Pacific Rally sailors turn citizen scientists to help save the sea
Sailor Bill Hay deploys an eDNA kit as part of one of the world's largest-scale ocean surveys. Photo / Supplied
This month, a fleet of sailing boats left the Bay of Islands to compete in the Island Cruising Pacific Rally. But 20 yachts will do more than race across the vast ocean passages between island nations. The sailors will tow cutting-edge miniaturised environmental DNA sampling kits as part of Citizens of the Sea, one of the world's largest-scale ocean surveys, and return hundreds of samples to help map biodiversity in the southwest Pacific.
Seafarers are a natural fit for this task, says Cawthron Institute marine biologist Xavier Pochon, the founding scientist of the Citizens of the Sea charity. 'They care deeply about the ocean because they spend a lot of time out there, and they want to be part of the solution and have embraced the opportunity to be citizen scientists.'
Each drop of seawater teems with genetic signatures of marine life, from invisible microbes and phytoplankton all the way to dolphins and whales that may have passed through as part of their migrations. While traditional oceanographic research relies on direct sightings or even physical capture of a species, fragments of DNA in seawater can be read like a species barcode, Pochon says, tracking the presence of animals without having to wait for observations.
This year's rally is the second time the sailors have taken part. They returned more than 1000 eDNA samples last year and have already contributed to some remarkable discoveries, including the confirmation of multiple species of dolphins, slender snipe eels and a pygmy whale, which helped to refine knowledge of migratory paths.
'The elusive spurcheek lanternfish, a deep-sea organism famed for its epic bioluminescence, was also detected for the first time in the region through eDNA,' Pochon says.
The project has also tracked the presence of harmful bloom-forming algae, including species known to cause paralytic and amnesic shellfish poisoning.
'It was quite striking to see in our data that some of these very problematic species are already quite far south, getting much closer to New Zealand. Models show that in about 10 years, we will have many more occurrences of harmful algal blooms closer to the coastline, and this work provides critical early indicators for marine health and human safety.'
Apart from the sailors, the project has also engaged commercial vessels, fishing boats and even waka to tap 'an enormous resource to help map ocean health'. Eventually, Pochon hopes to collect enough data to help governments and industries with interests in the health of the ocean to make informed decisions.
The project is built around collaborations with organisations in each island nation the rally visits, including Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Wherever the boats arrive, drop boxes are available to collect samples, which are then sent to Nelson for analysis at the Cawthron Institute.
Citizens of the Sea is supported by the Minderoo Foundation, whose quest is to bring different ocean initiatives together to make sure data collection is comparable and sharable.
'There's an urgency to understand biodiversity and how climate change is affecting it around the ocean,' Pochon says. 'We need to find processes to collect data in a format that will be useful for other research organisations, local communities, NGOs and governments.'
Citizens of the Sea data are placed with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, which provides the International Union for Conservation of Nature (the keepers of the red list of threatened species) with eDNA information about the distribution of rare and endangered marine life.
While Pochon has spent a lot of time on research vessels, the Pacific Rally will be his first experience of embarking on a long ocean passage in a yacht, when he joins the rally on its return voyage from Fiji later this year.
He says he appreciates the start of the rally coinciding with David Attenborough's latest documentary about the ocean, because he agrees with the veteran broadcaster's sentiment: 'If we save the sea, we save our world.'
