That is, I’ve never seen them in their natural environment before. Until now.
The seabed of this truly special place is home to corals and other animals that create 3D-structures, providing shelter for fish and habitat for countless other organisms. They are an indispensable element in a complex ecosystem which feeds the Antarctic Ocean and all the other larger and more well-known species in it, like penguins, seals, and whales.
The reason why right now I’m more excited than I’ve ever been in my 25 years as an Antarctic biologist, is that this time, I get to go to the bottom of the sea myself! Having done lots of expedition-based research into the depths of this unique ocean, now I can see firsthand what I have been studying for so many years.
Usually this type of scientific research is hard labor; digging through a large amount of bycatch caught in trawl nets, along with the time-consuming job of sorting it into taxonomic groups for analysis. The destruction that this method causes has always disturbed me. But here we are gently gliding by, in a two-person submarine, taking photographic evidence and collecting a few specimens that might even be new species.
I became pretty obsessed with the marine invertebrate life of the Antarctic region at quite a young age. Since then I’ve encountered and studied some truly impressive seabed communities in the Antarctic and now I’m venturing out to locate additional areas that are in need of special protection.
In a really meaningful way, our exploration of the bottom of the sea will help determine specific areas that should be a priority for protection from an expanding commercial fishing fleet, which jeopardizes the wellbeing of one of the world’s last pristine marine ecosystems; an ocean that connects all oceans.
The evidence of any ‘Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems’ that we encounter on this expedition will be submitted to the Commission for the Antarctic Ocean. It is our hope that registering these ecosystems will support and strengthen the proposal that has been submitted for what will be the largest protected marine area in the world.
I am eager to see these marine protected area proposals develop and mature and be passed by the Commission for the Antarctic Ocean. In this endeavor, the objectives of Greenpeace and I align, and I feel privileged to collaborate with them on this project.
Hopefully my dream as a scientist coming true just now – going to the bottom of the Antarctic Ocean – will help achieve an even bigger dream: to see it protected!
Dr. Susanne Lockhart is an Antarctic biologist with the California Academy of Sciences, currently onboard Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise in the Antarctic Ocean.
