Making the invisible visible: Artists and scientists spotlight the Deep Sea at UNOC
Leading up to the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France, scientists and artists came together to spotlight the ocean and the issues that surround it – an unprecedented preamble to a highly diplomatic event, which proved to be rather fruitful.
50 heads of state and dozens of representatives, hundreds of artists and thousands of scientists… For two weeks in June, the coastal city of Nice – in partnership with Costa Rica – became the capital of the oceans. The big political gathering of the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC) was preceded by the One Ocean Science Congress, organized by CNRS and Ifremer, along with the Biennale des Arts et de l’Océan. It was a precious opportunity for scientists and artists to highlight the ocean’s most pressing issues, and to raise awareness of the mysteries of the deep blue sea.
Achieving global governance
For although the ocean covers 70% of the Earth’s surface, experts and artists agree that only 3% of the seabed has been mapped, and that more humans have been sent into space than into the abyssal depths of the ocean floor. And with good reason: only 1.7% of national research budgets are allocated to ocean sciences, according to the two co-presidents of the International Scientific Committee of the One Ocean Science Congress, François Houllier, Chairman and CEO of Ifremer, and Jean-Pierre Gattuso, Director of Research at CNRS. Yet the ocean absorbs 90% of the excess heat caused by human activity and greenhouse gas emissions, and is an essential ally in our fight against global warming.
One of UNOC’s main issues is ratifying the Agreement on Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement), finalized in 2023 after more than 15 years of negotiations. Among other things, the agreement consolidates the establishment of protected marine areas covering 30% of the high seas (outside any national jurisdiction), the obligation to carry out impact studies before engaging in any human activity, and equitable access to the genetic resources of the oceans. Ratified by 31 nations prior to UNOC, it is now ratified by 51 nations, and should reach the 60 threshold required for implementation by the UN General Assembly in September.
Martin Alessandrini, advocacy representative for the Tara Oceans Foundation, is delighted with this unusually rapid progress: “This is a great result, and next year we’ll start discussing the operations.” Another victory was Nice’s call for an ambitious Plastics Treaty to reduce plastic production and consumption.
The main disappointment was in terms of regulations surrounding deep-sea mining, a hot topic ever since U.S. president Donald Trump authorized these activities in May. This year, a moratorium was signed by 30 nations. In June at UNOC, only five more countries joined the initiative.
Encountering the strangeness of the abyss
To introduce these diplomatic advances, artists and scientists set out to make the invisible visible. On the scientific side, practitioners from all over the world shared their research with their peers to advance knowledge, in sessions lasting around 20 very specialized minutes. Topics included mitigation and adaptation to the goals of the Paris Agreement, plastic pollution, fishing and transport industries, and sharing knowledge about the Deep Ocean.
Meanwhile, artists attempted to tell stories about these breathtaking discoveries, to make them universally accessible, as at the Sentiment Océanique festival on June 5-8 hosted by Coal Project at Fort du Mont Alban.
“It’s an act of diplomacy on behalf of species that are little-known or unknown,” says curator Christopher Yggdre at the opening of his exhibition “Lumière Vivante, Rencontre avec la bioluminescence marine”. At Fort Mont Alban, which is usually only open on Heritage Days, visitors could encounter the bioluminescent bacteria that inhabit the seabed.
“The average depth of the oceans is 3,800 meters. From 200 meters, no light penetrates. It is estimated that 78% of underwater life produces light,” explains researcher Jeanne Maingot-Lépée, from the Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography, during a conversation at the opening of the festival’s “Science Bar”. These light signals are as varied as their uses – they can serve as bait, but also as defense or camouflage, making themselves appear larger or deflecting the predator’s trajectory, for example.
This act of diplomacy on behalf of these marine creatures is also a nod to their mystery: “Bioluminescent bacteria can be traced back 3.5 billion years,” explains the researcher. The appearance of eyes, on the other hand, dates back 600 million years. As if, extrapolates artist Jérémie Brugidou, this cold, bluish light had created the desire to see.
Superstar Plankton
At the heart of La Baleine (“The Whale”), a free open space for the general public, we set out to discover these intriguing creatures of the abyss. Here we met extremophilic beings (i.e. which thrive in extreme environments) such as the Pompeii worm, or creatures with sexual dimorphisms (males and females of very different sizes, in this case 4cm vs. 60cm) such as the abyssal anglerfish. There was also the sperm whale, whose cry is louder than an aircraft engine, the 12-meter-long giant squid, and the opisthoproctidae, whose skull resembles a cockpit. All their extraterrestrial strangeness is creeping into our imagination, raising interest in our planetary roommates.
The little-known superstar organisms of this pre-UNOC were none other than algae. Phytoplankton absorbs CO2 on a much larger scale than terrestrial forests. It is also the main source of food for marine animals. At the political level, however, “There’s still very little talk about it, even if we’re trying to reach decision-makers,” admits Martin Alessandrini. Nevertheless, “Some countries are beginning to take up this issue in a fairly structured way. Senegal, for example, has introduced plankton into its decision-making and conservation tools.”