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NZ Herald
27-05-2025
- NZ Herald
Pacific Rally sailors turn citizen scientists to help save the sea
Sailor Bill Hay deploys an eDNA kit as part of one of the world's largest-scale ocean surveys. Photo / Supplied This month, a fleet of sailing boats left the Bay of Islands to compete in the Island Cruising Pacific Rally. But 20 yachts will do more than race across the vast ocean passages between island nations. The sailors will tow cutting-edge miniaturised environmental DNA sampling kits as part of Citizens of the Sea, one of the world's largest-scale ocean surveys, and return hundreds of samples to help map biodiversity in the southwest Pacific. Seafarers are a natural fit for this task, says Cawthron Institute marine biologist Xavier Pochon, the founding scientist of the Citizens of the Sea charity. 'They care deeply about the ocean because they spend a lot of time out there, and they want to be part of the solution and have embraced the opportunity to be citizen scientists.' Each drop of seawater teems with genetic signatures of marine life, from invisible microbes and phytoplankton all the way to dolphins and whales that may have passed through as part of their migrations. While traditional oceanographic research relies on direct sightings or even physical capture of a species, fragments of DNA in seawater can be read like a species barcode, Pochon says, tracking the presence of animals without having to wait for observations. This year's rally is the second time the sailors have taken part. They returned more than 1000 eDNA samples last year and have already contributed to some remarkable discoveries, including the confirmation of multiple species of dolphins, slender snipe eels and a pygmy whale, which helped to refine knowledge of migratory paths. 'The elusive spurcheek lanternfish, a deep-sea organism famed for its epic bioluminescence, was also detected for the first time in the region through eDNA,' Pochon says. The project has also tracked the presence of harmful bloom-forming algae, including species known to cause paralytic and amnesic shellfish poisoning. 'It was quite striking to see in our data that some of these very problematic species are already quite far south, getting much closer to New Zealand. Models show that in about 10 years, we will have many more occurrences of harmful algal blooms closer to the coastline, and this work provides critical early indicators for marine health and human safety.' Apart from the sailors, the project has also engaged commercial vessels, fishing boats and even waka to tap 'an enormous resource to help map ocean health'. Eventually, Pochon hopes to collect enough data to help governments and industries with interests in the health of the ocean to make informed decisions. The project is built around collaborations with organisations in each island nation the rally visits, including Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Wherever the boats arrive, drop boxes are available to collect samples, which are then sent to Nelson for analysis at the Cawthron Institute. Citizens of the Sea is supported by the Minderoo Foundation, whose quest is to bring different ocean initiatives together to make sure data collection is comparable and sharable. 'There's an urgency to understand biodiversity and how climate change is affecting it around the ocean,' Pochon says. 'We need to find processes to collect data in a format that will be useful for other research organisations, local communities, NGOs and governments.' Citizens of the Sea data are placed with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, which provides the International Union for Conservation of Nature (the keepers of the red list of threatened species) with eDNA information about the distribution of rare and endangered marine life. While Pochon has spent a lot of time on research vessels, the Pacific Rally will be his first experience of embarking on a long ocean passage in a yacht, when he joins the rally on its return voyage from Fiji later this year. He says he appreciates the start of the rally coinciding with David Attenborough's latest documentary about the ocean, because he agrees with the veteran broadcaster's sentiment: 'If we save the sea, we save our world.'
RNZ News
23-05-2025
- RNZ News
Improving understanding of a threatening toxin in Pacific fish
Ciguatera is a seafood illness that's prevalent in all tropical and subtropical regions of the world, Dr Kirsty Smith says. Photo: 123RF Experts meeting at Nelson's Cawthron Institute this week hope to help the Pacific better handle the impact and threat of ciguatera poisoning. Ciguatera, which is primarily contracted from reef fish, is considered a growing threat to food security, livelihoods, and public health in the region. Cawthron Institute's Dr Kirsty Smith, an expert in molecular and algal ecology, told RNZ Pacific that identifying the source of ciguatera poisoning is difficult, but with better longterm data collection this can be improved. (This transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.) Dr Kirsty Smith: Ciguatera is a seafood illness that's prevalent in all tropical and subtropical regions of the world, and it's caused by the accumulation of toxins into fish species. So the toxins actually come from tiny, microscopic, micro algae that are then eaten by the fish species, and then toxins from the algae will accumulate in the fish. And then when humans eat the fish, they can get really sick from those toxins. Don Wiseman: How sick can they get? KS: It can vary. The symptoms vary quite a lot, from kind of gastrointestinal illness right through to more neurological symptoms, where a common symptom is a reversal of the feeling of hot and cold, for example. That's quite a common symptom. Things that are usually hot feel cold and vice versa, and then right through to kind of more respiratory distress, and potentially can be fatal. If you receive a large dose, or you receive quite a few doses over your lifetime, then eventually they can become much worse over time, and eventually can lead to death, unfortunately. DW: The presence of this ciguatera, or this cigatoxin, it's not apparent when you're in the process of preparing