Setting Sail on Lebuu’s Voyage in Palau

Ocean Exploration Trust is excited and honored to set sail this month on a series of expeditions named Lebuu’s Voyage to explore deep-sea habitats within Euotelel a Klingil a Debel Belau, the Palau National Marine Sanctuary. The interdisciplinary expedition team onboard E/V Nautilus, in partnership with the Palau International Coral Reef Center (PICRC) and NOAA Ocean Exploration, will spend the next three weeks gathering seafloor mapping data and exploring the seafloor with remotely operated vehicles to illuminate deep-sea habitats around Palau. The expedition was named Lebuu’s Voyage by Palauan stakeholders as part of a strategic effort to advance traditional knowledge and best practices in tandem with scientific understanding. 

Less than 30% of Palau’s exclusive economic zone has been mapped to high resolution, most of which is within shallower waters. Yet, deep water regions surrounding Palau host rich and diverse marine resources, including over 225 underwater mountain seamounts and extremely deep ecosystems in the Palau Trench. All data gathered will be provided to the Palauan government and PICRC to support and enable follow-on exploration and management activities to better understand and care for the ocean. This expedition is funded by NOAA Ocean Exploration via the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute as a contribution to the US government commitment made at the 7th Our Oceans Conference to support the mapping of the Sanctuary.