For the few right whales left, technology and teamwork are showing promise

The research group, Beneath the Waves, is cultivating cross-sector collaborations with nonprofits, scientists, and individual philanthropists in order to better study the movements and patterns of sharks in the Bahamas. What has typically been a challenging task has been made possible through the use of acoustic tags, which can provide researchers insight into ocean ecosystems and thus conservation. Such initiatives are part of a larger trend of bringing together private donors, nonprofits, and ocean scientists to bolster marine science and conservation efforts.

There's a robot revolution happening in the San Francisco Bay Area, and it's all in the name of mapping our oceans. This boom of technological innovation is helping bring lower-cost tools to both researchers and citizens. These consumers in turn use the devices to take photos during their excursions that ultimately create a network of ocean data that helps map the realities of concerns such as ocean acidification, rising water temperatures and overfishing.

Citizen science initiatives across Europe are using accessible technology to expose toxic emissions that official monitoring misses, triggering institutional responses ranging from increased enforcement to new pollution-control infrastructure.

Okala, a technology company, has developed smart camera traps equipped with a mini-computer and a satellite connection that, with the help of artificial intelligence, send researchers real-time notifications about which species pass by. Real-time camera alerts are not only helping researchers, but also surrounding communities intent on keeping people and crops safe from wild animals.

The Turks and Caicos Reef Fund coral lab houses a living biobank of coral species at risk of being lost to climate change impacts and disease. Researchers collect the corals from the ocean and plan to keep them on land until the oceans are a suitable habitat again.

In the South Indian coast, erosion is leading to disappearing beaches. A study found that this erosion was in part due to man-made structures like a harbor that was built in the late 80s, groynes, and seawalls. These structures were interfering with the natural movement of sand. To fix it, they needed a structure that could block waves but also allow sand movement, the solution? An artificial reef. It was installed and some beaches are already seeing the results.

A unique partnership between scientists, state agencies, and coastal communities in Washington state allows these different entities to monitor and manage toxic algal blooms. Known as the Olympic Region Harmful Algal Blooms Partnership, the initiative allows them to take water samples and analyze them for domoic acid, which is a deadly neurotoxin produced by algae. This collaboration allows fishers from tribal communities to know if it’s safe to harvest seafood and state officials to warn people when it becomes unsafe.

A new submersible machine produced by the Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida allows scientists to more effectively spot phytoplankton blooms which can cause red tide. This harmful algal bloom event can wreak havoc on ecosystems and the Programmable Hyperspectral Seawater Scanner is an improvement on an older model. While the maintenance cost can be high, scientists hope the instrument will be able to detect harmful algal blooms early in order to prevent outbreaks.

As coral reefs around the world are threatened by warming waters, mini-satellites are collecting images each day from space that put together a more comprehensive picture of the problems. This saves scientists time, energy, and money, and it means resources can be better targeted to the reefs that need the most help.

Researchers are using satellite imagery and data to create the first global, high-resolution map of all coral reefs. The project, known as the Allen Coral Atlas, will help provide a baseline for scientists to monitor bleaching events and other short-term changes, which could lead to devastating changes.