Launched in March 2025, in collaboration with the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) and supported through a voluntary contribution from the Government of Ireland to the ISA Partnership Fund, this campaign reinforces ISA’s enduring commitment to advancing scientific understanding of deep-sea ecosystems in areas beyond national jurisdiction.
The One Thousand Reasons campaign seeks to accelerate the description of new deep-sea species and promote consistency and quality in taxonomic research worldwide. Following a highly competitive call for proposals, ISA received 19 submissions from researchers across its Member States. After a rigorous peer-review process conducted by internal and external experts from WoRMS, six projects were selected based on their scientific merit, feasibility, and contribution to filling critical taxonomic gaps.
The selected projects originate from countries including Brazil, China, Chile, and India, and involve scientists from prestigious institutions such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram, and the Universidad de Valparaíso. Collectively, these projects aim to describe nearly 100 new deep-sea species by the end of 2026, encompassing taxa such as deep-sea glass sponges, hard and soft corals, nematodes, copepods, and polychaetes. Each project will receive funding of USD$20,000 to support fieldwork, essential laboratory analyses, data-processing, and open-access publication of results, ensuring that outputs are freely accessible through both ISA’s DeepData platform and the WoRMS.
The awardees of the One Thousand Reasons 2025 edition are
- Mr. Luis Geraldes Primeiro, National Institute of Amazonian Research, Brazil
- Mr. Eulogio Soto, Universidad de Valparaíso, Chile
- Mr. Yu Xu, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
- Ms. Meiling Ge, First Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, China
- Ms. Chengcheng Shen, Second Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, China
- Ms. Jini Jacob, Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram, India
“On this historic first International Day of the Deep Seabed, we reaffirm our collective responsibility to expand humanity’s knowledge of the deep ocean, our planet’s largest and the least explored ecosystem, and the common heritage of humankind. Initiatives such as the One Thousand Reasons reflect the unique role ISA has in fostering global collaboration in deep-sea science and ensuring that the benefits of this knowledge are shared equitably among all States,” said Leticia Carvalho, Madam Secretary-General of ISA.
The first One Thousand Reasons campaign, launched on the International Day for Biological Diversity in May 2023, led to the description of 90 new deep-sea species from regions under ISA’s purview and other areas beyond national jurisdiction, demonstrating the campaign’s power to mobilize scientific collaboration and accelerate biodiversity discovery.
Building on this success and the momentum of today’s celebration, ISA welcomes and encourages additional voluntary contributions from Member States and partners to advance global marine biodiversity research and to strengthen capacity-building opportunities for scientists from developing States.
The International Day of the Deep Seabed, proclaimed by the ISA Assembly in July 2025, commemorates the visionary speech delivered by Ambassador Arvid Pardo on November 1, 1967, which laid the foundation for the legal regime of the common heritage of humankind. The observance highlights the importance of strengthening deep-sea literacy, promoting scientific cooperation, and accelerating investment in ocean science for the benefit of all humanity.