Current Projects
Discover the current projects that are looking to partner up with yachts. If you would like to offer space on board your yacht or if you have a research project to submit, please get in contact.
RESEARCHING SPERM WHALES
Canary Islands
Defining core habitats and preferred feeding strategies amongst sperm whales in Canary Islands. Assessment of health and body conditions of the resident population of sperm whales. These whales are facing serious threats from vessel strikes in the region, and this project aims to provide essential data for conservation efforts.
Marine Megafauna Pelagic Survey
Silver Bank to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
The primary goal of this expedition is to collect extensive data on sperm whales, humpback whales, and other cetaceans, utilising both visual and acoustic detection methods. Environmental DNA (eDNA) tools will also be employed to enhance research efforts in this critical region.
The survey will contribute to establishing a biodiversity baseline, enabling the Ministry of Environment to support informed conservation strategies.
Sharkmed
Palma de Mallorca
Cabrera Archipelago
Sharks and Rays Project in the Marine-Terrestrial Park of the Cabrera Archipelago (PNMTAC): study of their diversity, abundance, seasonality and movement patterns using non-invasive techniques during the next two years (2024-2025), with the aim of better understanding the current situation of various species of sharks and rays. Once the results of this project have been obtained, it is intended to disseminate the information at an international level to promote the implementation of management measures that guarantee the conservation of these species.
Hawksbill Turtle Project
Seychelles
Investigating the key habitat features of deeper foraging grounds used by the critically endangered hawksbill turtle in the Seychelles.
This project will provide essential data on the benthic assemblages at deeper sites on the Seychelles platform that are used as key foraging grounds for the critically endangered hawksbill turtles in the Seychelles. Such data are critical to the development of conservation measures to protect key habitats used by large marine vertebrates and the overall biodiversity of marine ecosystems.
Bridging Marine Data Gaps
For Sustainably Ocean Management
Be part of a rare opportunity to help create the scientific foundation for Barbados’s Marine Spatial Plan (MSP) by supporting critical ocean research in an understudied marine region. Your vessel and crew can play a key role in gathering essential data, directly contributing to the future protection and sustainable management of Barbados’s marine environment. In collaboration with the Barbados Government and the Blue Marine Foundation, this expedition invites yachts to leave a meaningful legacy for the Caribbean.
Clownfish colour patterns
The clownfish-sea anemone symbiosis is an iconic member of Indo-Pacific coral reefs due, in large part, to its colour, charismatic behaviors, and cinematic popularity. Scientifically, the clownfish-sea anemone symbiosis is now considered a model system to test a wide range of scientific hypotheses across the biological sciences, including areas such as evolutionary biology, behavioural ecology, climate change, reproduction, population connectivity, and conservation, among others.
Sea Grass Project
South Coast Solent & Isle of Wight
Project Seagrass are working to innovate Zostera marina seagrass planting techniques to improve future restoration success in the UK. Seagrass meadows provide key ecosystem services such as biodiversity hotspots, carbon capture, nutrient filtration, through to providing the oxygen we breathe. Globally seagrass is under threat and facing rapid loss, in the UK it is estimated we have lost up to 92% of seagrasses in the last 100 years, we must act now to reverse this trend.
Species in Coral Feed Resilience
French Polynesia
The goal of this research is to provide robust science needed to manage, protect, and restore corals in French Polynesia and beyond. This project focuses on the role of cryptic coral species in coral reef resilience and adaptation.
Decoding the Deep-Sea
sub-Antarctic or Antarctic, Macquarie Island, the Gulf of Alaska, Greenland Sea, Norwegian Sea
Dr Paige Maroni is using novel deep-sea technologies to preserve deep-sea genomes. By preserving deep-sea specimens in situ, we will collect invaluable genetic data, which in turn will be used to illuminate the phylogenies of a myriad of deep-sea species, enriching our understanding of the biodiversity of our oceans, thus uncovering evolutionary dynamics in the world’s largest ecosystem.
White Shark Chase
Join a conservationist and a film creator as they embark on gathering more information on sharks to further understand the Sicilian Channel.
Manta Trust Maldives
Tam Sawers , the Maldives project leader and has been working with the Manta Trust since 2014. She remotely coordinates a highly skilled team of researchers in the country, who are based at seven different locations.
Manta Trust Fiji
Formed in 2011, the Manta Trust is a UK-registered charity that coordinates global mobulid research and conservation efforts. Its mission is to conserve mobulid rays, their relatives, and habitats through a combination of research, education and collaboration.
Forests of the sea
Yachts For Science joins Parley in support of science, exploration, advocacy and the protection of our planet’s vital sea forests. Forests Of The Sea, a legacy project to protect and restore kelp forests around the world.
The Lost 4th Island
Looking for a unique and adventurous experience that also supports marine research? Join Gretchen Goodbody-Gringley, PHD on a journey to survey two unexplored offshore seamounts and nearshore deep reefs in the Cayman Islands.
Whale Research
The research team will be studying humpback whales, killer whales, and elusive beaked whales using drones, satellite tags, and acoustic buoys. Humpbacks overwinter in the Mexican breeding areas including Bahia de Banderas, and sightings of humpback breeding groups and mothers with newborn calves are extremely common in the winter months.
Zooplankton Sampling
Falkland Islands
Dr Jesse van der Grient is an experienced researcher based at the South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute (Falkland Islands). She is currently the manager of a project investigating fisheries and marine habitat resilience to climate change. Jesse’s work is focusing on ‘zooplankton’, tiny critters living in the water column,that are ubiquitous across the world’s oceans, and an important food source for fish, including commercially-important species. Knowing where zooplankton occurs and why, and how that changes over time, and how it is affected by warming oceans will be instrumental information to sustainably manage fisheries and marine resources in Falkland Islands. To do that, new field collections around Falkland Islands are urgently needed.