Divers see the ocean firsthand. We return to familiar reefs, notice changes in conditions and encounter marine life that someone on shore may never see. Our dive computers record depth and temperature. Our cameras capture what we find.
Together, those records can help build a fuller picture of the underwater world. But much of that information remains scattered across devices, apps, logbooks and camera rolls.
DSCNT, short for Dive, Science and Conservation Network and formerly known as Scuba Network, is working to connect those pieces. The idea is simple: contributing to ocean science should fit naturally into the diving people already enjoy.
That ambition has now received recognition through endorsement of its citizen-science programme as a Decade Project under the UN Ocean Decade.
Photo: Renata Romeo / Ocean Image Bank
For participation to grow, the experience needs to work for divers.
Logging a dive should be easy. Changing dive computers or training agencies should not mean leaving years of records behind. Photos, memories and useful information should be easier to bring together.
DSCNT already provides manual dive logging, imports from major dive-log file formats, and dive site and organisation discovery. Divers can also record marine debris and other conservation activities, with location-based debris reports sent to participating conservation organisations.
DSCNT brings people, places and dive records together. Divers can connect with one another and explore dive sites worldwide through shared insights. Our mission is to make contributing to ocean science a natural part of that experience.
The aim is to connect across equipment brands, training agencies and logging platforms, giving divers more choice and making their records more useful over time.
Photo: Jordan Robins / Ocean Image Bank
A photograph can record an encounter with marine life. A dive log can provide information about the place, time, depth and temperature of that encounter.
Bringing those records together is the next part of the vision.
DSCNT plans to develop ways to identify marine life in photos and videos and connect those observations with the relevant dive records. This would give biodiversity observations useful context: where and when marine life was recorded, and the physical conditions recorded during the dive.
There is work to do to make those connections reliable. A dive site location is not necessarily the precise position of a photograph. Camera and dive-computer clocks may need aligning. Species identifications and measurements need appropriate checks.
Preparing observations for scientific use means bringing records into consistent formats and preserving their metadata: where, when and how observations were recorded. It also means being clear about uncertainty and working with scientists and data specialists to understand which observations are useful and how they should be shared.
The citizen-science, training and open-data programme within DSCNT has been endorsed as a Decade Project under the UN Ocean Decade, the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, running from 2021 to 2030.
The formal project, Dive, Science and Conservation Network (Project No. 31.10), is attached to the Global Ocean Corps and Conveyor programme.
For DSCNT, it provides a framework for developing the work alongside a wider ocean-science community. The project's responsibilities include collaboration, designing work with the people who will use it, and supporting open and accessible data.
The practical ambition is to help bridge everyday diving and the systems through which ocean observations become discoverable and useful.
Photo: Renata Romeo / Ocean Image Bank
Making this work at scale will take collaboration.
Training agencies, dive equipment and technology companies, logging apps and platforms, and dive organisations connect with divers around the world. We want to work together to unlock the scientific value of records already being collected.
The starting point is dive logs: location coordinates or an identified dive site, timestamps, and depth and temperature profiles where available. Over time, we aim to enrich those records by linking them with divers' photos and videos.
We are inviting partners to help develop these connections, including direct integrations to make contributing easier. As part of that work, we'll need to agree data access, contributor permissions and the requirements of scientific users.
For partners and their divers, this is an opportunity to give something back to the ocean through activity already taking place.
Divers can start today by exploring DSCNT, bringing their dive records together and reporting debris they encounter.
Every dive can help us understand the ocean. Together, we can make it easier to contribute.
Photography: Dani Escayola (schooling fish), Renata Romeo (scuba diver), Jordan Robins (sea turtle) and Renata Romeo (coral reef), via Ocean Image Bank.
