Decade Projects

Decade Projects are a discrete and focused undertaking. It may be regional, national or subnational and it will typically contribute to an identified Ocean Decade programme.

Find out about active projects we are connected to in the Northeast Pacific region:

Advancing Indigenous Partnerships in Ocean Science for Sustainability

This project will develop and coordinate a team to help prioritize and facilitate Indigenous ocean science priorities within Canada for the Decade.

Advancing Ocean Literacy for the UN Decade in Canada

The project provides support to the Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition to advance ocean literacy with the context of national and international efforts in this field.

Advocating for humane capture fisheries to support ocean and fisheries sustainability

This project researches and advocates for best animal welfare practices in wild capture fisheries in all stages of the capture process: capture, retrieval, onboard handling, and stunning & slaughter (and bycatch and ghost gear as additional causes of suffering).

Atlas Aquatica

This project is committed to building organizational capacity within the diving sector and supporting their voices in international dialogues for sustainability.

Basin Events to Coastal Impacts Program (BECI)

This ten-year initiative aims to develop an international ocean intelligence system capable of assessing changes and predicting impacts on local ecosystems and communities, using salmon as an exemplar species.

Better Biomolecular Ocean Practices

A project for the digitisation of omics protocols from long-term observatories around the world using machine-readable templates and metadata.

Blue Carbon as a Canadian Climate Change Solution: Modelling the Mitigation Potential of Kelp Under Future Climate Change Scenarios

This project aims to quantify the blue carbon potential of kelp ecosystems in Canada and will provide a quantitative assessment of the future extent of kelp forests, and their potential to mitigate climate change.

Blue Parks

The Blue Parks initiative improves marine protected area effectiveness globally to revitalize ocean ecosystems, safeguard marine biodiversity, store blue carbon, and sustain local communities.

British Columbia Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia Action Plan

The BC Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia (OAH) Action Plan is underway to develop strategies to better understand, mitigate, and adapt to the impacts of OAH on fisheries and aquaculture sectors and dependent coastal communities.

Canada’s Coastal Environmental Baseline Program

Canada’s Coastal Environmental Baseline Program (aka Baseline) funds the collection of baseline ecological (physical, chemical and biological) information by Fisheries and Oceans Canada scientists and external partners in key coastal areas in Canada – namely areas of existing high or increasing vessel traffic.

Canadian Ocean Acidification Community of Practice

The Community of Practice is an interdisciplinary group dedicated to sharing information and resources related to ocean acidification. Our diverse membership consists of individuals from government, aquaculture, fisheries, academia, and Indigenous community leadership, as well as students and members of the public.

Detection of Undersea Features

This project would concentrate on the detection of undersea features by exploring how AI technology can facilitate the detection of these features.

First Nations – Trusted Crowd-Sourced Bathymetry & Capacity Building in British Columbia

Project will use crowd-sourcing approach to collect hydrographic data in remote areas of BC coast.

Hakai Institute Biomolecular Observing Network

HI-BON is a highly coordinated network of partners across British Columbia, Canada who are using long-term genetic-based assessments of marine biodiversity to create baselines, track changes through time, and provide local-scale biodiversity data in remote areas.

Mapping and Improving High-Value Habitat influenced by Derelict Fishing Gear in the Salish Sea

This project will map areas of derelict fishing gear and damaged habitats, followed by efforts to remove gear.

Marine Plan Partnership for the North Pacific Coast (MaPP)

The MaPP initiative is a partnership between the Province of British Columbia and 17 member First Nations (collectively the MaPP Partners) that developed and are implementing four marine use plans and a regional action framework for B.C.'s North Pacific Coast.

MegaMove - Overhauling conservation of highly migratory marine megafauna at global scale

MegaMove is a global scientific programme involving a concerted network of hundreds of researchers around the globe to advance the long-term conservation of marine megafauna through strategic mitigation of global threats guided by a multi-disciplinary science plan encompassing movement ecology, ecological modelling, statistical physics, oceanography, marine law, and computer data science.

Northeast Pacific Coastal Biodiversity Action Network

BioActNet will foster cross-boundary biodiversity science for action-oriented marine conservation and management.

OneArgo: an integrated global, full depth and multidisciplinary ocean observing array

OneArgo will transform the revolutionary 'core' Argo array (which tracks the upper ocean physical state) to one that has truly global reach, including the polar oceans and marginal seas, extending to the full ocean depth and including ocean biogeochemical measurements.

Pacific eDNA Coastal Observatory (PECO)

The Pacific eDNA Coastal Observatory (PECO) has been launched in order to develop the capacity for a molecular monitoring network to track, understand, and predict biodiversity changes. Our growing network spans a latitudinal cross-section (Alaska to Southern California), in a region of high economic and social interest in marine resource management.

Save The Waves Mobile App

The overall goal of the project is to empower the global surfing community to crowdsource key data on the most pressing issues facing our coastal communities, including harmful coastal development, plastic pollution, sea-level rise and impaired water quality

Scripps Ecological Observatory

Our goal is a publicly available, high quality, high resolution, and continuous record of key environmental variables that will be used to model marine ecosystem dynamics and predict future change.

Sustained Data for a Changing Ocean - Ocean Observatories Initiative

The Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) is a science-driven, climate-sensing ocean observing network that delivers real-time data from more than 800 instruments to address critical science questions regarding the world’s ocean. OOI data are freely available online to anyone with an Internet connection.

Understanding and Addressing Ocean Acidification and Changing Ocean Conditions Through the Development of OA Action Plans

Through the OA Alliance, members are exploring and promoting efforts that increase biodiversity, adaptive capacity and resilience by translating knowledge into policy actions by national, regional and subnational governments.

Urchinomics Global Kelp Forest Restoration Sea Urchin Ranching Alliance

In partnership with divers and scientists, Urchinomics helps restore kelp forests by removing overgrazing urchins from urchin barrens, ranching them in proprietary aquaculture systems, and converting them into premium seafood to sell to consumers globally.

Ready to dive in? There’s a place for everyone in the Ocean Decade—stay connected to help ensure a thriving, resilient, sustainable and productive Northeast Pacific Ocean.