The Continuous Plankton Recorder Survey - CPR Survey

09/06/2026

"𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 (𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘩) 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘰𝘧 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘢 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦."

Nice article from The Times of Israel demonstrating why the work we do at CPR Survey is important

As blog post writer Vincent James Hooper states:

"𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘴𝘯𝘢𝘱𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘵. 𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥, 𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘢 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦."

From the blog of Vincent James Hooper at The Times of Israel

08/06/2026

Understanding ocean change requires more than snapshots: it requires long-term evidence.

The CPR Survey has been collecting plankton data since 1931, providing one of the world's longest-running marine biological time series.

Today, our data supports research into:

• Marine Heatwaves/ Climate change
• Biodiversity shifts
• Fisheries management
• Harmful algal blooms
• Ocean health indicators

As we mark World Ocean Day, we're proud to continue providing the scientific evidence needed to understand a changing ocean.

20/05/2026

This week we are welcoming 16 zooplankton analysts from around the world to take part in a practical workshop as part of the NMBAQC zooplankton ring test NMBAQC - https://www.nmbaqcs.org/

Held biennially, the ring-test assesses the quality of zooplankton identification through practical tests and workshops.

Encouraging consistency amongst zooplankton analysts, within and between different laboratories, the 2026 Zooplankton Ring Test aims to:

▪️ Improve the quality of marine zooplankton identification;

▪️Assess current skill levels;

▪️ Facilitate taxonomic discussion during the workshop

Interested in this and other courses at the Marine Biological Association? Visit https://mymba.mba.ac.uk/member-homepage/events-calendar.html

19/05/2026

Hello! We've been a bit quiet on here lately... here's just some of the reasons why....

🔬 Analysis
We recruited and have been training five new plankton taxonomists. In a world increasingly focused on AI and automation, we recognise the irreplaceable value of human expertise in plankton identification.
Our newest cohort has been training across both our CPR silks and net-caught plankton samples from contracted work. They’ve also been getting hands-on experience with many stages of running the Survey itself, including silk preparation, sample cutting, and chemical mixing - all of which has required a huge team effort across the organisation.
Alongside training, our analyst team has processed over 4,000 CPR samples and more than 500 net-caught samples over the past year. That’s a lot of plankton!

⚓ Operations
We’ve said some fond farewells to Workshop Manager Lance Gregory and Ship Liaison Officer Dave Wilson, who retired after a combined 40 years of service. Their dedication has been invaluable to the operational side of the Survey -the logistics from preparing and deploying our CPRs to liaising with the volunteer network of ships that enables our global reach.
At the same time, we’re delighted to welcome Alastair McCallien to the team. Alastair joins us as CPR Operations Manager, and we’re excited to have him onboard as we continue the next chapter of the Survey.

🧪 Research
The Marine Biological Association have welcomed Dr Alice Horton, and she'll be working with us on her research to investigate the ingestion of microplastics by zooplankton over time. In addition, we’ve begun a new project with Cefas focused on developing an intelligent workbench to support taxonomists in their work. And despite being busy across all areas of the Survey, our research team still produced 20 peer-reviewed publications over the last year.

🌍 Looking ahead
There’s plenty more happening across the Survey, so if you’d like to hear more about what we’re doing, make sure to check out our news page https://www.cprsurvey.org/about-us/news/ and follow the MBA updates on:
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/marine-biological-association/posts/?feedView=all,
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/thembauk/
Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/thembauk.bsky.social

And let us know - what would you like to hear more about?

Thanks for following our work and supporting long-term ocean monitoring