Fifteen years ago, the University of Victoria’s Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) made history as the world’s first large-scale, interactive, real-time portal into the ocean. On 8 February 2006, a large underwater telecommunications power bar—known as a node—was lowered to the bottom of Saanich Inlet’s coastal fjord off Vancouver Island, enabling a flow of continuous, real-time data to the surface for science, society and industry.

This feat of engineering marked the dawn of the Internet-connected ocean, enabling us to advance our planet’s understanding of...