In their documentary Umi No Oya, screened at La Baleine on June 4, artist and chef Maya Minder and Makery editor Ewen Chardronnet explore the history of Japanese nori seaweed aquaculture. Trailer:
Cacophony of the Silent World
Meeting the inhabitants of the seabed gives us the opportunity to perceive the impact of our activities on their living environment. In the Emmy Award-winning documentary Sonic Sea (2016), co-produced by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), we discover the unbearable cacophony that reigns in what Jacques Cousteau called the Silent World.
In the Pacific Ocean, ship noise has doubled every ten years over the past 40 years, according to IFAW. It’s a drastic increase with serious consequences for marine mammals such as blue whales, orcas and dolphins. Disoriented, they are beaching en masse. The distance over which whales can communicate has fallen by 90%, while some of them have lost 80% of their ability to sing and are generally stressed out (when the world came to a standstill after September 11, 2001, scientists recorded a dramatic drop in the stress hormone in these animals). “This noise pollution affects all living creatures, from whales to plankton,” explains Aurore Morin, Marine Conservation Campaigner at IFAW. Even plants are affected, with one study showing that the growth of Posidonia seagrass is impaired by human-generated noise.
“The good thing about noise is that when you stop making it, it stops,” an OrcaLab scientist points out in the documentary. And for that, IFAW has solutions, such as slowing ship speed. Their petition, Blue Speeds, has so far gathered over 250,000 signatures.
37 countries have also joined a coalition for a silent ocean. “We’re very satisfied overall,” reports Aurore Morin of the event. “The issues we’re working on, particularly noise pollution, have been foregrounded, whereas they are usually seldom discussed.” Although no binding measures were taken, this augurs well for the future of IFAW’s work: “It shows that there is motivation, awareness and a voluntary initiative.”
La Baleine also offered a variety of thematic areas.
The migrant issue with Navire Avenir
As a counterpoint to all the wonders encountered during the scientific congress, La Baleine and artistic proposals, Sébastien Thiéry reminds us that the Oceans, and in particular the Mediterranean Sea, are also the scene of humanitarian shipwrecks and the absence of policies to assist others.
“On April 19, 2015, the biggest shipwreck of the 21st century took place,” the political scientist and urban planner reminds us at the outset. On that day, a boat with 900 migrants aboard sank, killing around 800 people. This hecatomb coincided with the end of the Mare Nostrum rescue operation, which was replaced by Triton, a lighter operation with no humanitarian mandate. However, no single country, nor the European Union, has re-established a humanitarian presence in this area. According to the United Nations, over 63,000 migrants have died or gone missing in the last decade, 60% of them by drowning. “Every three months, the equivalent of the biggest shipwreck of the 21st century takes place,” sums up Thiéry.
Faced with the need to “no longer observe the disaster, but face it in action”, the urban planner presents his Navire Avenir project, a collective work that brings together artists, students, rescuers, survivors, nurses, lawyers, architects, citizens and, soon, investors. His ambition is to build a lifeboat that meets the needs of humanitarian workers, with a shipboard hospital and a ramp for safe disembarkation.
The plans are ready – now he just needs to find the 36 million euros to fund the project. By way of comparison, Thiéry points out, the Barca Nostra carcass of the boat that sank on April 19, 2015 would have cost over 30 million to transport to the Venice Biennale, where it was exhibited in 2019. To raise the 15 million euros needed to launch the project, the Navire Avenir team is proposing that citizens, institutions and investors become co-owners of the vessel. To date, over 1.2 million euros have been raised.
In parallel with this shipyard in the making, Thiéry plans to have the actions of rescue sailors recognized as part of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Despite the urgency of these issues, “no draft regulations for intervention at sea and no plans to develop specific tools” have emerged from UNOC, regrets Thiéry. However, SOS Méditerranée and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) have proposed recognizing maritime space as a humanitarian space.
“Taking care of the ocean also means doing everything possible to ensure that it remains a resource for life, not a place for death,” he says. “It’s a fact that this issue has been sidestepped, and that the political controversies surrounding migrants have prevented any real work on this crucial subject, both for us and for future generations. France should have played a decisive role in this matter.”
Funding… in Monaco
Protecting the Ocean is a great idea, but with what funding? At La Baleine, blue finance is mentioned. But the dedicated Blue Economy & Finance Forum was held a few dozen kilometers away, in the Principality of Monaco. There, 25 billion euros were invested in sustainable projects for the Ocean, and 8.7 billion euros in additional investments were committed by 2030.
This is a key issue. The oceans are also a global market zone, explains Marianne Carpentier, strategy consultant in sustainable funding: 90% of world trade passes through the waters, 98% of information flows pass through the oceans (fiber optics, but also electricity for wind turbines), as well as a large proportion of energy resources (wind turbines, but also gas and oil). Meanwhile 50% of world tourism is linked to the coasts, and 3 billion people depend on fishing for their livelihood. Economic agents will therefore be key players in preserving – or not – the oceans.
“It’s a very interesting lever,” stresses Martin Alessandrini. In the case of deep-sea mining, we were quite disappointed by the lack of commitment by nations. On the other hand, some 60 economic players have announced that they will not fund or ensure deep-sea mining projects. In the face of political failure, we can have this counterweight.” Scientists, artists, politicians, economic players and civil society… all in the same boat.