Communicating about the ocean: it really is that deep

CommOCEAN has become one of the leading conferences for ocean science communicators, gathering professionals from across disciplines to exchange ideas, challenge assumptions and explore new communication approaches. The conference offered JPI Oceans' Communication Officers the valuable chance to learn from peers and gather new insights to strengthen our communications work, as well as the opportunity to showcase JPI Oceans' experience.

In the intervention entitled "Navigating the In-Between: Ocean Science, Policy, and the Art of Communicating Both", our Communication Officer Isabel Caballero presented the realities of communicating at the science-policy interface. Drawing on the experience of JPI Oceans, she reflected on the challenge of maintaining two standards simultaneously: scientific credibility and policy relevance. Using the organisation's engagement at the Third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3) in Nice as an example, she illustrated how JPI Oceans communication is often required to be scientifically rigorous and politically responsive within the same few days, and sometimes within the same few hours. Rather than viewing this tension as a compromise to be made, Isabel argued that it represents a communication discipline in its own right, one that requires practitioners to navigate the particularities of both science communication and policy communication without sacrificing either.

The opening panel of the conference expanded on a similar theme. Speaking in a personal capacity, JPI Oceans Chair Peter Haugan reflected on a career divided almost equally between marine science and policy. He argued that the disconnect between science and society identified decades ago remains unresolved. To bridge that gap, he highlighted three shifts that, according to the group of scientists who served as advisors during UNOC3, ocean science still needs to make in order to be heard: building strategic alliances, adapting communication to different audiences, and recognising the personal and political dimensions that inevitably shape how science is received and acted upon.

The importance of storytelling surfaced repeatedly throughout the programme, both as a communication technique and as a way of making sense of complex issues. Long before reports, policy briefs and social media campaigns, stories were how knowledge travelled between generations and communities, and there is something to learn from that. We often focus on what information needs to be shared, but storytelling reminds us to consider what people need to understand and connect with.

Across two days of workshops and keynotes, participants explored topics ranging from ocean literacy and audience engagement to artistic approaches to ocean science communication, spanning unconventional poster formats, board games and even knitting. However, communication is not simply a colourful and creative add-on to a project. It is strategic work that should be integrated from the very beginning, helping to shape research processes, stakeholder engagement and ultimately impact, rather than being reserved for the final dissemination stage.

Award-winning filmmaker James Honeyborne, executive producer of Blue Planet II and Our Oceans, arrived at a similar conclusion from the opposite direction. He described how scientists are involved throughout the filmmaking process of these documentaries, rather than being brought in at the end simply to verify facts. In some cases, discoveries were made during filming and they fed back into scientific research itself, illustrating that communication is not merely a vehicle for science, but can become part of the scientific process. Honeyborne challenged the notion that uncertainty weakens a narrative. On the contrary, he argued that openly acknowledging uncertainty invites audiences into the scientific process and builds trust: whether in documentaries, scientific publications or policy briefs, complexity explained honestly often proves more persuasive than artificial certainty.

This theme also emerged in discussions around misinformation and science denial. While participants differed on the best ways to respond to this challenge, participants agreed broadly that credibility must be earned continuously and cannot be assumed. Other sessions addressed the challenge of communicating rapidly evolving areas of research such as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). For JPI Oceans, this was particularly relevant given our ongoing collaboration with JPI Climate to develop a review report of current knowledge on potential AMOC changes and their associated impacts.

Questions of inclusion, participation and knowledge co-creation formed another important thread throughout the conference. In her keynote address, Dorothy Dankel, Senior Research Scientist at SINTEF Ocean, reminded participants that every research process involves two tables: the scientific table with rows and columns, and the table around which society gathers. Drawing on the concept of post-normal science, where facts may be uncertain, values contested and decisions urgent, she asked “Who is missing from your model, from your scientific table?” and she challenged the audience to pull up a chair at their table, the one of the second kind.

A related perspective emerged during a session on Etuaptmumk, the Mi'kmaw word for "Two-Eyed Seeing", a guiding principle that calls for viewing the world through both Indigenous and Western scientific ways of knowing. Further sessions on human rights at sea, combined with the remarkable diversity of countries represented at CommOCEAN, reinforced the message that ocean governance is shaped by those whose voices are included, but also by those whose perspectives remain absent.

If there was one common element to the many conversations in Bergen, it was that effective ocean communication ultimately comes down to people. People willing to navigate the unknown, bridge disciplines and uphold important conversations about trust and diversity for a sustainable and equitable ocean. Perhaps that is why Haakon Vatle, CEO of the Statsraad Lehmkuhl Foundation, focused as much on the people behind the science as on the science itself during his keynote. He spoke about scientific collaboration aboard the Statsraad Lehmkuhl, but also about sleeping in hammocks, singing sea shanties and learning to work together despite different backgrounds and perspectives. It was a reminder that meaningful change rarely happens through facts alone and it is often kick-started by people finding a shared purpose. 

CommOCEAN reminded us that ocean communication requires relationships, trust, values, creativity and inclusion, as well as the ability to co-create with science a clear message, while remaining honest about uncertainty and complexity. Haakon captured this beautifully in the final moments of his presentation, showing a photograph of Statsraad Lehmkuhl, the ocean, and his daughter. These are all things that will outlive him, he reflected, yet they all depend on people choosing to care for them today.

CommOCEAN 2026 had us reflect on how we communicate ocean science and got us back in touch on why we chose to do it in the first place. Because communicating about the ocean really is that deep.

Held in Bergen, Norway, on 2-3 September 2026, CommOCEAN was organised by the European Marine Board Communications Panel, in collaboration with and hosted by the University of Bergen and the Norwegian Marine University Consortium. Under the theme "Communication for and within the UN Ocean Decade: Setting Sail for 2030", the conference had more than 150 participants in attendance, and it offered an opportunity to take stock of where ocean communication stands as the UN Ocean Decade enters its final stretch and we prepare for the upcoming Ocean Decade Conference in Rio in 2027.

The photos in this article are credited to Eivind Sennset.