Blue Observer

Hoisting the sail, a supply chain podcast

On today’s episode we welcome Amadeus Beaujolin, director of development for Blue Observer.

This low-carbon, maritime science research organization was created in Brest, France in 2021 and aims to better understand and preserve the ocean by collecting data on marine resources and collect specimens for microbiology.

Iris, the boat used by Blue Observer relies on sail propulsion so their research expeditions are 100% emission-free.

Blue Observer is also on a mission for an international program called Argo where they sail to collect data on the temperature and salinity in the ocean.

Before the Argo program was started in 2000 then deployed at a global scale, scientists had only tracked oceanic changes along main maritime roads, which Beaujolin estimates to be only 1% of our oceans.

Partnering with Woods Hole Institution and Ifremer, Blue Observer’s recent mission on the Atlantic has deployed 97 Argo floats. Argo collects now data on more than 50% of our oceans, a massive step for bettering our understanding of the relationship between oceans and climate change.

In addition, there is a sustainable message behind their work: using a sailboat, which is clean and silent, is the most appropriate and ideal tool for studying our oceans and climate change.

Blue Observer is also participating in the One Ocean Summit. For a brief moment, Brest, France will be the center of the oceanographic world, where experts will gather at the summit to attempt to heighten global ambitions on solving maritime issues and come up with plans for efficient ocean governance.