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Amid a Sea of Stars, Our Blue Planet Shines the Brightest: Insights from the 17th Deep Sea Biology Symposium

There has never been a better, nor more important time to be a marine biologist.

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“As far as we can tell, Earth is the only island of complex biology - intelligent, life – in an ocean of 400 billion stars.”

- Prof Brian Cox, Physicists, Astronomer Message to World Leaders, Opening, COP26, Glasgow, 2021

Considering Professor Cox’s clarion call, a strong case could be made for why Hong Kong was THE place to be in the Universe last week.

Nine billion years after the big bang, 4 billion years ago, life began evolving in the ocean (3 times longer than on land). Of the known phyla on Earth, 33 are found in the ocean, 12 are on land. Whilst there’s three times more species on land (largely thanks to insects), there’s three times more diversity in the ocean.

 

From high temperatures to low oxygen, from high pressure to low PH, ocean life is the story of super-powers – animals that have evolved to thrive in the most extreme environments on our planet. Their diversity and complexity make all life on Earth possible – the source of air, food, climate regulation, and even cures for disease.

The 17th Deep Sea Biology Symposium (17DSBS)

So, the gathering of deep-sea biologists is a big deal, arguably of Universal importance, and yet only occurs every three years.

 

This January, deep sea scientists converged at the 17th Deep Sea Biology Symposium (17DSBS). Hosted for the first time in Asia at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), the symposium served as a platform for collaboration, innovation, and discovery in deep-sea science.

They’re bonded by the love of planet ocean

For these scientists, their laboratories are the deep sea – below 200 metres and home to over 90% of the biosphere on Earth – where there is life. These biologists are on the frontlines of unravelling the complex web of life in the ocean, their significance, the threats they face and the impact on our existence.

Extraordinary discoveries – as one would imagine – were shared. The discovery of ‘dark oxygen’ being created in the ocean depths could provide clues to how life on Earth, perhaps in the entire Universe, began – and even whether life can be sustained on other planets in and outside our solar system. The first evolutionary biography of a marine species – the brittle stars – revealed a 240 million year voyage across our planet’s ocean that mirrors the journeys of seabirds. Just two of dozens of breathless tales of new knowledge…

 

For the biologists, it is often not what is known, but what is not known that excites and which could fuel some much-needed societal optimism. Take discovering new species for example. Today, whilst nearly 250,000 marine species are known, at most that’s 10%. We have no real idea of how many species, genus, family, order, class, phyla across the whole Tree of Life we will find.  The rest of it? It’s just called ‘dark taxa’. We know it’s there, but we don’t know what it is, and we don’t know how they sustain and benefit all life on Earth.

Imagine if we could discover and preserve ocean life before it’s destroyed and create a vault of biological and genetic knowledge for future generations?

Imagine if we could sequence and decode the DNA of ocean life and piece together the ocean genome that underpins oxygen production, climate regulation, global food security, human well-being and a sustainable ocean and planet? Both are entirely possible.

There has never been a better, nor more important time to be a marine biologist. Whilst we now have the technology to discover more of the ocean in the next 10 years than we have in the last 10,000, the ocean, thanks to us humans, is also changing faster than it has for hundreds of millions of years. Ocean life faces existential threats that are undermining their ability to support all life on Earth – and potentially across the entire Universe.

‘If we destroy this island of complex biology, then we may eliminate meaning in a galaxy of 400 billion stars, potentially forever”.

- As Professor Cox concluded in his statement to World Leaders at COP26

The list of threats should cause our stewards, the World Leaders, to lose sleep.

Pick a topic to set off insomnia – ocean warming, biodiversity and habitat loss, altered food webs, ocean acidification, chemical and plastic pollution, deep sea mining or even meridional overturning circulation. Or settle into the waking nightmare that is deep sea trawling – where 5 million km2 of seabed is still being clear-cut every year – four times the size of South Africa. We have the industrial capacity to destroy our planet and we are annihilating undersea Galapagoses before they have even been discovered, often funded by government subsidiaries, and by extension, the taxes we pay.

That only 350 deep sea biologists from 40 nations were able to raise enough resources and good will to meet in Hong Kong at this time of planetary crisis, should set off the alarm bells across the Universe.

 

Spaceship Earth is in trouble. The Stewards of Earth do not currently value ocean life, and its essential role in supporting all life on Earth. Ocean life is barely valued for ecosystem services, environmental stability, societal well-being, scientific knowledge, sustainable commercial activities, or cultural significance.

The voices of deep-sea biologists need to be heard. If we do not value ocean life a lot more and very quickly, the future of all life on Earth is going to get a lot harder. Of the complexities and challenges we face currently, investing in marine biology is surely one of the simplest of fixes.

 

Perhaps one ray of light is that those charged with advancing our fundamental knowledge of ocean life took heed of Dr Michelle Taylor, President of the Society’s advice at the start of the gathering: “During this week you will likely only achieve 2 of 3 three things – science, socialising and sleep”. Few slept.

In 3 years time, the Society reconvenes in Bergen, Norway. Professor Cox will be invited.

Kurt Bacharo: Ocean Census Science Event Awardee

The Deep Sea Symposium’s scientific presentations showcased a great plethora of research and critical discussions in deep-sea science. Highlights included Kurt Bacharo’s, one of the Ocean Census Science Event awardees, “Nippon’s Deep Sea Jewels: Illuminating the diversity of deep-sea anthozoans found in selected sites of the Northwestern Pacific,” which celebrated the region’s rich biodiversity.

Kurt in the Philippine Sea

Belen Arias: Ocean Census Science Manager, Species Discovery and Sequencing

Belen Arias, Ocean Census’s very own Science Manager for Species Discovery & Sequencing, captivated attendees with her work on the “Draft Genome of Abyssal Sea Cucumbers from a region targeted by Seabed Mining,” addressing crucial genetic insights into species under potential threat.

Belen also received the Early Career Scientist award granted by DSBS. This award aims to recognise the major contributions made by early career scientists, and to encourage them to devote to the field of ocean science, especially deep-sea biology.

Belen's role at Ocean Census

Written by: Oliver Steeds OBE,
Director, The Nippon Foundation-Nekton Ocean Census

With special thanks to the Deep Sea Biology Society, team and President Dr Michelle Taylor, The
Hong Kong University of Science; Technology (HKUST) and Dr Pei-Yuan Qian for generously hosting the Symposium, Dr Tim O’Hara for the brittle stars, Dr Andrew Sweetman for dark oxygen, Dr Lisa Levin for the animal superpowers, Dr Roberto Danavaro for the nightmare of seabed trawling, Dr Malcolm Clark for conservation challenges, and all the incredible scientists who shared their knowledge and discoveries, and gathered with little sleep at DSBS17.

The symposium also spotlighted the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, emphasising how Decade programs are advancing the goals of a clean, healthy, resilient, accessible, and inspiring ocean.

 

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