The 5 Oceans Connective expedition project will link fascinating stories of life in all five oceans through one powerful, charismatic marine creature, the sea star. The project team will explore underwater on scuba with a focus on photographing sea stars in all the world's oceans within seven months. The 5 Oceans Connective has recently been awarded Explorer's Club flag 240 to carry and fly proudly throughout the expedition project. The search and documentation of the stars will achieve a greater understanding of remote areas underwater, but also lead to telling bigger stories of the ecosystems that the stars influence.
With your donations and support, the imagery will be shared in a variety of outlets worldwide through print articles, video presentations, a variety of lectures in a range of forums, and ultimately a book highlighting the conservation stories in each of the star's unique ecosystems. The project's primary mission is to donate these resources including the books for education and conservation beginning in remote areas such as communities in the High Canadian Arctic.
The expedition project began in July 2024, and will explore several locations beginning with a journey from Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, through the Northwest Passage, to Alaska, USA. It then continues to explore in Hawaii, USA, several areas in Australia, the Antarctic Peninsula, then South Georgia, and the Falkland Islands, finishing in February 2025.
Benthic ecosystems play a critical role in ocean food webs and sea stars are ecosystem engineers that thrive in all five oceans, playing a wide variety of important roles, but whose stories are often cut-short in wide-scale dissemination. The expedition project will open dialogues about all five oceans by making and sharing stunning underwater photo and video stories helping people make a strong connection with the ecosystems sea stars inhabit and other species they interact with and influence.
The sea star plays a vital role in almost every ecosystem it inhabits and is one of the few animals that can be found in every ocean from both polar oceans through temperate waters to the tropics. A goal is to highlight and bring awareness to the connectivity of the world’s five oceans through a common class of animal.