A global alliance of scientists and explorers has begun a race against time to find at least 100,000 new marine species in the next decade before overfishing and global warming drive entire populations to extinction.

The initiative, called Ocean Census, is spearheaded by The Nippon Foundation and UK marine research institute, Nekton, Euronews has reported.

Photo: Ocean Census / Nekton

“We are in a race against time. We have global warming, the ocean is losing oxygen, it’s acidifying and as a result, we are losing species. If that process continues then we will face another major extinction in the ocean and we will lose great swathes of the ‘tree of life’ essentially,” warned Ocean Census science director, Professor Alex Rogers.

The Ocean Census will be the largest programme in history to discover new marine life, embarking on dozens of expeditions across the global ocean.

The launch broadcast can be viewed here. Further information can be found on the Ocean Census website here and Oxford University here.