The deep sea remains one of Earth’s last great frontiers, with only 0.001% of this vast ecosystem having been visually explored to date. The Bahamas is home to deep-water basins, trenches, and underwater canyons, some plunging beyond 4,000 meters. Because limited research has been conducted at the country’s extreme depths, this project led by Denley Delaney, founder of Marmoris, presents an opportunity to comprehensively survey The Bahamas’ deep-sea habitats, establish a baseline of benthic biodiversity, and begin monitoring changes over time.

Marmoris is leading a country-wide initiative to survey The Bahamas’ deep-sea habitats. This funding will support the project’s deep-sea exploration within the central Bahamas, including Long Island, Cat Island, and San Salvador, using high-quality imaging and sensor technologies.

This project aims to generate a comprehensive deep-sea dataset for The Bahamas by documenting species presence and abundance, characterizing benthic habitats, and gathering data from depths of up to 3,000 meters. It builds on Marmoris’ ongoing work in the northern Bahamas, which has already yielded nearly 200 hours of deep-sea imagery and environmental data over multiple expeditions.

The findings of this project will equip national agencies with actionable insights to support sustainable ocean management while advancing scientific discovery and local research capacity. The project also includes community and student engagement to expand awareness of deep-sea ecosystems and strengthen local capacity for marine research.

This project will contribute to a more sustainable model for deep-sea science in the region and greater local scientific independence in deep-sea research. It will foster exploration of the unknown, support innovative ocean exploration led from within the Caribbean, and include regional perspectives often missing in global ocean exploration. In doing so, it will help uncover new knowledge of the deep ocean, and generate insights transferable throughout the Caribbean and beyond.