The announcement follows OceanQuest’s recent Around Africa Expedition, delivered in collaboration with OceanX. In just four months, the mission mapped 120,036 square kilometers of the seafloor—an area roughly the size of Greece—gathering vital data on deep-sea ecosystems and contributing to Seabed 2030’s mission. The 2025 expedition was an endorsed Action program of the United Nations Ocean Decade framework (2021–2030), recognized for its contributions to capacity building and advancing scientific understanding of the ocean.
The partnership was announced on board OceanXplorer—OceanX’s state-of-the-art research vessel—during the third UN Ocean Conference, currently underway in Nice. Seabed 2030 was launched at the inaugural UN Ocean Conference in New York in 2017 when just six percent of the ocean floor had been mapped to modern standards. That figure has since grown to over a quarter of the entire seabed.
Seabed 2030 is a collaborative project between The Nippon Foundation and the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO), which seeks to accelerate the complete mapping of the world’s ocean by 2030, and to compile all the data into the freely available GEBCO Ocean Map. The Project is formally endorsed as a Decade Action of the UN Ocean Decade. GEBCO is a joint program of the IHO and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) and is the only organization with a mandate to map the entire ocean floor.
OceanQuest is a Saudi Arabian not-for-profit foundation committed to advancing ocean discovery. The organization seeks to inspire a new era of deep-sea exploration and global knowledge-sharing.
“Mapping the entire ocean floor by 2030 is an undertaking that requires collaboration, innovation, and global commitment,” commented Jamie McMichael-Phillips, Project Director of Seabed 2030. “OceanQuest’s recent work is a testament to the progress that can be made when those qualities come together. We are delighted to welcome them to our growing network of partners and look forward to what we can achieve together.”
Martin Visbeck, CEO of OceanQuest, said: “We are proud to partner with Seabed 2030 and contribute our data, expertise, and passion for ocean discovery to a global effort that benefits all of humanity.
“Our recent expedition highlights just how much of the ocean remains unexplored. By joining forces with Seabed 2030, we can ensure that new discoveries are integrated into global science and help shape a more informed, sustainable future for our ocean.”
As part of the partnership, OceanQuest will contribute seafloor mapping data to Seabed 2030, and the organizations will also collaborate on promoting innovative technologies and practices in ocean science. All data collected and shared with the Seabed 2030 project is included in the free and publicly available GEBCO global grid.
