The mission of Innoceana’s Marine Conservation and Education Center (MCEC) in Costa Rica is to rewild the ocean with innovation and education. The MCEC acts as a hub for conservation, research and educational activities in the country’s Southern Pacific region. The professional team of instructors, biologists and engineers lead marine conservation expeditions and trainings, as well as single-day experiences. Participants enjoy the natural surroundings while learning about marine conservation, helping to collect essential data and supporting local projects such as coral 3D mapping, water quality studies, species photoidentification, invertebrates database, among others.
Innoceana’s MCEC in Costa Rica recently became part of a U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) program called the Phytoplankton Monitoring Network (PMN), which is designed to study microscopic algae. With the recently donated microscope, the MCEC’s molecular and marine biologists analyze different water samples looking for various species of phytoplankton following NOAA’s protocols.
The data collected from the study of these water samples are crucial for understanding blooms, red tides and identifying the presence of pesticides or other chemicals in the ocean.
If you’d like to support Innoceana’s marine conservation efforts in Costa Rica, you can do it here: https://innoceana.org/donate/.