We recognise that to have the greatest impact on ocean health, we need the best science. To enable cutting edge research, we are developing state-of-the-art facilities in Western Australia to empower the best marine scientists at home and abroad to study and solve intractable threats to ocean health. Our research priorities include understanding ecosystem health and how to reverse the impacts of climate change, plastic pollution and overfishing.

We are collaborating with the world’s leading marine research organisations, universities and scientists to understand human impacts on oceans and what can be done to counter them. Our research facilities enable our partners to extend studies into locations and subjects that were previously out of reach.

The Pangaea Ocean Explorer, a 10,000 nautical mile range, 58-metre blue-water research vessel privately owned by Minderoo Foundation’s founding Forrest family, is being upgraded to support a broad range of oceanographic research. Minderoo Foundation has undertaken its own research programs from both the Pangaea and a fleet of smaller vessels since 2019.

The Minderoo Foundation Exmouth Research Laboratory, another research asset we are developing, will be a state-of-the-art marine research hub for studying tropical coastal marine ecosystems in the heart of the UNESCO-listed Ningaloo Coast World Heritage site.

Our proposed Minderoo Foundation Rottnest Marine Research Centre will provide local and international researchers, university students and school groups with international-standard facilities for conducting field studies of temperate marine ecosystems off the coast of Perth.

Science is urgently needed to prevent a collapse in ocean health. Overfishing, habitat degradation and climate change threaten to devastate the biodiversity, food security and economies of already vulnerable countries. Furthermore, ingestion of plastics by marine life is causing untold damage to ocean ecology and human health.