About
A conservation initiative, built by divers.
DiveSight Institute is the conservation and citizen-science initiative of the DiveSight project. Our aim is simple: make the everyday knowledge of divers count toward protecting the ocean.
Diving puts millions of people face to face with the state of the ocean every year. They notice bleaching before the news does, spot a species returning to a reef, watch a wreck slowly become a habitat. That knowledge is real — and mostly lost. The Institute exists to keep it.
We build tools and partnerships that turn recreational diving into a growing record of marine life, and we design surveys that route those observations toward the scientists, managers and local guardians who can act on them. We'd rather strengthen the conservation ecosystem than compete with it.
Questions
How it works, plainly.
How does the Institute relate to the DiveSight app?
The DiveSight app helps people find and plan good diving. DiveSight Institute is the conservation and citizen-science side of the same project — focused on what dives can give back: species records, purpose-built surveys, and site protection. They share an identity, but the Institute's work is mission-driven, not commercial.
Do I need to be a scientist to take part?
Not at all. If you can log what you saw on a dive, you're already contributing. Careful validation and clear labeling let every observation count for exactly what it is — so there's no bar to clear before you can help, and the app can point you toward recognized survey methods like REEF's whenever you want to go deeper.
Is DiveSight Institute a registered nonprofit?
It's an emerging initiative. We're building its programs and governance now and are exploring formal nonprofit registration. Until that's complete, we don't solicit tax-deductible donations — the most valuable contributions today are data, partnerships, using our tools, and spreading the word about them.
How will it be governed?
A conservation initiative earns trust through independent oversight. Our intent is a board that includes qualified, unaffiliated voices from marine science and conservation — not a founder-and-family arrangement — so decisions about data and priorities are accountable beyond any one person.
What happens to the data divers contribute?
It goes straight to work for the ocean. The species you log can feed trusted public records like iNaturalist and REEF's Volunteer Fish Survey Project, and survey observations reach the conservation and research partners each survey is built to help. We're thoughtful about how it's shared — protecting divers' privacy and sensitive details like the precise locations of vulnerable species — so contributing always helps the ocean, never exposes it.
Join the effort
Your next dive can be data for the ocean.
Log what you see and help build a living record of ocean life that informs real conservation — one dive at a time.