Broadcast of Nunavut live dive a Canadian first

Two University of Victoria alumni who went on to found the innovative Fish Eye Project are headed for Cambridge Bay, Nunavut next week for a live dive in Arctic waters that will be broadcast simultaneously across the country as part of the Canada C3 expedition.

The Aug. 27 Nunavut dive is being organized by UVic grads Mike Irvine and Maeva Gauthier, in partnership with Canada C3, the UVic-led Ocean Networks Canada, Ocean Wise and Polar Knowledge Canada. It will make history as the first Arctic live dive broadcast coast to coast, with viewers able to watch the dive as it happens via their Facebook feeds and ask divers questions while they’re underwater.

C3 “museum hubs” across Canada—including the Royal BC Museum in Victoria and the Vancouver Aquarium—will also feature the dive as part of their ongoing video coverage of the C3 expedition, the 150-day journey of a Canadian research icebreaker travelling from Toronto to Victoria via the Northwest Passage. Gauthier and Irvine will remain on the icebreaker for two weeks after the dive, posting updates and photos from their travels on the C3 Facebook page, the Fish Eye Project page, and their own social media accounts.

“The Arctic is the next frontier—there is so little we know and it is changing so fast,” says Fish Eye co-founder Maeva Gauthier, who has her masters in marine biology from UVic and returns this fall to begin a doctorate in geography. “The window into this part of our country will give all Canadians the opportunity to connect, learn and interact with the Arctic environment, Inuit culture and cutting-edge research.”

BC viewers can tune in via social media at 11 a.m. on Aug. 27 for the English version of the dive, and at 1 p.m. for a second dive that will be broadcast in French. Follow the C3 Facebook page to get notifications about the dive. The event will be recorded and the educational curriculum will be available on the Canada C3 website for teachers for use during the school year.

This isn’t the first breakthrough event for the non-profit Fish Eye Project, whose mission is to inspire the next generation of ocean stewards. Project co-founder Mike Irvine made waves in 2015 by presenting his UVic masters project from five metres below the surface of the Salish Sea. In 2016, the Fish Eye Project staged the first underwater live broadcast streamed into multiple giant-screen theatres across the country and online to thousands of students.

Note to media: Irvine and Gauthier will be travelling to Cambridge Bay in the days before the dive but are available in person in Victoria on Aug. 17 and 18, and by phone on Aug. 20, 21 and 22.

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