UNITED NATIONS OCEAN CONFERENCE 2025 – NICE, FRANCE – Tuesday, 10th June, 2025
Minerva Bunkering, a leading global provider of marine fuel logistics, is proud to support the launch of Citizen Sea, an innovative citizen science app developed by HUB Ocean in partnership with Mercuria. The app empowers seafarers, coastal communities, and ocean enthusiasts to contribute vital data to help close critical gaps in ocean health insights.
With its fleet of refueling vessels operating across the globe, Minerva Bunkering is uniquely positioned to play a key role in this initiative. Minerva’s seafarers, who spend their lives working on the ocean, are passionate about protecting the seas they depend on. Citizen Sea provides them—and others who spend time on or near the ocean—with a practical way to make a meaningful contribution to sustainability.
Why Minerva Bunkering is Involved
Minerva Bunkering’s fleet of refueling vessels operates in oceans across the globe, and its crews are uniquely positioned to observe marine wildlife and pollution on a regular basis. By using Citizen Sea, Minerva’s seafarers can log sightings of:
- Marine wildlife – such as whales, dolphins, sea birds, fish, or sharks.
- Marine pollution – such as debris, oil spills, plastics, old nets, or submerged containers.
Tyler Baron, CEO of Minerva Bunkering, shares: “Our crews are deeply connected to the oceans they work on every day. They see firsthand the beauty of marine ecosystems, but also the challenges they face—from pollution to declining biodiversity. Citizen Sea is a powerful tool that allows our seafarers to contribute to the sustainability of the oceans they care so much about. By logging their observations of marine wildlife and pollution, they’re helping to build a vital dataset that can drive meaningful change for ocean health. We’re proud to support this initiative and encourage all seafarers to take part in this important effort.”
How Citizen Sea Works
The Citizen Sea app enables users to photograph, upload, and log sightings of marine wildlife or marine pollution directly from their phones.
Kimberly Mathisen, CEO of HUB Ocean, explains: “We are calling on you who work, spend time on, or live by the sea to be our eyes on the ocean. Our aim is to make it possible for anyone to use Citizen Sea to help us close some of our data gaps. Good quality data and insights are essential for planning and managing our seas better.
This new app empowers citizen scientists everywhere to use the phone in their hand to make a practical and vital contribution to help heal the ocean.”
The data collected via Citizen Sea will enrich the HUB Ocean platform, which is used by experts across policy, academia, and industry to improve ocean health.
Download Citizen Sea today: https://bit.ly/citizen-sea
About Minerva Bunkering
Minerva Bunkering is a leading international provider of marine fuel supply and related service solutions to ships in port and at sea. The company procures product in bulk from diverse sources and delivers to over 600 customers across all major commercial shipping sectors, including container ships, dry bulk carriers, cruise ships, tankers, and ferries.
Minerva is a 100% owned subsidiary of Mercuria Energy Group, one of the largest privately-held energy and commodities companies in the world.
About HUB Ocean
Citizen Sea has been created by HUB Ocean—an independent nonprofit collaboration hub for ocean data based in Norway.
HUB Ocean manages a unique open-source data hub, delivering rich ocean insights and a cutting-edge geospatial platform, which is used by experts, scientists, and organizations to plan and manage our oceans better and ultimately improve ocean health.
Learn more about HUB Ocean: https://www.hubocean.earth/
About Citizen Sea
Citizen Sea is a new mobile app that enables anyone out at sea or along the coast to contribute marine sightings directly from their phones.
The global shipping fleet employs over 1.8 million people, and 15% of the world’s population lives by the coast. This is a huge untapped source of data gatherers who can be our eyes and ears on the ocean—citizen scientists for the sea.
Minerva Bunkering is proud to support this initiative and encourages all seafarers and ocean enthusiasts to download the app and join the movement for healthier seas.