Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative Partner Under The Pole Adds Third Dimension to Marine Protected Areas

The second expedition of Under The Pole’s DEEPLIFE programme, in the Canary Islands, has been a great success. With support from the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative, they have been diving deeper than ever before, helping to establish depth as a significant factor in the conservation of species and an essential criteria to be considered in the creation of a marine national park in Gran Canaria.

Just 100 metres from the bustling sandy beaches of Lanzarote lies a thriving marine animal forest. It has been protected for almost 20 years by the European Union’s ban on deep-sea trawling in the region, making it the most intact marine animal forest Under The Pole have studied to date.

For over 10 years, Under The Pole’s Co-Founders Ghislain Bardout and Emmanuelle Périé-Bardout have been supported by Rolex in their mission to deepen scientific knowledge of the oceans and contribute to their protection. Their latest series of expeditions, DEEPLIFE, explores marine animal forests in the mesophotic zone, the layer of ocean 30 to 200 metres deep.

With the data gathered during their expedition in the Canary Islands, they have shown what an abundance of life exists in these marine animal forests and have been able to advise the Gran Canaria Government in their efforts to establish a marine protected area (MPA) that takes depth into account. This marks a crucial step in the protection of our oceans.

A marine animal forest is an ecosystem composed of sessile animals that form three-dimensional structures and create conditions for life to thrive. The most famous example is the shallow coral reef, in which many corals contain photosynthetic algae called zooxanthellae, which provide the corals with food from sunlight. At more extreme depths, they may consist primarily of organisms, such as sponges, bivalves, octocorals or black corals, that do not rely on sunlight to survive. Like shallow coral reefs, the marine animal forests of the mesophotic zone provide a habitat for thousands of species and, in the words of Bardout, “shelter extremely important biodiversity”.

Under The Pole’s mission in Lanzarote was not only to understand and document the pristine marine animal forest there but to use it as a reference against which they could compare future sites they visit, a forward-facing approach that Rolex looks for in all its Perpetual Planet Initiative partners. They have been using transects to photograph the seabed and taking samples of black corals, water and sediment in order to comprehensively map the ecosystem. This deep understanding of a healthy marine animal forest will serve as a standard for researchers to understand the problems they find in other forests.

“TO PUT IT SIMPLY, WHAT WE ARE DOING IS TRYING TO ANSWER THE QUESTION: HOW MANY TREES DO YOU NEED TO MAKE UP A SELF-SUSTAINING FOREST? THE GOAL FOR DEEPLIFE IS TO PUT THE CONCEPT OF MARINE ANIMAL FORESTS IN THE TEXTBOOK OF ECOLOGY AS SOMETHING CLEAR, ACCEPTED, AND STANDARDIZED.” 
Lorenzo Bramanti, Scientific Co-Director for DEEPLIFE

They take samples from inside and outside the marine animal forest to understand the climatic differences between the two. It’s by not only showing how much life there is in these forests but also how the forests support life, that Under The Pole can better inform protective measures for these habitats.

EXPLORATION FOR THE PLANET 

These deep habitats have remained shrouded in mystery until now due to the risks and challenges involved with diving so deep. Under The Pole team members are some of the few people who dive to these depths, by using cutting-edge “rebreathers”. This breathing system recycles the gas divers breathe and allows them to dive deeper and for longer than was previously thought possible.

Thanks to the experience and knowledge of the Under The Pole team, the first marine animal forest in the Arctic was discovered. This groundbreaking discovery took place during the first leg of their DEEPLIFE expeditions in Svalbard. Through the DEEPLIFE programme, the team has been uncovering ever more about these deepwater ecosystems that “are potentially on all the coastlines of the planet”, according to Périé-Bardout. 

Under The Pole’s efforts to reveal more about this incredible underwater environment embody the Perpetual Planet Initiative’s mission to support exploration for the good of the planet. Through their daring, complex dives in the Canary Islands, the researchers have also identified a new type of amphipod, a shrimp-like class of crustacean, found hidden among the fronds of coral. This discovery shows the importance of “making the invisible visible”, in order to push for the urgent protection of these vulnerable ecosystems. 

“ROLEX HAVE BEEN WORKING WITH US SINCE 2010 AND I CAN SEE THAT THEIR COMMITMENT TO THE PLANET IS NOT JUST A COMMITMENT TO A MISSION, BUT TO WORK TOGETHER LONG TERM. ROLEX HAS SUPPORTED UNDER THE POLE OVER THE YEARS, AND WE HAVE GROWN WITH THEM.” 
Emmanuelle Périé-Bardout, Co-Founder of Under The Pole

PUSHING THE LIMIT 
In the mission’s second month, the team took what they had learned from Lanzarote and explored the rest of the archipelago, with exciting results. The team discovered whip corals anchoring and growing on tiny shells, which had previously been thought to only grow on rocks. They later completed their deepest-ever dive off the coast of El Hierro, down to 200 metres. 

Under The Pole sailed the islands in search of other marine forests and investigated the genetic connectivity between forests to map where populations originate and have the greatest variability. This will guide which areas need to be prioritized for conservation, providing further indispensable information to the government on the creation of their new MPA. 

By exploring these mysterious marine worlds, Under The Pole’s DEEPLIFE expeditions, with the support of the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative, are not only showing the importance of protecting our deep oceans but also how, by raising awareness of marine animal forests, we can increase their protections at depth. 

“IT’S EXCITING, IT’S PROMISING, IT’S INSPIRING. WE DON’T KNOW WHAT WE’RE GOING TO FIND, BUT WE WANT TO GO LOOKING FOR IT.” 
Ghislain Bardout, Co-Founder of Under The Pole 

ABOUT THE PERPETUAL PLANET INITIATIVE 

For nearly a century, Rolex has supported pioneering explorers pushing back the boundaries of human endeavour. The company has moved from championing exploration for the sake of discovery to protecting the planet, committing for the long term to support individuals and organizations using science to understand and devise solutions to today’s environmental challenges. 

This engagement was reinforced with the launch of the Perpetual Planet Initiative in 2019, which initially focused on individuals who contribute to a better world through the Rolex Awards for Enterprise, on safeguarding the oceans as part of an established association with Mission Blue, and on understanding climate change via its longstanding partnership with the National Geographic Society. 

An expanding portfolio of other partnerships embraced by the Perpetual Planet Initiative now includes: Cristina Mittermeier and Paul Nicklen in their work as conservation photographers; Rewilding Argentina and Rewilding Chile, offspring organizations of Tompkins Conservation, which are protecting landscapes in South America; Coral Gardeners, transplanting resilient corals to reefs; Steve Boyes and the Great Spine of Africa series of expeditions, exploring the continent’s major river basins; the Under The Pole expeditions, pushing the boundaries of underwater exploration; the B.I.G expedition to the North Pole in 2023, gathering data on threats to the Arctic; and the Monaco Blue Initiative, bringing together ocean conservation experts. Rolex also supports organizations and initiatives fostering the next generations of explorers, scientists and conservationists through scholarships and grants such as Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society and The Rolex Explorers Club Grants.

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This piece was prepared online by Panuruji Kenta, Publisher, SEVENSEAS Media