At a crucial time for marine research, the superyacht fleet needs to step up with initiatives such as Dr. Paige Maroni’s Polar BLAST
There is an often-quoted statistic that we know more about the surface of Mars than we do about the sea floor. But this is not true. We know vastly more about the ocean. We have studied, sampled and explored its depths for generations, whereas we have only visited Mars with a handful of rovers. The issue is simply that the more we explore our ocean, the more we know we have left to discover, and how crucial the ocean is to the survival of life on our planet.
But right now, the barrier to understanding our oceans is not a lack of scientific curiosity or technological capability. It is a crisis of infrastructure, compounded by a shifting political landscape. According to the UNESCO Global Ocean Science Report, despite the massive economic value of ocean resources, nations allocate an average of just 1.7% of their research budgets to ocean science.We are currently in the middle of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021 to 2030), under the banner: ‘The science we need for the ocean we want’. But right now, we do not have the platforms to deliver it.Across the world, mainstream research institutes are feeling the crunch of reduced funding and tightening public purses. The result is hurting the dedicated global research fleet of just a few hundred vessels, many of which are rapidly aging. As the cost of replacing these hulls skyrockets and schedules contract, brilliant marine scientists are left stranded on the dock, waiting years just for a sliver of ship time.This is exactly where the superyacht industry needs to stop talking about ‘sustainability’ and start enabling real-world, actionable data collection. Where governments are retreating, the private fleet has an unprecedented opportunity to step up. When you look past the luxury veneer, a superyacht is, at its core, a highly sophisticated, globally dispersed, dynamic maritime platform.
Where governments are retreating, the private fleet has an unprecedented opportunity to step.
Through Yachts for Science, we have already proven that a classic, prototypical superyacht can operate as a world-class research platform with minimal friction. We do not need to rebuild these boats; we just need an open-minded owner and crew. Critically, getting involved does not require converting a yacht into a laboratory either. Projects can be tailored entirely to a vessel’s specific layout and itinerary.
For some, participation is as simple as equipping the crew with pre-loaded iPads and cetacean-monitoring apps, allowing a yacht to collect vital, real-time observational data on marine mammal migrations just by going about its normal cruising routine. For other vessels, it means opening a spare cabin to a researcher. Look at Dr. Paige Maroni and her initiative, Polar BLAST (Baseline, Life and Structure of the Arctic). Over the past two summers, Paige joined a series of private vessels on their existing summer itineraries through the Arctic. Equipped with just a portable mini-ROV, she was able to dive beneath the Arctic ice to collect baseline biodiversity data from fragile, unexplored benthic ecosystems that mainstream science rarely reaches.But the magic of the Polar BLAST project was not just the data collected; it was the integration. Paige became an incredible ambassador for science on board, sharing stunning, real-time visual footage from the ocean floor with the guests and crew. Suddenly, a standard summer cruise was transformed into a front-row seat to active planetary discovery.Stepping up to support marine science is not just a ‘nice gesture’; it is an act of self-preservation for the playground the industry relies on. Owners can bypass the bureaucracy and help us understand the ocean on which we rely, both as an industry and as a species.
For more information visit: www.yachtsforscience.com
