One of the big challenges with marine research is the remote nature of off-shore areas and the large cost involved in visiting and exploring these areas for data collection and science. As a result, marine science and conservation largely need to catch up to that of terrestrial habitats. With Ocean Eye, we want to ensure that marine tourists visiting these areas can contribute to monitoring marine biodiversity while they enjoy their adventures. After all, most marine biodiversity swims in the waters far away from the coast and mobile phone towers.
We’re excited to unveil our new offline feature that allows remote operations and expeditions to use Ocean Eye in real-time at sea. Now you can seamlessly access our platform anytime, anywhere, even in remote areas or offshore settings like liveaboard expeditions.
With this new addition to our platform, you can record your animal sightings and other valuable data effortlessly and simply make the final financial contribution to the projects active in the area you visited, or donate to any global project, once you reach connectivity again. With our offline feature, your contributions can have a big impact, no matter where your adventures take you.
One of the first focus areas of off-shore operations will be the Banda Archipelago in Eastern Indonesia. The area is popular with divers and shore-based and liveaboard expeditions to see diverse marine life including schooling hammerhead sharks. The income generated through Ocean Eye in 2024 will be used to support community waste management programs across the archipelago and the data will also be valuable as it will form a baseline for later nature credit-based finance approach to support the long-term conservation and community wellbeing.
Getting started with Ocean Eye’s offline feature is straightforward. Follow these simple steps to ensure you’re ready to explore without limits:
- Register Your Account: Begin by registering an account in tourist mode while you’re connected to the internet. This initial step will allow your mobile device to download all the necessary data.
- Sync Your Data: Once registered, your mobile app will automatically download the data you need. Ensure you’ve completed this process before heading offline.
- Access Anytime, Anywhere: With your account set up and data synced, you can access the Ocean Eye platform and record your animal sightings wherever you are, even without an internet connection. You can select the sites based on the operator you are visiting the off-shore areas with.
- Complete Donations When Connected: To submit your valuable sightings data and make donations, you will need to connect to the internet. To complete this step select the amount you are willing to pay for your sightings and the project it contributes to and enter your card details.