This story is a part of the GenOcean campaign — an official Ocean Decade campaign showcasing Decade Actions, collaborating organizations and ocean leaders that focus on youth and citizen science opportunities to help anyone, anywhere be the change the ocean needs.
The ocean covers more than 70% of the planet, and 66% of the entire planet is the deep sea, making it the largest habitat on Earth. However, the abyss of this ecosystem remains one of Earth’s final frontiers, underexplored and still largely misunderstood. Hidden far below the surface — 200 meters and deeper to be exact — an astonishing diversity of life thrives where sunlight never reaches. Understanding these fragile ecosystems is vital to protecting them.
While the deep sea is relatively inaccessible, researchers have found a way to explore it through photos and videos. But there’s a catch: this kind of deep-sea data is too vast to analyze alone.
That’s where Ocean Spy, a citizen science initiative led by IFREMER, the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea, comes in, addressing Ocean Decade Challenge 2: Protect and restore ecosystems and biodiversity.
From science to society: A new way to explore the deep
Ocean Spy is an online platform that invites everyone from curious citizens to ocean enthusiasts to take part in real marine research. Through the platform, participants analyze underwater images captured by deep-sea cameras and observatories, from hydrothermal vents 1,700 meters down to cold-water coral reefs found in submarine canyons.
Each image tells a story. By identifying and counting the creatures seen in these snapshots, users help scientists better understand marine ecosystems and biodiversity, accelerating discoveries that would otherwise take years.
“Ocean Spy is an effective solution for creating reference databases of image annotations, enabling algorithm development for the automated processing of the massive archive of marine imagery that scientists have to tackle,” says Marjolaine Matabos, Founder of Ocean Spy and benthic ecologist.
Turning observation into innovation
The data collected by Ocean Spy volunteers are more than annotations, they’re building blocks for the future of ocean research. The platform’s datasets are helping train machine learning models to automatically identify marine species, a breakthrough that could revolutionize how scientists analyze deep-sea imagery.
In May 2025, the first results from Deep Sea Spy, one of Ocean Spy’s sub-projects, were published in Ecological Informatics. The study established a robust protocol for validating citizen-generated data, offering a model that other participatory science projects can follow.
New sub-projects are regularly added to the platform. The most recent, Sand Spy, proposes to annotate and inventory meiofauna, microscopic animals living in the sand.
Why your eyes matter
Participating in Ocean Spy doesn’t require a lab, a submarine or even a wetsuit — just curiosity and a computer or tablet. Every annotation you make contributes to real science and ocean conservation. By helping researchers better understand how these ecosystems function, you’re also supporting efforts to protect deep-sea habitats from climate change, pollution and overexploitation.
“Engaging citizens in the process of identifying species in images is a win-win partnership: more data is produced for research studies and participants can access and discover environments they would never see in their life,” says Catherine Borremans, Coordinator of Ocean Spy, marine biologist and imagery engineer. “Ocean Spy is an extremely valuable outreach tool that builds bridges between science and society.”
Join the mission
The deep sea may seem distant, but its health is tied to our own. From regulating global climate to storing vast amounts of carbon, these unseen ecosystems sustain life on Earth. By joining Ocean Spy, anyone can help unlock their mysteries — one image at a time.
Become part of the discovery. Start your mission now by setting up your own citizen science account on the Ocean Spy platform!
Read more GenOcean stories on our webpage.
