#live ocean

Today in The Guardian.

A new citizen science initiative is empowering sailors to map marine biodiversity and ocean health in the Pacific, equipping blue-water sailors with the latest technology to gather important data while at sea. The Pacific Ocean is the world’s largest ocean and will provide crucial insights into the effects of climate change and biodiversity loss on the region.

Citizens of the Sea, a charity co-founded by Cawthron Institute (NZ) and New Zealand Geographic, and supported by Live Ocean Foundation, has recruited sailors in the 2024 Pacific Rally to help understand the health and function of the world’s biggest ocean.

For years, tracking the migration of tākoketai black petrel was a race against the battery. Devices lasted only a couple of months – long enough to watch a chick leave the colony, but not long enough to see where its journey truly ended. 

That has changed. Thanks to an unprecedented tracker deployment (the largest ever in black petrel history) – made possible in part by fundraising from the BNZ Foundation, the Lou and Iris Fisher Charitable Trust, and others in the Live Ocean community – researchers can now follow individual chicks for up to a year, all the way across the Pacific and into the waters where they spend the winter. 

The result is a window into a part of these birds’ lives that has never been seen before, and the current season of data is already rewriting what we thought we knew.

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And what they are getting up to has surprised everyone. This season, chicks have ranged much further north than ever recorded before. Some are already foraging off Ecuador and around the Galapagos Islands; others are working their way up and down the Ecuadorian and Peruvian coasts. A few are still out in the open Pacific, cruising at roughly the same latitude as Guatemala, somewhere between Hawaii and the Pitcairn Island group – in no hurry at all. 

“It’s really interesting behaviour which we didn’t know they did,” says Bell. “I always thought they just sort of hung around the Humboldt Current – but not this year.” 

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The longer view has also revealed just how perilous that first migration can be. This year, around 11 chicks headed the wrong way – instead of turning east for South America, they were drawn west across Aotearoa. Researchers think they’re distracted by artificial light. 

One chick fledged from Aotea, flew into the Hauraki Gulf, appears to have been pulled off course by the lights of Auckland, then crossed the island to the West Coast, tracked all the way down past Taranaki towards Cook Strait before realising its mistake, doubling back to Auckland, waiting for dark, and crossing the divide a second time. In the end, that single bird flew around 600 kilometres further than it needed to. 

Another, nicknamed Whā Tekau, fledged from Little Barrier Island in mid-May and detoured into Whangārei Harbour before finally striking out on the right heading. Researcher Simon Lamb, walking through the tracking data, points to one bird after another taking the scenic route: “This is another bird that went completely the wrong direction – instead of going east like it normally should have, it goes all the way down to the Firth of Thames, crosses the country, goes west… before figuring out, oh, I can go east.” 

New Zealand’s Black Foils have won the Better Planet award in SailGP’s global Impact League, recognising their contribution to a New Zealand campaign to end bottom trawling and the record-breaking swim by Jono Ridler that drove it.

The award lands as the Black Foils race at the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix in Portsmouth this weekend, the start of their European leg.

Swim4TheOcean was ultramarathon swimmer Jono Ridler’s unprecedented 1,367-kilometre staged swim down the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. After 90 days and 468 hours in the water, without a wetsuit, he reached Wellington on 4 April and walked to Parliament.

Run by Live Ocean, the marine conservation foundation founded by Black Foils co-CEOs Blair Tuke and Peter Burling, the initiative calls for an end to bottom trawling on seamounts and a phased transition away from the destructive fishing practice entirely. Sea mountains are some of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet and a single pass of a trawl net can decimate coral that took centuries to grow. New Zealand is now the only country still bottom trawling seamounts in the South Pacific high seas.

Tuke was a driving force helping conceive the campaign, guiding the complex logistical operation, and leading the advocacy effort, taking the 73,647-signature petition to Parliament along with Ridler. He and other team members swam support stretches, and in June the Black Foils co-hosted Live Ocean’s annual Winter Dip at Takapuna Beach, where around 800 supporters joined, the biggest group turnout yet.

