Why Ocean Exploration Could Matter to Your Future More Than You Think

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Did you know that we know more about
some parts of the moon than we do about

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large areas of our own ocean floor?

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That should bother probably all
of us because you cannot protect

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a world that you have never seen.

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This is the How to Protect the ocean
Podcast, your weekday podcast for

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people who want to understand what
is really happening in the ocean.

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So hit that follow button if you
do not wanna miss future episodes.

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Today we are talking about ocean
exploration, discovery, and why NOAA's

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deep ocean work actually matters.

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We've been talking about NOAA for the past
week and we have an interview tomorrow

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with somebody from the ocean Conservancy
who's talking about how important it's

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to keep NOAA programs funded, which NOAA
has been undergoing cuts over the last

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year because of the Trump administration.

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They want to decrease anything that has to
do with climate change related work, even

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though it's important to us all, not only
from US citizens, but also from the world.

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Because NOAA leads a lot of this research,
not only in protecting marine mammals, sea

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turtles, sharks, and other fish, not only
protecting seafood markets and fishing

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communities and the seafood economy as
a whole, but also in natural disasters.

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And one thing that we haven't talked
about yet, which we're gonna be talking

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about today, is we're gonna be talking
about exploration, discovery, and

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why NOAA's deep ocean work actually
matters because this is something

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that doesn't get talked about enough.

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And because the ocean covers most of
our planet, over 70% of our planet, yet

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vast areas remain poorly mapped, rarely
observed, or even completely unexplored.

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It's interesting that we know more about
the Marianna Trench, which is the deepest

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trench in the world, and we still need
to know a lot about it, but we don't

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know much about any other place in the
ocean, which is difficult to think.

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It's not just a trivia fact.

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It is a real management problem.

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If we don't know where vulnerable coral
gardens exist, where unique sea mount

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ecosystems thrive or where critical
habitats lie, we can accidentally damage

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them before we even knew where they are.

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So just even think about deep sea mining.

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Deep sea mining is a terrifying thing.

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I know it can provide a great resource
for electric vehicle batteries and

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other renewable energy systems.

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But the fact that we don't know
much about, or anything really about

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deep sea processes compared to what
we should is really a travesty.

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And it's scary to think that we can say
yes to deep sea mining without fully

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understanding the deep sea, or more
about the deep sea and how the deep

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sea runs, operates that will help us.

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And if we disrupt that
operation, how it could harm us.

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So NOAA's exploration
programs use research vessels.

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They use remotely operated vehicles,
ROVs, sonar mapping sensors, and cameras

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to reveal hidden parts of the ocean.

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And recent expeditions have
documented deep sea corals, sponge

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fields, unusual geology and species

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many people have never
actually seen before.

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I mean, we never would've had the
Dumbo octopus without NOAA and without

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these deep sea aspiration missions.

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These missions have produced a
stunning footage, but the real value

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is the actual data that we've seen.

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Maps inform marine protected areas.

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Habitat data informs fisheries decisions
and baseline observations help detect

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climate change impacts over time.

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That's a really important part, and
discovery can often drive innovation.

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We often find out that the
new medications, the new

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discoveries in medicine have
actually come from the ocean.

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And that's a really important aspect,
the fact that we barely know what's

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happening in the ocean, and we know
that understanding some of these

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species, some of these habitats and
how they survive different aspects

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of the ocean and how they can recoup
or regenerate or even recover from

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natural disasters could really help us
in our own biology, our own ecology.

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And I think that's an important
aspect that we just don't get.

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Also these exploration missions should
look at extreme ocean environments that

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have inspired advances in robotics,
material science, and biotechnology.

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So it's not just medicine
that we're looking at.

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We're looking at everything
that the deep sea can provide,

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that the ocean can provide.

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That's something looking at like
hydrothermal vent and how species survive

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in hydrothermal vent and how that can
translate in how humans can survive in

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really unlikely situations where you
have sulfur or you have different things

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we could look at the mechanisms that
allow animals that can survive these

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things, that could help us survive

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anything that happens, any kind
of poisoning that we can have or

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anything that changes in our bodies.

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And as I mentioned before, ocean
exploration also matters in the

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current debates like deep sea mining.

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How can society be responsible for
decisions about industrial activity

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in places like we barely understand?

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Think about that.

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It is just insane to say, Hey, we can
actually help ruin this area even though

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we don't think we're gonna ruin it, but
we don't really know what's gonna happen,

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what's gonna help us in the short term?

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Then we'll actually do it.

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That question of looking at
how we can spend on, how we can

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destroy environments instead of
protecting it is really difficult.

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And when we look at things like deep
sea mining, that type of question

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about how we can make responsible
decisions about industrial activity

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in places we barely understand.

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That question gets harder when
exploration budgets actually shrink.

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And this is what happens with NOAA.

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We start to seek funding cuts
and program cuts that can help

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bring down the operational
budget of the entire government.

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But in the long run, it doesn't
help us in any kind of way.

