They鈥檙e less well known than Cook, Magellan and Champlain, but Tammy Norgard and her fellow scientists at sa国际传媒鈥檚 Department of Fisheries and Oceans are just as deserving of the title of explorer.
In a series of expeditions over the past three years, Norgard and her colleagues have discovered massive underwater volcanoes, strange new habitats and never-before-seen organisms 鈥� all deep beneath the ocean鈥檚 surface just a few hundred kilometres off the coast of Vancouver Island.
It鈥檚 a vast uncharted territory that sa国际传媒 declared an Offshore Pacific Area of Interest in 2017 鈥� the first step toward creating a Marine Protected Area under sa国际传媒鈥檚 Oceans Act.
Before that happens, however, the government needs to understand what鈥檚 there, which is why the Pacific Seamounts Expeditions are so important, Norgard says.
鈥淲e are really just collecting baseline information so we can know what鈥檚 out there and so we can set up protections that will be appropriate for the area.鈥�
This year, the scientists, in partnership with the Nuu-chah-nulth Nations and Ocean Networks sa国际传媒, returned to the scene of their greatest discovery: a massive underwater volcano known as the Explorer seamount.
First spotted in 2018, Explorer rises 2.5 kilometres from the ocean floor, rivals Mount Baker in height and gives life to an ancient city of glass sponges that scientists have nicknamed Spongetopia.
Norgard, the expedition鈥檚 chief scientist, said her team expected to see more of the same on its two-week expedition.
Instead, they found areas of even greater diversity on the other side of the Explorer seamount.
Using a submersible 鈥渄rop camera鈥� lowered into the ocean from the Canadian Coast Guard vessel John P. Tully, scientists uncovered a vast forest of coral and sponges, crabs and sea stars that they are calling Coraltropolis.
鈥淵ou have no idea what you鈥檙e going to see,鈥� Norgard said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 so exciting. You hit the [ocean] floor and like, 鈥榃ow!鈥� The first thing you see is like a fish go by 鈥� or there鈥檚 an octopus sitting there, or it鈥檚 just like this habitat full of all these sea cucumbers.鈥�
The team also mapped 10 previously uncharted seamounts and captured rare video footage of a salmon shark apparently scratching itself on a barnacle-covered log.
Caroline McNicoll, a communications specialist with Fisheries and Oceans, said it鈥檚 believed to be the first time such images of a shark have ever been captured.
During the voyage, scientists and crew members livestreamed their findings to 38 countries and did ship-to-shore talks with people at science camps and in the Nuu-chah-nulth communities, McNicoll said in an email.
Joshua Watts, who took part in the expedition as a representative of the Nuu-chah-nulth Nations, described it as a 鈥渓ife-changing鈥� experience.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 have much experience going out that far to sea,鈥� he said.
鈥淓very day there was something new happening, and there was some new information coming in, or there was some new uncharted area that we were going over.
鈥淚鈥檓 probably going to remember that trip for the rest of my life.鈥�
Watts said the Nuu-chah-nulth Nations take seriously their stewardship of the land and water, and the seamount expeditions aligned with those values.
鈥淓ven though this is 150 kilometres offshore, the organisms and the life there is so relevant to our territory,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all connected.鈥�
Norgard hopes others learn to recognize those connections through the seamount expeditions and the ongoing research.
鈥淚 really want to get out there to see what鈥檚 out there and share it with everybody, so we can all understand that the ocean is a larger ecosystem than just what you see on the beach,鈥� she said.
