Bolstering Seabed Mapping at the 6th Pacific Ocean Mapping Meeting
In November 2024, 90 participants from 27 countries gathered in Nadi, Fiji, for Seabed 2030’s 6th Pacific Ocean Mapping Meeting. The event aimed to exchange knowledge, skills, and ideas, showcase regional seabed mapping efforts, foster collaboration, and accelerate progress towards creating a comprehensive, open-access global seabed map by the end of the decade.
Inspiring keynote addresses from The Nippon Foundation, IHO, IOC-UNESCO, and the Fijian government, alongside an introduction by the Chair of the GEBCO Guiding Committee, set the tone for a dynamic and productive gathering.
This meeting was particularly significant as it coincided with the 41st GEBCO Guiding Committee Meeting, also held in Nadi. This dual event highlighted the Pacific region’s pivotal role within the GEBCO community, emphasising its importance in global ocean mapping initiatives.
Ocean mapping conference
The conference brought together the Pacific seabed mapping community, alongside representatives from other regions.
Kevin Mackay, Head of Seabed 2030’s Pacific Ocean Center, opened the first day with an overview of seabed mapping in the Pacific. Despite ongoing progress, Mackay highlighted significant gaps: “The Pacific Ocean covers over half of Earth’s surface. We need to work together as a community to fill these gaps. From individuals to large corporations – nobody is too big or small to contribute.”
Other speakers echoed the importance of collaboration. Kyle Goodrich (TCarta) presented innovative approaches to coastal seabed mapping using satellite-derived bathymetry and stressed the role of workshops in empowering local communities to produce their own mapping data. “If you can see it, you can map it,” Goodrich said.
Larry Mayer, Co-Head of Seabed 2030’s Arctic and North Pacific Center, discussed upcoming expeditions by the Ocean Exploration Trust and the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute. He outlined ways to get involved, from becoming a shore-based scientist or student intern to applying for educator fellowships or submitting mapping priorities via calls for input.
Several presenters highlighted a key challenge facing Pacific nations – capacity and financial constraints. Tebetiraoi Inatoa from Kiribati’s Ministry of Information, Communications, and Technology described the nation’s nascent hydrographic surveying efforts. “Hydrographic surveying in Kiribati is very new and important, mainly for safe navigation,” Inatoa explained, noting the lack of equipment, software, and trained personnel.
Despite these challenges, Kiribati has mapped four of its 33 islands and donated data to the GEBCO grid.
“We would love to have more hands-on training so that we can contribute more to Seabed 2030,” Inatoa added.
Representatives from other regions, such as Aileen Bohan (INFOMAR), shared valuable insights. Bohan explained how Ireland’s experience as one of the first nations to comprehensively map its marine territory offers transferable lessons for countries worldwide – including those in the Pacific. She highlighted the importance of adapting strategies to local conditions and leveraging innovative technologies, as INFOMAR has done in its twenty-year programme. This approach has not only overcome challenges like unpredictable weather in inshore areas but also led to remarkable discoveries, such as over 500 shipwrecks.
Sharing knowledge at the Ocean Mapping Workshop
A cornerstone of the meeting was the practical one-day workshop designed to equip attendees with the knowledge and skills to explore and use freely available data from the GEBCO bathymetry grid and open-source tools.
Led by Jenny Black (GNS Science), the workshop was purposely designed for those familiar with bathymetric data but have yet to experience working with open data or tools. Attendees were guided through practical exercises. Topics included identifying areas with no direct measurements in existing datasets, leveraging insights from the data to propose priority areas for future mapping initiatives, planning mapping voyages, and, crucially, sharing this information with others.
Participants also collaborated on creating their own maps. With guidance from Catalina García-Jove Contrera (Geociencias Chile/Perú), Jessica Nation (NOAA), and Jenny, Emma Oliver (Papua New Guinea University of Natural Resources and Environment) developed a map for her presentation on integrating ocean mapping into sustainable marine tourism in Ialakua village.
Each attendee left with a memory stick loaded with tutorials, datasets, and project files to continue their learning and share knowledge with colleagues. As this was only the second time the workshop was held (the first being the 5th Regional Mapping Community Hybrid held in Peru), organisers encouraged feedback to refine future workshops, ensuring they address the priorities of those working with bathymetry data.
To hear more about the discussions and insights from the Fiji meeting, listen to our podcast featuring four interviews with participants: 2024 Christmas Special: The 6th Pacific Ocean Mapping Meeting.
Those in the Pacific region interested in crowdsourced bathymetry may be interested in attending the upcoming IHO Crowdsourced Bathymetry Working Group meeting and/or workshop on crowdsource tools. The workshop meeting takes place on March 24-25, 2025, and the meeting on March 26-28, 2025, in Wellington, New Zealand.