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It doesn't help US citizens.

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It doesn't help understanding the
ocean a lot better for a lot of the

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reasons that I've outlined this week.

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Exploration in general for it
helps people 'cause it helps that

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exploration, that creates knowledge,
that supports smarter policy, better

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risk decisions and scientific process.

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It also inspires the next generation.

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You know, a kid watching a live
ROV on YouTube, just like a kid who

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watch like the Artemis II mission
and they want to be astronauts.

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That watching an ROV dive today
could become tomorrow's ocean

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engineer or marine scientists.

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We have no idea.

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This actually matters to people
and why it matters to the ocean?

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Because knowing unknown ecosystems,
our vulnerable ecosystems, that

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could be really great to know because
we can make them less vulnerable

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through management decisions.

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That first step in protection
is knowing what exists.

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So imagine understanding vulnerable
and discovering vulnerable communities

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in the deep sea or elsewhere that we
hadn't just originally explored and

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protecting that area and having a benefit,
a net positive benefit on the ocean.

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The deep sea, it's not an empty space.

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It is alive.

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It is connected with the rest
of the planet and still full

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of surprises just because

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we don't think that there are marine
mammals underneath, but there are

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like tons of diversity of worms.

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We still don't understand how those worms
affect the deep sea and how they help the

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deep sea be the deep sea as we know it.

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And so I think that's
really important to know.

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And NOAA is one of the few institutions
that help us see it clearly.

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I think it's important to look
at a mission like the Artemis II

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and see how exciting it was, and
it was exciting for everybody,

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including me as a marine biologist.

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It was exciting to watch.

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It was cool to hear the scientists
and what they go through when they

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live in space and stuff like that.

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Just like it's important for me and fun
for me to find out what it's like to

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see what's on the bottom of the ocean.

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Looking at hydrothermal vents,
looking at how the smoke from the

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hydrothermal vents can go across the
Pacific and what that will do maybe

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for another habitat in that area.

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Does it work off of that smoke?

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Does it use that smoke
for some kind of reason?

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We don't know.

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Looking at these little nodules that are
out there that are being used to mine for

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critical minerals, but also they could
be producing dark oxygen that could help

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us understand how the deep sea survives
and how animals survive the deep sea.

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Knowing more about the moon and less
about this planet is not a good thing.

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We still need to know about what's
in space, but we also need to know

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what's helping drive every second
breath that we take from the ocean.

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I think that's an important aspect, and
it's something that we need to spend more

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money on, something we don't spend money
on, but we'll spend money on destroying it

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before we protect it.

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And that's something that I want you
to think about and think about why

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that's so important for us and why
we're not fighting for more of it.

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And I know a lot of the people
who are listening to this

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podcast are fighting for NOAA.

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If you live in the US or you don't and
you understand how important NOAA is

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to the ocean in general, not just to
the US citizens, but to the world,

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I think it's important to fight for
funding, for science, for exploration,

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for protection, and protection of
humans as well as marine species.

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It's really, really important.

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Tomorrow we're gonna be talking to a
representative from the Ocean Conservancy.

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He's gonna talk more about NOAA and
he's gonna go through a lot of the

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things that we discussed here, but
he's gonna reiterate why it's important.

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And I do these types of episodes
where I do these solo episodes on

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different aspects of, say, NOAA,
or different aspects of Antarctica,

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which we talked about last week,
because it's important for us to

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know what we need and what people are
doing to help protect us in general.

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And I think that's important.

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I live in Canada.

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There's often times where I go to the US.

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If I'm stuck in a storm there, I wanna
know if I need to evacuate or not.

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I wanna make sure that my colleagues,
my friends that live in the US are

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safe because they have an agency
like NOAA working at full capacity.

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Full budgeting, full funding to say,
Hey, we wanna protect the people.

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We want the information
to get to the people.

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And the science, the exploration,
the protection of marine mammals

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and other organisms as well
as us is extremely important.

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That's what NOAA does.

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So, with that said, that's
the episode for today.

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Tune in for the episode tomorrow.

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Follow this How to Protect The Ocean
Podcast for more of those episodes

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where we talk about a topic every week.

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And I think it's really important that we
do and so that we turn ocean systems into

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stories people can actually understand.

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It's a very complex system,
but we're here to help out.

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So more people follow the podcast.

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The more I can get funded to continue to
go on, the more I spend on this podcast.

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I'm gonna spend a lot
of time on it anyway.

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But follow it so you don't miss any of the
topics that we talk about in the future.

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And of course, tune in tomorrow
for that Ocean Conservancy interview

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I am doing speaking about NOAA.

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So we're talking about NOAA.

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This is gonna be really important.

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It was a great interview and I can't
wait for you to listen to it tomorrow.

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So tune in tomorrow.

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Thank you so much for joining
me on this episode of the How

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to Protect the Ocean Podcast.

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I'm your host, Andrew Lewin.

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Have a great day.

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We'll talk to you tomorrow
and happy conservation.