Tanga Morris Explores the Depths: Return from 2024 SMARTEX Expedition
The Scientific and technical team pose on the bow of the RRS James Cook on 19 March 2024 during the cruise JC257
The Cook Islands are blessed with an Exclusive Economic Zone of 2 million squared kilometres. Our ocean takes up 99.99% of our country, which makes us an ocean state, a sea of Islands.
Along with many other Pacific countries, our oceans sustain and connects us, henceforth, being part of our identities. Despite our limited knowledge of the deep waters, the growing interest in scientific exploration helps us uncover and understand these depths and its resources.
As a young Cook Islander from the Pacific, what better way to learn science first hand out at sea.
Kia Orana, my name is Tanga Morris (Jnr), a Knowledge Management Officer with the Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Authority (SBMA). I am proud to be a pioneering participant of the 2024 SMARTEX expedition in the Northeast Pacific Ocean.
SMARTEX (Seabed Mining and Resilience to Experiment Impact) aims to provide the critical scientific understanding and evidence-base to reduce risks of deep-sea mining of polymetallic nodules in the central Northeast Pacific Ocean. The project aims to better understand the ecosystem in the Pacific abyss and how the different components interact and interconnects.
The focus of the work took place in the Northeast Pacific Ocean of the Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ) in an allocated area called UK-1 for which the United Kingdom is the Sponsoring State of a seabed mining exploration. The main objectives of the cruise are as follows:
Physical oceanography, measuring deep water with CTD data and long moorings.
seafloor geophysical survey, multibeam data and high resolution multibeam and side scan, and
studying the spatial scaling of biodiversity and natural geochemical drivers of biodiversity, food-webs, and ecosystem functions.
The following organisations worked together as a collective in achieving the above scientific objectives; Natural History Museum (NHM), National Oceanographic Centre (NOC), Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), Norwegian Research Centre AS (NORCE), Heriot Watt University, Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Authority (SBMA) and University of Liverpool.
Tanga Morris participating in a wide variety of tasks on JC257
SMARTEX has served as a platform for knowledge sharing and collaboration among scientists from diverse professional backgrounds, significantly enhancing my understanding of the deep sea. Through this experience, I have acquired a range of hard and soft skills essential for conducting deep-sea research at sea.
As Pacific peoples, we consider ourselves proud voyagers and stewards of our ocean, ensuring that we proceed with caution to enable both conservation and sustainable use of our marine resources. With the increasing interest of ocean science, what better way to capacity build by experiencing hands on science out at sea.
On behalf of SBMA and the Cook Islands, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to Chief Scientist Dr. Adrian Glover, Co-chief Scientist Dr. Dan Jones, the respective members of the science team, technical crew, and vessel crew for giving me the opportunity to make dreams a reality. As a young, female Cook Islander from the Pacific, bridging the gap between science and at-sea experiences, I feel incredibly fortunate. I will bring this knowledge back to my country and strive to inspire others.
Meitaki ranunui, te Atua, te Aroa.
Source by: Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Authority