Three years running: Free Range Ocean endorsed by the UN Ocean Decade

We’re delighted to share that Free Range Ocean has been endorsed as an activity of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development for the third consecutive year.

Better known as the UN Ocean Decade, the global initiative brings together science, policy, industry and society around a shared vision: the science we need for the ocean we want.

For Free Range Ocean, continued endorsement is both brilliant recognition and a useful moment to take stock of just how far an idea about connecting ordinary ocean users with meaningful science has travelled.

And for us at This Chapter, it’s a project particularly close to home.

This Chapter has been a founding supporter of Free Range Ocean, providing financial donations alongside ongoing in-kind PR, communications and publicity support since its beginnings.

So, what is Free Range Ocean?

Free Range Ocean is a UK-registered not-for-profit founded by marine advocates Larissa Clark and Duncan Copeland, who are sailing on a world voyage with their two children aboard their 49-foot yacht FREERANGER. The idea behind it is simple: there are thousands of people already out on, in and around the ocean who could play a meaningful part in helping us understand and protect it.

Sailors cross remote stretches of ocean rarely visited by research vessels. Divers, paddlers, fishers and coastal communities observe changes in the marine environment first-hand. Recreational boats carry people and equipment into places where collecting scientific data can otherwise be difficult and expensive.

Free Range Ocean exists to help turn some of that access, curiosity and enthusiasm into useful participation.

Its mission today is to help more people participate in ocean science and stewardship, connecting people with opportunities through citizen science, collaborations, expeditions and storytelling.

At the heart of the initiative is the Ocean Citizen Science Directory, a free global resource helping people discover credible projects they can participate in, from wildlife observations and water-quality monitoring to biodiversity surveys and offshore sampling.

Alongside the directory, the family’s 49-foot sailing yacht FREERANGER acts as a travelling demonstration and research platform: contributing data, hosting scientists and storytellers, testing lower-impact technologies and showing what can be achieved when privately owned vessels become active participants in marine science.

From an idea to ocean science in action

Free Range Ocean began as a way of bringing together Larissa and Duncan’s combined backgrounds in conservation communications, environmental justice, marine resource management and sailing.

Since setting out across the Pacific, the project has moved firmly from idea into action.

FREERANGER and her crew have contributed to citizen science while crossing thousands of nautical miles of open ocean, including wildlife observations, neuston sampling and environmental DNA collection.

The programme has developed collaborations with researchers and conservation organisations and used expeditions to reach remote areas where additional observations and data can be particularly valuable.

In 2026, its Bluewater Pathways expeditions have included work with Manta Watch Aotearoa New Zealand and Citizens of the Sea, collecting eDNA and helping build knowledge of an under-observed Southwest Pacific corridor used by oceanic manta rays.

UN Ocean Decade itself has highlighted the collaboration as an example of citizen science connecting sailors, scientists and conservation organisations.

Free Range Ocean was also awarded the Ocean Cruising Club’s 2025 Environment Award, recognising the Ocean Citizen Science Directory and its wider work to increase participation in ocean science.

Why This Chapter supports it

There’s an obvious personal connection. This Chapter Director Larissa Clark co-founded Free Range Ocean with Duncan.

But it also reflects much of what This Chapter exists to support: good ideas with the potential to create meaningful impact, brought to life through strong communications, collaboration and a willingness to do things a little differently.

Since the outset, This Chapter has supported Free Range Ocean through both direct financial donations and in-kind communications expertise.

That has included helping shape messaging and strategy, developing stories, producing press materials, handling media outreach and creating opportunities for the science and the people behind it to reach audiences far beyond the deck of FREERANGER.

Because participation depends on people knowing that an opportunity exists.

Citizen science can generate valuable data, but first someone has to inspire a sailor to submit an observation, encourage a boat owner to carry scientific equipment, help a researcher find new collaborators or show a family that contributing to ocean science doesn’t necessarily require a laboratory or a PhD.

That is where good publicity can have a very practical impact.

Taking the story beyond the boat

Free Range Ocean’s story and citizen science mission have now reached audiences through major international, environmental and sailing media.

Some highlights include:

UN Ocean Decade / UNESCO-IOC Meet the Free Range Ocean Family Sailing around the World for Citizen Science Free Range Ocean was selected for a dedicated GenOcean feature by the UN Ocean Decade, exploring how citizen science, education and adventure come together aboard FREERANGER.

Yachting World The ocean citizen science being carried out on yachts A major feature looking at the increasingly valuable contribution sailors can make to marine science, including Free Range Ocean and FREERANGER.

Euronews Why this family decided to set sail and see the world An international feature following Larissa, Duncan, Eden and Skye and the decision to turn a family sailing adventure into a platform for citizen science and ocean conservation.

SAIL Magazine Helping More Sailors Become Citizen Scientists A feature on Free Range Ocean’s work to make marine citizen science more accessible to the cruising community and the development of its free project directory.

Flying Fish Magazine A Journey with Purpose A long-form feature by Larissa and Duncan following their voyage from British Columbia into the Pacific and exploring how citizen science has become embedded in everyday life aboard FREERANGER.

See a fuller list and links to articles and coverage here.

The Ocean Decade has also repeatedly used Free Range Ocean as an example of how ocean users can become active contributors to research, including highlighting the project’s citizen science directory and 2026 manta and eDNA expedition work.

Three years, and plenty still to do

Three consecutive years of UN Ocean Decade endorsement is a milestone worth celebrating.

But one of the things we like most about Free Range Ocean is that its premise remains refreshingly practical.

You don’t need to solve the ocean’s problems single-handedly.

You can make an observation. Carry a piece of equipment. Photograph an animal. Take a water sample. Share what you see. Introduce a researcher to someone who can help. Use your boat, your skills, your journey or your voice to add one more useful piece to a much bigger picture.

That philosophy has guided Free Range Ocean from the beginning.

And as a founding supporter, This Chapter is proud to continue helping more people hear about it, participate in it and see what their own contribution to ocean science could look like.

Find out more about Free Range Ocean and explore the Ocean Citizen Science Directory at freerangeocean.org.