EU launches OceanEye alliance to challenge US dominance in ocean data

The European Commission aims to step into the role of the world’s leading ocean monitoring body by bringing together international partners.

Shaken in June by the US administration’s announcement of a $368 million (€322 million) cut to ocean monitoring funds, Brussels has been working intensively to raise funds and recruit allies to fill the void.

At the UN General Assembly in New York, EU Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans Costas Kadis said, “Today, more than 30 countries from across the world joined the global OceanEye Alliance.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen urged the bloc to “expand our network of supporters even further.”

Willem de Moore, deputy director of the marine research network JPI Oceans, explained: “For decades, global ocean observation has relied largely on US funding and infrastructure.”

What NATO represents for defence, the US ocean data tracking effort represents for research.

With Washington pulling back, researchers fear that crucial data series could be lost.

“Long-term records, such as ocean temperature and ocean carbon absorption, are invaluable for understanding how our climate is changing,” De Moore said.

Von der Leyen said the bloc’s new “moonshot” OceanEye plan, devised in response to the US withdrawal, could “make us the leading ocean data provider within a few years.”

The president added that Brussels would provide an additional €100 million. Alongside other contributors, with Canada providing the largest share at €51 million over five years, the first formal funding round raised approximately €211 million.

Combined with the initial €92 million in funding provided by Europe, this sum comes very close to closing the gap left by the US.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said, “The ocean we share cannot be understood or protected by one country alone.”

These funds will be used to finance the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), an ongoing programme that coordinates the long-term monitoring of the state of the world’s oceans. Brussels aims to supply 35% of the UN’s ocean monitoring systems by 2035.

The initiative is also supported by practical considerations, as Europe, the world’s fastest-warming continent, needs pristine oceans more than others do.

“The ocean is so important; it is the main regulator of the climate,” Kadis said.

While Von der Leyen pointed to the ability of ocean monitoring buoys to forecast hurricanes and storms hitting European coastlines, researchers say networks like the Argo array, comprising thousands of buoys, can achieve far more.

“El Nino develops as a result of interactions between the tropical Pacific Ocean and the atmosphere. Ocean observations are vital to track the development of this phenomenon and to help predict its effects on weather patterns worldwide,” De Moore said.

This climate phenomenon appears poised to strike Europe with an intensity unseen in a thousand years.

Specifically, as Canada ratified the UN high seas treaty, Carney pledged that the country would double its contribution to the Argo programme.