Live Ocean puts the campaign’s media reach at 390 million across more than 400 news stories. An independent poll in April put public support for limiting bottom trawling at 90%, with 47% of New Zealanders now calling it the greatest threat to the marine environment, up from 37% in 2024. 

The award takes the Black Foils to the top of the 2026 Impact League leaderboard, which scores every SailGP team on the positive environmental and social impact they create off the water, run alongside the racing.

Blair Tuke, Black Foils co-CEO and Live Ocean co-founder, said: “What Jono did is one of the greatest endurance feats of all time, but this was always more than just a swim, it was a platform to create change. Swim4TheOcean was one of the most challenging and rewarding projects I’ve ever been involved in and I’m so proud of what was achieved. We saw New Zealanders really come around this with a snowball of support, giving us a powerful platform to drive positive action for the ocean.” 

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, champion sailors and co-founders of Live Ocean are calling the passing of the Hauraki Gulf Tīkapa Moana Marine Protection Bill a huge milestone for the Gulf.  

Highlighting the Gulf’s uniqueness and its rich biodiversity has been a key focus for Live Ocean since its inception and the pair are delighted that the area will have greater protection with the introduction of this long-awaited Bill.

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Black Foils Co-CEOs and founders of Live Ocean Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have just spent three days at the UN Ocean Conference (UNOC) held in Nice, France running from 9-13 June.

Having established Live Ocean more than five years ago, Burling and Tuke were invited to take part and speak at multiple events within the UNOC line-up. 

They included an ‘Ocean House - Nightcap’ which brought together athletes and changemakers who are turning sporting influence into ocean impact, a session on ‘The Power of Sport as a Key Convenor’ hosted by The Ocean Race, and they took part in another that showcased the vital importance of deep ocean seamounts hosted by the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition.

The pair are unique in that they speak not only as athletes using their voice to champion ocean health, but as co-founders of an ocean conservation organisation with an established track record of backing science and innovation projects in New Zealand.

Blair Tuke says, “The UN Ocean Conference is our opportunity to take part in the global conversation about ocean health, and it was a privilege to speak and attend a number of the events. There’s a lot that happens in the big forums with the political leaders, and events outside of that where NGOs cross over with policymakers too.”

“We met others from all parts of the globe, connected to all the different oceans around the world - people trying to do similar things to drive action for a healthy ocean. The knowledge sharing and people working together is one of the highlights of these events.”

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Burling explains it, “Sport is an amazing platform for being able to connect people to issues. As an athlete it gives you that extra purpose while you’re out competing, and through your audience, you can really help them get behind the issues and that can influence decision-makers.”

With over 200 entrants the Black Foils and Live Ocean’s event “Foil4TheGulf” to raise awareness for the Hauraki Gulf / Tikapa Moana Marine Protection Bill has become New Zealand’s largest ever foiling event by entries. 

The event held today at Auckland’s Okahu Bay was inspired by the Hauraki Gulf / Tikapa Moana Marine Protection Bill’s stalled progress in Parliament. The previous record for a foiling event in New Zealand was this year’s Foil Bay of Islands event which had just over 150 entrants.

Launched out of the Royal Akarana Yacht Club, Foil4TheGulf brought together foilers (beginners through to experienced), from across Tamaki Makaurau and beyond. Attendees didn’t have to get in the water to join in the action with options to learn more about the need to protect the Gulf including a speaker panel and foiling lessons before the main event. 

The ambition for the day was to garner public and political attention at the event and draw the focus back to passing the important marine protection Bill. A number of elected officials also attended on the day including Auckland Central MP and Green Party Co-Leader Chlöe Swarbrick and Auckland’s Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson. 

Black Foils Co-CEO and Live Ocean Founder Peter Burling said it was special to see the foiling community come together to support the event.