Behind the scenes of oceanography (5/12). Alizé Bouriat is a biology technician at the Deep Environments Laboratory at Ifremer. She uses a magnifying glass to examine sediment samples taken from the abyss in order to extract and identify species of deep-sea benthic macrofauna and meiofauna. This painstaking and meticulous work provides a reliable inventory of biodiversity for research purposes.
Interview by Marguerite Castel – Cover photo : Alizé Bouriat © M. Castel, 2025.
Océans Connectés sets out to meet the people who make oceanography happen. They are laboratory technicians, surveyors, engineers, sailors and meteorologists, and they are all essential to the smooth running of marine research. For this fifth interview, dive into the deep ocean with Alizé Bouriat, a marine biology technician.
Why and how did you become interested in marine biology? What is your background?
I started looking underwater at a very early age because my parents were diving instructors. I spent hours observing marine life with just a mask on, and it was wonderful to see all the little creatures hiding there. After completing my science baccalaureate, I enrolled at the Intechmer school in Cherbourg, which trains senior technicians in a range of fields related to marine environment monitoring and protection, including water quality control, studies of the impact of human activities on the marine environment, coastal protection and development, preservation of marine ecosystems, and pollution control. It was practical, diverse and complementary. My first professional experiences were varied.
I observed the impact of ocean acidification on corals in Australia, then I came to Brittany to conduct ecological monitoring of seagrass beds, sandbanks and maerl in coastal environments. I worked for the IUEM as a technician, collecting species samples on the foreshore and up to a depth of 100 metres by boat. Then, for six months at the Deep Environment Laboratory at Ifremer, I focused on identifying species from images.
I then decided to do voluntary research in biology to characterise the fauna of the seamounts in the Galapagos Marine Reserve.
You have been working on the deep environment for six years. Was that a conscious choice?
I joined Ifremer’s Deep Environment Laboratory after gaining experience in various marine environments, from coastal to deep waters, from the Mediterranean to the Pacific, via the Bay of Biscay and the Iroise Sea.
By choosing the deep ocean, I went straight to the heart of the matter: it is an environment rich in biodiversity, where there is still so much to discover and understand. I wanted to get involved in observing the deep sea and describing its species. It’s fascinating!
The EMSO-Azores observatory is a very interesting place to work, offering a multidisciplinary approach to long-term, high-frequency observation of an ecosystem. To understand how it works, we study the interactions between the seabed, the water and marine species.
IFREMER (2002). Fish (Pachycara Saldanhai) at the top of a hydrothermal vent. Ifremer. https://image.ifremer.fr/data/00544/65574/
What are the main qualities required for this job? In the laboratory, at sea?
You have to be versatile and skilled in several small areas. This job requires precision and rigour, and sorting can be tedious, so you also need to be persistent. You handle different types of equipment, which means you have to be adaptable. Preparing for a sea campaign involves a lot of organisation, logistics and, above all, anticipation, because you have to plan ahead for life on board and make sure you have the right equipment to work in a small on-board laboratory.
A campaign is an exceptional experience. It’s stimulating, and you have to adapt to life at sea. There is a lot of interaction within the team, and we make sure we all understand each other so we can work efficiently, because campaign time is limited. This creates bonds that help us work better together on land afterwards.
In the institute’s laboratory, we are focused on a workbench with a binocular magnifying glass or a microscope. It’s also valuable work that supports researchers in their experiments, which can lead to publications. I also manage the maintenance of the sample collections, which are valuable archives that require a methodical and rigorous approach. I enjoy both parts of my job because they are varied and stimulating.
Of the ten exploration campaigns you have participated in, which ones have left the deepest impression on you? Why?
In 2021, after Covid, I embarked on the IP 21 campaign of the Mining Impact project in the Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ) in the North Pacific. This was part of a European consortium bringing together 32 partners from 10 different countries. The consortium is conducting independent scientific monitoring of manganese nodule collection in this test mining area.
From our ship, we sent a ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) and two corers to a depth of 4,500 metres to collect sediments, megafauna and water samples and carry out a range of physical and chemical measurements before, during and after mining. I prepared the samples on board, sorting the macrofauna in a small laboratory, placing each individual in a tube and preserving it in ethanol. There was also an AUV (underwater drone) to map the seabed. All these operations required significant logistical resources and a lot of time.
A Greenpeace boat was in the area to denounce the mining operations. Their presence highlights the importance of our scientific work for society!
Dugornay Olivier (2009). ROV Victor 6000. Ifremer. https://image.ifremer.fr/data/00572/68406/
What are the challenges of your biodiversity inventory mission in a context of pressure from mining? Can we speed up knowledge acquisition? What techniques make this possible?
In this chain of expertise, my job is to provide reliable data so that researchers can draw relevant conclusions. The challenge is to ensure high-quality observation in order to identify species accurately. But this takes time and is costly. It requires a lot of human resources, and it’s not easy to speed up our work. When half the lab staff is out in the field, things inevitably slow down on the other side.
We recently acquired a new machine, COPAS, which can measure, sort and photograph each individual. It can do in fifteen minutes what takes us a day, which is a significant time saving. But it is complex and temperamental. Artificial intelligence also shows promise for image analysis, but it’s still in its infancy because the computer models need to be fed with data and trained.