eShark is the flagship project of eOceans. eShark Thailand and the Great Fiji Shark Count were initiated by the tourism industries that depend on sharks — because they love them and because people fly around the world just to see them. When populations declined it was concerning. So they reached out to Dr. Ward-Paige and set up community logbooks to collect data, and then co-interpreted and published together. Fiji alone sampled 592 sites and reported 146,000 shark observations on 30,000 dives. We continue this work globally in real-time through eShark in the eOceans platform.

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eManta

People love manta rays. Tourists spend millions of dollars a year just to see them. So alarms rang when they started to disappear from their aggregation sites. eManta began as a project to understand international threats (the study helped them get on the endangered species list). This project aims to track the success of these policies in real-time by tracking the social, biological, and anthropogenic dimensions of manta and other mobulid rays around the world to stimulate further investigations.

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eMPA

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are expanding in a push to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030 (see #30by30). These areas are meant to restore or protect parts of the ocean and to function as our insurance policy against ocean change. However, beyond area covered and enforcement, very few are ever evaluated to ensure they are successful — and the ones that are assessed are typically done on the scale of decades. eMPA is working to capture broad-scale social, biological, and anthropogenic trends across MPAs, inside/outside, before/after around the globe in real-time to better inform management decisions and spark new research avenues.

The global economic value of ocean capture fisheries is US$225 to 240 billion per year. Many fish, the prey that feed those fish, and the ecosystems that support them are degraded. This team aims to look at broad trends in fishing activity — recreational or commercial. The primary aim is to instigate new co-generated research questions, but also to better understand how threats, like climate change, change the way we fish.

An estimated 3 million shipwrecks lie on the ocean floor, with some dating back thousands of years! Though the great majority of wrecks are shipwrecks, planes from wars and civilian accidents are also found scattered across the seabed. They function as time capsules, transporting ocean explorers back into past eras and giving us an idea of how travel, both on and over the ocean, has changed through time. Wrecks are a large part of underwater cultural heritage (UCH) or maritime archaeology and provide important historical information. Wrecks are also coveted by divers because they aggregate wildlife. eWrecks is bringing together wreck enthusiasts to document what is observed in, on, and around wrecks across the globe!

Caves are important geological features that provide key insights into the past and can host an incredible diversity of life with complex ecosystems despite having little light and oxygen — yet very little is known about cave ecology. We are learning more each year as new caves are discovered and known caves are explored in greater detail. eCave unites cave enthusiasts from around the world to monitor the diversity of life found in cave systems and how we interact with these systems on a global scale, with an aim of promoting further and more detailed discoveries.

Diseases in the ocean have many origins. Sewage from human-based outflows, dust and bacteria carried from land (desertification), and increasing water temperatures due to our warming climate, for example, have resulted in increased prevalence of waterborne disease outbreaks, some of which have caused mass mortalities. eDisease is working to capture broad trends of marine diseases across the globe — from fish to seals and corals — to work towards a better understanding of the movement and scale of various diseases, to promote new research questions, and support informed decisions.

Ocean assets are valued at $24 trillion, yet are functioning at only a fraction of their capacity. The blue economy, as we define it, is a subset of the ocean economy that depends on thriving ocean ecosystems. If the sector can survive in a sick or polluted ocean then it’s not the blue economy; however, these sectors can be improved to support a thriving blue economy. This team aims to describe broad trends across biological, social, and anthropogenic dimensions to inform decisions to support a resilient, diversified, and growth-based blue economy.

Blue carbon ecosystems such as mangroves, tidal marshes, and seagrass meadows have an incredible ability to capture and store carbon while providing irreplaceable habitats for critical species, improving water quality, providing coastal protection, and supporting healthy fisheries. Yet these blue carbon ecosystems are being lost each year to aquaculture, mangrove forest exploitation, pollution, coastal development, and conditions driven by climate change. This team aims to capture broad trends on the health of blue carbon ecosystems on a global scale to allow for more informed decisions and questions.

Fish kill events occur when water quality deteriorates and ecosystem health suffers and has devastating effects on wildlife, communities, and economies. Causes can include red tide, water contaminated with chemicals like pesticides and herbicides, biotoxins like harmful algal blooms, diseases, and warming temperatures causing lower concentrations of dissolved oxygen. eFishKill is working to track fish kill events in real-time on a global scale to capture broad trends and provide data and analytics to seed new questions, investigations, and discoveries.

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An estimated 4.8 to 12.7 million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean each year — but this is not nearly the extent of ocean pollution. Oil spills, ocean mining, agricultural runoff, toxic chemicals, maritime transportation, sewage, and leaking unexploded munitions all have both direct and indirect detrimental health impacts to ecosystems across the globe and the species that rely on them. ePollution is working to capture broad trends on a global scale to better understand how pollution is impacting our ocean and to stimulate new research questions.

There are at least 60 invasive species taking over ocean spaces — species that have been introduced into non-native habitats by human activity and have shown the ability to rapidly take over new environments and smother native species by using up all their resources. This team is working to capture broad trends of invasive species, on a global scale, to understand their impacts to better inform decisions and spark new research.

There are 7 species of highly migratory and vulnerable sea turtles. In addition to natural threats, turtles have many human-related threats, including accidental and targeted fishing, poaching in nests, habitat degradation, and more. Most of what is known about turtles comes from nesting sites. eTurtle aims to gather broad social, biological, and anthropogenic trends on sea turtles in real-time to promote further understanding and research.

Whales and other cetaceans like dolphins, belugas, and porpoises, have a long history of being hunted by humans and are now highly sought for tourism and impacted by many other threats (noise, entanglements, ships). They are also important drivers of blue carbon stores and ocean productivity and play an influential role as predators. eWhale aims to understand the social, biological, and anthropogenic aspects of whales in real-time to stimulate new research and discoveries.

Jellyfish are ubiquitous ocean animals that are important prey items for many species, including endangered sea turtles who mistakenly eat plastic bags instead. They are increasingly harvested for human consumption and are often feared by ocean explorers due to their stings (nematocysts). eJellyfish aims to capture biological, social, and anthropogenic aspects of this species group in real-time globally to stimulate more in-depth research.

A global Team of researchers and ocean explorers have united, using the eOceans platform, to document ocean uses and wildlife observations in real-time throughout this unprecedented time of human confinement.

Whales and other cetaceans like dolphins, belugas, and porpoises, have a long history of being hunted by humans and are now highly sought for tourism and impacted by many other threats (noise, entanglements, ships). They are also important drivers of blue carbon stores and ocean productivity and play an influential role as predators. eWhale aims to understand the social, biological, and anthropogenic aspects of whales in real-time to stimulate new research and discoveries.

Seahorses are highly sought for tourism and are threatened by habitat loss and extraction for aquaria, souvenirs, dried markets, and bycatch. eSeahorse aims to capture broad trends in seahorse patterns (presence/absence and count), with socioeconomic values in tourism and threats in real-time, which will seed new discoveries and investigations.

2021-2030 marks the time period of radical transformation of ocean health and equitable access to the ocean. The push for growing blue economies, momentum for #30by30 to increase marine protected areas, the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, and many others aim to make this decade pivotal for the ocean and all species that depend on it, including humans. Track the Decade aims to track our collective success towards ocean science and literacy, collaboration, equitable access to the ocean, and understanding the social, economic, and cultural value of the ocean beyond industrial activities.