine. In Australia, scientists from the MicroPow project are investigating the impact of plastic ingestion on the organs, tissues and cells of seabirds. An initial expedition to Lord Howe Island, far from civilization and human activity, led to a shocking discovery: a disease caused by plastics, plasticosis. This study shows that the accumulation of plastic particles in the birds' digestive tract causes a continuous abrasion of the animals' internal tissues. These tiny gashes never heal and deform the organs, with major repercussions on the animals' growth, reproduction and survival. 

The publication of this work met with an international scientific and media echo: 193 secondary publications, 151 press articles, and 596 downloads of the full text on Twitter. And with good reason: most of the findings are applicable to human beings... The MicroPOW team is now back on the island! The aim of this second expedition is to analyze the chemical compounds involved, and their biological markers, to detect signs of plasticosis in birds as early as possible. 

The scientific article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389423003722?via%3Dihub 

For better or worse, plastic materials have now completely invaded our societies. With no thought given to rationalizing their use and end-of-life, nearly 300 million tonnes of plastic waste are produced every year by human societies. Released into the environment, they break down into innumerable particles, which exchange pollutants with the medium through which they pass: plastic additives can be released into the environment, while other pollutants can, conversely, load up on the surface of microplastics, forming pollutant "rafts". These end up accumulating in the organisms that consume them, and notably in the end, us human beings!

 

One of the six winning projects from the latest Pure Ocean call for projects, Plastidrugs, will characterize the presence of major pollutants (endocrine disruptors and antibiotics) and emerging ones (additives and synthetic drugs) both in seawater, but also specifically on plastic particles. This study will be carried out comparatively in the Bay of Brest, where these pollutants have been identified, and in the Bay of Santos (Brazil), where wastewater treatment infrastructures are deficient. The team will draw up recommendations for curbing plastic pollution and its indirect chemical effects on humans and biodiversity.

We were able to fund the MicroPow research project, the aim of which is to understand the impact of micro-plastics on the health of wildlife. This project determines the impact of micro-plastic ingestion on the organs, tissues and cells of seabirds on Lord Howe Island, Australia. Thanks to the funds raised, we were able to finance the researchers' 2nd expedition to the island, enabling them to sample 80 birds for tissue analysis. An international scientific publication came out of this, showing that plastic particles create inflammation, fibrosis and functional degradation of the birds' digestive organs and kidneys. These results, which can be extrapolated to human health, will be shared with political decision-makers.
In 2022, the La Goutte Bleue movement mobilized 3800 people (corporate employees, citizens & citizens) who took part in litter picks, at 95 sites all over France, with a collection result of 114,000 liters of waste, so much waste that won't go to pollute the ocean. Objective 2023: with La Goutte Bleue kits, mobilize 30,000 citizens across France for litter pick-ups and reach a target of 200,000 liters of waste collected before it pollutes the ocean or rivers.
Pure Ocean's Scientific Committee is currently reviewing the 71 innovative research projects from 27 countries that applied to its 2023 international call for projects. The five winning projects will be announced on March 21, 2023. One of these projects will focus on plastic pollution, and will be funded by funds raised by Captain Cause.