Acknowledgments

This assessment and its report would not have been possible without many passionate people contributing to its evolution and preparation.

The Spark
First, we are greatly indebted to the My Deep Sea, My Backyard project team who ignited the spark that grew into this assessment: Randi Rotjan, Brian Kennedy, Gerard Alleng, Rafael Anta, Eriatera Aram, Thera Edwards, Marcia Creary-Ford, Kristina M. Gjerde, Judith Gobin, Laura-Ashley Henderson, Alexis Hope, Raquel Khan Ali, Sebastian Lanser, Keith Lewis, Hannah Lochan, Scott MacLean, Nabuti Mwemwenikarawa, Brennan Phillips, Betarim Rimon, Stacey-Ann Sarjursingh, Tooreka Teemari, Aranteiti Tekiau, Alan Turchik, Henri Vallès, and Kareati Waysang.

We are also grateful to the MIT Media Lab Open Ocean and Ocean Discovery League teams for pitching in on editing, programming, and other support, particularly Jenni Chow and NovySan. 

Survey Development
Thanks to those who reviewed and improved the survey, in particular, Peter Girguis and Stephanie Chen.

We want to thank our translators who significantly increased the accessibility of the online survey: Slack Volunteers Mariana Primazzi (Portuguese) and Carlos Valdez (Spanish), and co-author Maud C. Quinzin (French). Thanks also to Suleiman Al-Sibani, who did a survey translation in Arabic, which we were not able to use for technical reasons but will do so for the next assessment. 

Survey Distribution
Sincere thanks to those who helped us reach marine professionals worldwide, particularly Sheena Talma, the National Geographic Society, the Deep Ocean Observing System, and Challenger 150.

Background Research
Many thanks to Angela Daniels, Deepti Rohatgi, and the 2021 Slack Intern Volunteers who dedicated time to conduct the preliminary phase of the manual research: Abdiaziz Mohamoud, Aileen Bautista, Almitra Dabholkar, Amrita Venkatraman, Angela Juang, Ankit Agrawal, Ann Paul, Britney Zhang, Catherine Yu, CC Chelladurai, Cyndi Wheeler, David Frankel, Ethan Zimbelman, Fikrie Yunaz, Gabriella Schwartz, George Xu, Helen Fang, Jay Cain, Jessie Sui, Ji Kim, Kaili Liang, Keeley Hammond, Kelab Zewedu, Kristine Johnson, Lida Wang, Lydia Ma, Melody Lee, Michelle Qin, Mika Isayama, Nicholas Lin, Nick Van Hoogenstyn, Nikki Brandt, Niklas Mannhardt, Raashi Dewan, Ran Yoo, Ryan Tran, Samara Wondimu, Santosh Mahendra, Savita Balaji, Shay DeWael, Sid Bendre, Siddhi Chordia, Sonali Loomba, Stephan Zuercher, Tejas Mehta, and Wei Tai Ting.

Thanks also to the Deep Ocean Observing System, particularly Dawn Wright, Lisa Levin, and Leslie Smith, for their contributions to global depth zone considerations. 

Report Preparation
Thanks to the PubPub team for making improvements to the online publishing platform to make this report more accessible.

We thank the Ocean Image Bank for providing us the stunning blackwater photos that remind us with every look why we need to continue exploring and protecting the deep sea. In particular, special thanks to photographers particularly photographers Richard Barnden, Mike Bartick, Liang Fu, Simon Hilbourne, Connor Holland, Tracey Jennings, Hannes Klostermann, Gregory Piper, and Ron Watkins.

Support & Endorsement
Sincere thanks to our assessment funders, Slack for Good and Oceankind, who recognized the importance of this work and decided to support it. 

We thank the UN Ocean Decade for Sustainable Development for endorsing the assessment survey and report as an Ocean Decade Activity. 

Global Deep-Sea Community
And finally, we give special thanks to all 360 respondents from around the world for taking the time to complete the survey and sharing it with their networks. Your voices are the foundation of this work.