Field work for the international Census of Marine Life is complete, so that preparation of a report now begins for release in 2010.
The project, supported by 80 nations, represents an “unprecedented undertaking” to understand more about marine life globally, from microbes to higher animals, near-surface dwellers to organisms 1000m deep.
Many thousands of discoveries have been made along the way; and for better-known species, the aim has been to build clearer pictures of population types, numbers and habitats.
Technologies used have included acoustic and optical study, tagging, genetic analysis of collected samples, and analysis of captured specimens.
It is hoped that the Census of Marine Life will help greatly in the management of marine resources, one Census study having predicted “the end of commercial fishery globally by 2050, if current trends persist”.
Data from the Census will help also in identifying the “possible consequences of global climate change”.
The plan is to establish “an online encyclopedia with a webpage for every species”, once the “complex process of synthesizing the immense amount of data” is complete.
Census of Marine Life – www.coml.org
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