The Ocean Exploration Trust (OET)’s exploration vessel Nautilus started its exploration of deep-sea habitats throughout the Marshall Islands in collaboration with the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority and other partners earlier this month.
Funded by NOAA Ocean Exploration via the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute, this expedition will map and explore poorly known deep-sea habitats to support science and management priority needs in RMI and engage students and the public in telepresence-based exploration.
This 21-day telepresence-enabled expedition will utilize the mapping, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), and telepresence systems of E/V Nautilus to collect critical baseline information to support the Marshall Islands Marine Spatial Planning process, as well as long-standing collaborations between the US and the Marshall Islands on surveying critical fishery habitats.
“The Marshall Islands host an incredible wealth of marine biodiversity, yet much of its ocean lies in deep waters that remain unexplored,” says Expedition Leader and OET Science Coordinator Noelle Helder. “These waters are both culturally and biologically rich, and we’ll be exploring many of their deep-sea habitats for the first time. Alongside our partners at MIMRA, we’ve been planning this expedition for over a year, and it’s an honor to bring our ROV and mapping systems here to share the deep sea with the public.”
Most of the RMI’s exclusive economic zone has never been mapped or surveyed. Despite data gaps, it’s known that the deep sea of Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ hosts rich and diverse marine resources, including over 300 unexplored seamounts and extensive deep-sea ridges.
This expedition is being led by four talented lead scientists. Dr. Steve Auscavitch from the National Museum of Natural History will lead community ecology research with Dr. Fanny Girard from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa focusing on deep-sea corals. Dr. Val Finlayson from the University of Maryland will oversee the expedition’s geology and geochemistry efforts. OECI partner Dr. Annette Govindarajan from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution will use the Aquatic Labs’ Multipuffer environmental DNA (eDNA) sampler, as well as Niskin bottles mounted on ROV Hercules, to collect samples that will be used to study biodiversity and carbon transport in the deep ocean.
“It’s a rare and exciting opportunity to bring together such a diverse and interdisciplinary group of scientists, explorers, and resource managers to study the unexplored and unmapped deep ocean in the central Pacific,” says Dr. Steve Auscavitch, Co-Lead Scientist and marine genomics specialist at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. “The combined expertise on Nautilus and ashore will definitely yield novel insights to the Pacific deep-sea environment and its living biological resources in the Marshall Islands and the region for years to come.”
Joining the Corps of Exploration for this expedition are three local scientists and resource managers from the Marshall Islands.
They are: Kioni Kattil of Marshall Islands Conservation Society, Hovel Dako-CMI/USP Majuro, and Meriana Poznanski a University of Hawaii/Hilo senior student and MIMRA intern.
This expedition has been streamed live on NautilusLive.org, a 24-hour platform that brings ocean exploration directly to viewers on shore.