$46.5 million to monitor local oceans

Plus, more Victoria news from the world's largest ocean congress.

Author

Allison Gacad
February 08, 2023

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Funding ocean science and supporting ocean technology

The Honourable Joyce Murray announces funding alongside Kate Moran, president and CEO of Ocean Networks Canada. Photo: Ocean Networks Canada

The federal government is funding $46.5 million over five years to support ocean science and technology at Ocean Networks Canada (ONC), an initiative of the University of Victoria. The investment will primarily support a network of deep sea and coastal observatories on all three coasts, which allows for data collection related to ocean issues such as climate impacts and underwater noise. 

The announcement was made by the Honourable Joyce Murray — minister of fisheries, oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard —  at the fifth International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC5) in Vancouver. The event has brought together ocean conservation leaders from around the world in pursuit of protecting 30 percent of the ocean by 2030.

ONC is a meaningful resource for many oceantech companies, said Emilie de Rosenroll, CEO of the Centre for Ocean Applied Sustainable Technologies (COAST). ONC's platform, Ocean 3.0, hosts the most open source ocean data in the world, generated by its over 9,000 ocean sensors collecting mobile, cabled, and community-based data.

Although the announcement was made at a conservation-focused event, ONC supports a wide variety of tech applications. This includes climatetech project Solid Carbon, an initiative to safely sequester CO2 as solid rock deep beneath the ocean floor; the development of a neutrino telescope, led by German researchers off the coast of Vancouver Island; and reinfor its role as a founding member of Centre for Ocean Applied Sustainable Technologies to start up and scale up oceantech on the Island.

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📰 More Victoria innovation news

🚢 Better data for efficient ships: Goodbye to the legacy buoys of the past and hello to fleets of small cloud-connected marine sensor units, thanks to MarineLabs Data Systems. The local venture was featured in an article exploring the inland impacts of the International Maritime Organization's new emission standards. Read in Financial Times.

🌱 The origin story of Audette: Christopher Naismith, CEO and founder of Audette, dives into his foundational years that eventually led to starting up the company, along with musings about how it will impact the world. Read in Authority Magazine. 

🇳🇴 Canada, meet Norway: At IMPAC5, COAST met with leaders from two marine technology companies: Martin Stewart and Mark Collins of Canadian marine transportation startup Future Marine, and Oyvind Smogeli, CTO of Zeabuz, a Norwegian autonomous water vessel technology company. Read more on LinkedIn.

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