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Every year, Salish Sea residents eagerly await the return of the southern resident killer whales to their Summer feeding grounds. In late June, the orca community’s three extended family groups or pods were spotted off the coast of Vancouver Island. This year a total of 73 orcas—made up of J, K, and L pods—have returned to a quieter ocean due to the COVID-19 shutdown, and recent sightings suggest that a member of J pod is pregnant. To find out more about these endangered social mammals and their future, we spoke to Ocean Networks Canada’s junior staff Scientist Jasper Kanes, who specializes in passive acoustics research methods to study at-risk cetaceans.

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The New Digital Research Infrastructure Organization (NDRIO) and Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) have signed an MOU that will enhance the promotion of science for the public good, providing valuable open-source, research-driven data for Canadian and international researchers alike.

A team of international researchers plan to turn the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into rock by permanently injecting it beneath the Earth’s ocean floor through an ambitious, new research partnership announced today by the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS) at the University of Victoria. The $1.5 million, four-year PICS Theme Partnership entitled “Solid Carbon: A Climate Mitigation Partnership Advancing Stable Negative Emissions” brings together researchers from Canada, the United States and Europe. The team aims to combine state-of-the-art technologies in a way that has never been conceived until now, to deliver safe and reliable carbon dioxide (CO2) removal.

Tanner crabs observed feasting at a bubbling methane seep on the deep seafloor in the northeast Pacific Ocean may be developing a way to adapt to climate change, says a marine ecologist from the University of Victoria whose work with Oregon-based researchers establishes for the first time that a commercially-harvested species is feeding on the energy source.

On 11 December 2018, Ocean Networks Canada and the University of Victoria hosted a talk and reception at the Embassy of Canada in Washington, DC. Ocean science leaders from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Ocean Observing Initiative, Esri and ONC discussed big data delivery for climate solutions, cross-border sharing of ocean and climate data, and defining approaches for sustained partnerships.

Seamounts are underwater mountains that are home to an abundance of marine species, from cold-water corals and sponges to Bocaccio and killer whales. These ecosystems are important to maintaining biodiversity in the ocean and contribute greatly to its health. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Haida Nation, Oceana Canada and Ocean Networks Canada are working together to further ocean research and help protect seamounts in the Pacific Ocean. The Northeast Pacific Seamounts Expedition, taking place from July 5 to 21, 2018, will explore three seamounts in the Northeast Pacific Ocean: SGaan Kinghlas-Bowie, Dellwood and Explorer.

On May 7, 2018, Ocean Networks Canada and EMSO ERIC signed an important new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Victoria, BC. The MoU formalises and further strengthens the already close collaborative relationship between ONC and EMSO ERIC at both the strategic and working level.

Marine life flourishes in the deep fjords and narrow inlets off the central coast of British Columbia. However, underwater research in this area has been extremely limited, until now. In March 2018, an exciting collaboration brought together a variety of perspectives to expand our understanding of the unique coastal ecosystem within the area known as the Great Bear Rainforest.
Ocean Networks Canada joined Oceana Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Central Coast Indigenous Resource and the Heiltsuk and Kitasoo/Xai’Xais Nations on a weeklong expedition aboard CCGS Vector to explore and study this area of cultural, biological, and ecological importance.

Members of the media are invited to an international workshop led by Ocean Networks Canada, an initiative of the University of Victoria, where scientists will discuss the importance of obtaining accurate and reliable data from ocean-observing systems for ocean acidification. Ocean acidification occurs when atmospheric carbon dioxide dissolves in the ocean, making seawater more acidic. A more acidic ocean has a detrimental impact on marine animals that form calcium carbonate shells, like juvenile oysters, clams and mussels. In a more acidic ocean, shell growth can be stunted and survival rates decreased.

Ocean Networks Canada’s international profile has been given a boost—potentially reaching billions of people across the planet—as ONC video and audio highlights are featured as part of “Blue Planet II,” the British Broadcasting Corp.’s new natural history TV series, and in the lead-up to the show’s start on Sunday.

On Wednesday, 11 October 2017, the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, announced $7.2 million in new science funding for Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) to support technology and data that monitors our country’s ocean and coastlines, including endangered killer whale habitat. This match funding builds on ONC’s core funding provided through the Canada Foundation for Innovation.

A five-year, $46.6 million investment from the Canadian government—through the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI)—will ensure that Ocean Networks Canada continues to lead the world in ocean observatory science and technology.

Effective July 4, Naval Commander Brigitte Boutin will lead the organization’s strategic financial operations plan as it delivers ocean science and big data to Canada and the world.

​Earthquake early warning receives a big boost from the Government of British Columbia.