The Martlet

Teams of scientists around the world are racing against the clock to document marine biodiversity and the affects of climate change in our oceans.

Maéva Gauthier, a UVic graduate student, spent six weeks on an icebreaker ship last October and November helping with the project, called Census of Marine Life.

Gauthier was a dive coordinator and research assistant on the project. She also filmed it, turning the footage of cutting-edge research and spectacular Arctic landscapes into a YouTube video.

“We want to study and document what different kinds of marine species are in the Arctic right now to be able to respond to climate change impact,” said Gauthier. “By going there almost every year in the past few years, and in the coming years as well, we’ll be able to see what’s changing.”

The project that Gauthier worked on focused mainly on the sea floor, using cameras, nets and a machine that grabbed mud to look at what lies far beneath the ocean’s surface.

“Just knowing and understanding what our ocean contains is a big first step. It’s basically a biodiversity dictionary,” she said. “The next step is to adapt to climate change and to find solutions now that it’s happening.”

Though the 10-year long Census of Marine Life officially wraps up in October, research will be ongoing, looking not only to document life but also find solutions.

Gauthier says that her visit to the Arctic helped her see the importance of the work.

“When I was up North, I was realising that for them, there’s no doubt that climate is changing because they see their soil, their permafrost melting and their buildings are collapsing and the salmon is different. Just everything. There’s no doubt,” she said.

“Then you come back to the South and you realize that there are lots of people who don’t realize that and who live like there’s nothing happening. I think there’s a big education process to show what’s going on up there to show what’s going on up there so people maybe realize ‘ok, it’s happening really fast up there; we’re going to be next in maybe, 40 years.’”