Monday, April 25, 2022
Since its origin, in January 2011, the philanthropic association of general interest OceanoScientific primarily targets young people in CE2-CM1-CM2 classes with the aim of making them RESPECT and LOVE the Ocean. To this end, Carla Di Santo, Scientific Coordinator & Diving Manager of theOceanoScientific Expeditions, assisted The Sea Workshop on Wednesday April 13 to take a group of twenty-four girls and boys aged six to twelve on a snorkeling trip to raise their awareness of the marine environment and to discover the animals of the Mediterranean shallows in their natural habitat. These children are from one of the programs offered by Synergy Family, co-founded by Laurent Choukroun and Frank Tortel, which has offered for more than ten years the opportunity for all kinds of activities aimed at individual and collective development. This trip to sea, financed by"Marseille Capital of the Sea", registered in operation "A step towards the sea", resulting from the collaboration of four partners: Marseille Capitale de la Mer, Synergie Family, Le Cercle des Nageurs and the CMA CGM Foundation. Thus, children learn to swim and live edutainment experiences to understand, love and respect the sea. Let us remember on this occasion that "Marseille Capital of the Sea" brings together the living forces of the Marseille city, whether economic, cultural, industrial, craft, sporting, gastronomic, environmental, academic, social, or institutional, to enhance the sea as an urban resource. The association team OceanoScientific is therefore happy to support this initiative to raise awareness of the major role of the sea in our urban lives.
Tuesday, July 27, 2021
The Ocean covers 70.8% of the surface of the Planet, but more than 99% of its volume. Coral reefs (285,000 km2) represent less than 0.1% of this surface, but they contain more than 25% of under threat marine organisms. Only 1% to 3% of these marine organisms are (roughly) known. France has the second largest maritime area (Exclusive Economic Zone - EEZ) in the world: 11,035,000 km2, behind the United States (11,351,000 km2) and ahead of the Australians (8,505,348 km2). But it is the only country present in the tropical space of the three oceans: Pacific, Indian and Atlantic, with the largest submarine domain in the world (11,614,000 km2). France has a fantastic natural wealth of molecules of interest for Health, Well-being and services to the Environment, to be developed virtuously for future generations.
Sponge from the Mozambique Channel photographed
by Dr. Thierry Pérez,
CNRS Research Director
of the Station Marine d'Endoume (Marseille, France).
The sponges are the first multicellular animals to appear on the Planet, and therefore the first marine animals of the Ocean. Sponges appeared on the Planet about 650 million years ago, during the Cryogenian (720 to 655 million years ago) when the Earth was covered in ice. Today, the descendants of these amazing organisms are under the severe threat of the Sixth Extinction due to human (anthropogenic) activity. It is therefore essential to safeguard their biological heritage, to preserve it for future generations.
Sponges inhabit all aquatic ecosystems. They are sources of many ecosystem services: ecological functions of recycling organic matter, depollution, biomolecules, bathing sponges, etc.
These are fantastic resources of molecules of interest for human Health, undoubtedly promising therapies for the Future.
In the wake of Prince Albert I of Monaco
Hirondelle in the Azores in 1888
Émile Topsent
(1862-1951), Marine biologist and
spongiologist,
recorded his research
alongside Prince
Albert I in three
Fascicules published
from 1892 to 1928.
Prince Albert I of Monaco,
a precursor of Marine Sciences, conducted 28 Oceanographic Campaigns from 1885 to 1915
which led to the publication
of 110 Fascicules, large format
books that are still used
nowadays by researchers
in laboratories .
On board, Émile Topsent discovered and studied previously unknown species of sponges (Fascicule XXV - 1904).
"Only a better knowledge of the Ocean will allow its virtuous exploitation with respect for Nature for the benefit of future generations...because the Earth is running out of breath.
But let's stop piling up alarmist scientific findings, let's consider the Ocean as the most gigantic resource of Humanity and let's demonstrate that Ecology & Economy can be effectively married.
By bioprospecting little-known sponges on little-explored reefs using an oceanographic
sailboat (17 m - 57 foot); using only 3 to 5 centimeters samples analyzed biologically and genetically according to innovative techniques, we are inventing a virtuous development of as yet unknown underwater resources, for the benefit of the sites of origin of these organisms."
Yvan Griboval
Innovative Navigator-Explorer
OceanoScientific / LOVE THE OCEAN
Approximately 18,000 molecules have already been classified for 9,000 sponge species identified to date.
But the international scientific community knows there are many more...
The OceanoScientific Expeditions 2023-2030 are therefore almost sure to discover new sponges species in the coral reefs of Juan de Nova, knowing that those already listed have never been sequenced…
Tell the Ocean, transmit the Emotion...
OceanoScientific Expeditions serve to raise awareness of the general public to discover, respect and preserve the Ocean:
International media exposure: Social networks - TV - Print media - Radio;
Regular transmission of video images on social networks and TV;
Permanent cartographic tracking of the exploration platform LOVE THE OCEAN;
Hourly display of physico-chemical data on a dedicated site;
Explorers' Conferences with the participation of eminent scientists;
Public Relations events and operations on board LOVE THE OCEAN.
RESPECT & LOVE THE OCEAN
The OceanoScientific Explorer is given a concept name
to convey the simplest of messages: LOVE THE OCEAN
LAGOON 570 sailing catamaran (17m / 57ft)
equipped for unprecedented exploratory navigations
without CO2 emissions or waste
with a virtuous energy autonomy
thanks to 2,000 Watts of solar panels.
Unique scientific equipment in the world on a sailboat :
DNA/RNA sequencing laboratory;
Air/Sea sensors for automatic collection
and automatic transfer
of accurate scientific data to
the World Meteorological Organization
under the control of Météo-France.
