Around Africa 2025

This pioneering expedition, spearheaded by OceanX and OceanQuest, pushed the boundaries of ocean exploration and scientific research along Africa’s coastline with many new discoveries in understudied waters.  

A major accomplishment of this mission was mapping nearly 120,036 square kilometers of the deep-sea ecosystem across Africa including the Mozambique Channel, Agulhas Plateau, the Nola seamounts off Cabo Verde, and the first-ever visual surveys of the deep flanks of Walters Shoal as well as a newly mapped seamount at the southern Madagascar Ridge. 

As volcanic underwater mountains that support rich marine biodiversity due to nutrient upwelling, these seamounts’ rugged peaks provide habitat for deep-sea corals, sponges, and pelagic fish, making them crucial for ecological and geodynamic research. They also offer insight into the region’s tectonic history and climate regulation, highlighting their importance for conservation and ocean science. 

In addition to mapping the seafloor, OceanX scientists and researchers from across the African continent collected and analyzed 470 eDNA samples, conducted 23 ROV dives and 16 submersible dives for combined visual surveys and sampling. The team also continuously sampled aerosols, airborne microbes, and seawater to provide insight into each region’s biodiversity and oceanographic conditions. 

The seamount ecosystems of Africa were identified as both critical and threatened. Each seamount contained sponge and coral gardens, critical to maintaining fisheries biodiversity and providing protection as nursery grounds. In some areas, like Walter’s Shoal, evidence of a slow recovery from trawling in the 1980s demonstrates how these vulnerable habitats can take decades to recover. Detailed bathymetric and habitat maps will provide critical insight on future planning and implementation of marine protections.       

As an endorsed action programme of the United Nations Ocean Decade framework (2021-2030), the OceanX and OceanQuest Around Africa Expedition contributes to capacity building and scientific understanding of the ocean.  

A cornerstone of the Around Africa Expedition is its commitment to fostering the next generation of ocean professionals. Through collaboration with the Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean (POGO) and other organizations, the expedition provided hands-on training for 59 ECOPs and Young Explorers through immersive, at-sea educational programs with practical experience in oceanography, eDNA analysis, and science communication. OceanXplorer portside tours for local students and educators provided interactive programming for young people, sparking enthusiasm and opening their eyes to ocean-positive actions and careers.  

In addition to the trainings for young marine advocates, the Around Africa Expedition collaborated with 69 scientists from 31 countries and 29 institutions who successfully conducted deep-sea dives, geological and biodiversity sampling, and oceanographic research in these key regions around the African coastline. 

Through the scientific exploration of the deep-sea ecosystems of Africa and the hands-on skill building educational programs, this mission simultaneously inspired both current and future marine scientists and helped to safeguard the future of these ecosystems they will inherit. 

Aligned both in scientific and educational aspects, this mission addresses multiple Ocean Decade Challenges: protecting and restoring ecosystems and biodiversity, providing skills, knowledge, technology and participation for all, and restoring humanity’s relationship with the ocean. 

Specifically, this mission's use of high resolution seabed mapping, ROV dives, eDNA sampling, visual surveys, acoustic bathymetry, and the cutting-edge technology of the Grimm Aerosol Sampling System allowed for both large-scale and detailed-oriented data that begins to illustrate the need to protect these previously unexplored seamount ecosystems that provide homes and food sources to sea stars and corals to pelagic fish and sharks. The biodiversity and physical ocean current data collected across these six regions provide insight into the linkages between ocean health and human health as seamounts relate to fisheries sustainability and seismic activity.  

Through this data—acoustic seafloor and water column mapping—and supporting oceanographic measurements wherever possible at locations where no known publicly available data previously existed, our Around Africa Expedition contributes to global mapping initiatives such as Seabed2030, seafloor syntheses, weather forecasting and modeling, and the World Ocean Database global oceanographic database. This mission’s data and the databases it contributes to will support future implementation of MPA and fishing regulations to ensure the sustained function and health of these critical seamount systems. 

Concluding with a call for increased protective measures, the expedition also marked a series of significant diplomatic milestones to make those changes possible. With visits from South Africa's Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Dion George and Minister of Tourism Patricia De Lille, Cabo Verde’s Minister of the Sea Jorge Santos and the President of the Republic of Cabo Verde, José Maria Neves, Around Africa succeeded in both scientific research and establishing the collaborations to make an impact. As Patron of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, President Neves reaffirmed Cabo Verde’s strong commitment and leadership in advancing ocean knowledge, marine conservation, and sustainable blue development. 

The expedition has concluded but the analysis of the collected data continues to inform environmental and ocean management policy, support fisheries regulation and marine conservation, and strengthen Africa’s leadership in ocean science and sustainable development.