fish? KS: No, that's right, it doesn't seem to affect the fish at all themselves. You can't observe any differences between a non-toxic and a toxic fish just by looking at them. It's actually really, really difficult, and that's what makes it so much of a concern is that it's not very easy to diagnose a toxic fish. Even in the laboratory setting or a testing laboratory setting, the method for detecting these toxins are really complicated and hard to do. Cawthron Institute's Dr Kirsty Smith is an expert in molecular and algal ecology. Photo: Supplied / Cawthron Institute DW: As far as the Pacific goes, it's a significant threat, isn't it, because the fish that get the ciguatira tend to be reef fish, and most Pacific Island countries have substantial reefs, don't they? KS: That's right, all Pacific countries really depend on their reef ecosystems for a food source. It's really important. What makes it so sad is that the fish that are in the reef systems often do accumulate these toxins to quite high levels, but people can't really avoid eating fish, so they often will get sick numerous times in their lifetime. They can't really avoid it because it's a fact of life that you're going to need to fish for your families and provide food for your family, so that makes it particularly heartbreaking. The Pacific also has some of the highest rates of ciguatera in the world. About 80% of all cases come from the Pacific region. It's a really significant issue here. DW: At the Cawthorn Institute this past week, you've had people from right across the Pacific looking at this issue and looking at, I suppose, what they do in their various countries, but also how they can improve the way in which they go about dealing with ciguatera. KS: That's right. We were hoping to bring together people from across the Pacific so we could all share our knowledge together and learn from each other, as well as kind of identifying what the biggest knowledge gaps are and where we should focus our efforts in the near future. Whether that's helping provide training to different countries or developing new test methods or learning more about how people are sampling and testing in their countries. It's been really, really valuable, and I think we've created a really strong network and relationships amongst the group. Hopefully that will continue into the future, and we'll be able to work together to help solve some of these big knowledge gaps that exist with this illness. DW: So you've been talking about these various things that people can do and the knowledge gaps and so on. So just how beneficial has it been? KS: It's been extremely beneficial because, we as scientists, I think it's important for us to learn from people in the community who are really experiencing the issues. It's really important for us as scientists to hear from people in the community really impacted from this illness, and to really focus on the things that are going to make the most impact for them as well. Increasing our methods for detection and monitoring, are our high priority moving forward. DW: I guess your detection is always going to be after the fact, isn't it? You're going to be detecting once someone has got the poison or not. KS: That's right. In the past, a lot of the monitoring has been reactive - when there's been outbreaks, then that will trigger monitoring and sampling to happen. But I think, after listening to everyone today, that we want to try and set up more longterm data gathering projects so that we can start coming up with indicators of outbreaks. So when we think outbreaks might be more common, we can set up more warning systems for people to prevent consuming fish at those more dangerous times. If we can become more predictive around when we might think ciguatera will occur it will be really beneficial for communities.
NZ Herald
08-05-2025
- NZ Herald
Pacific Rally sailors collect ocean data for climate change study
'It allows us to understand the health and function of the world's biggest ocean and the impact of climate change,' he said. 'It's bringing everyday people with us on this journey and allows us to collect samples at scale that was impossible before.' Citizens of the Sea is a not-for-profit charitable trust formed through a partnership between Cawthron Institute and New Zealand Geographic. It aims to empower citizen scientists to collect ocean data at scale and at a fraction of the cost of traditional research vessels. A new collaboration between Minderoo Foundation and Citizens of the Sea was also unveiled. Minderoo is a philanthropic organisation that seeks to uplift communities, support gender equality, protect natural ecosystems and respond to emerging threats and challenges. Pochon said Minderoo's support 'enables us to push the boundaries of what's possible in ocean data collection'. 'We are demonstrating that citizen-led science can generate high-quality ocean health data, much faster and at a fraction of the cost.' It's the second year of the data collection project. During last year's Pacific Rally, 26 participating vessels collected over 800 eDNA samples, along with environmental data, across 1.5 million square km of ocean. Pochon said gathering data was important to understand the impact of climate change on biodiversity. He hoped the data would also help detect problematic organisms like pathogens and harmful algae blooms, and where endangered species were going and how to protect them. 'We've seen a massive impact of changing temperatures over the last four years everywhere, to the point where we're really unsure what the real impact is on marine biomes. 'Being able to capture biodiversity data at a large scale – it's a game changer for scientists.' The technology will enable the collection of more than 500 samples during the 2025 Pacific Rally. Once collected, the data will be shared with global scientific communities and government NGOs via Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), an international organisation that makes scientific data on biodiversity available via the internet using web services. Jenny Ling is a senior journalist at the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering human interest stories, along with finance, roading, and animal welfare issues.
