Although they cover over 70% of our planet, only 0.6% of the world oceans are protected. It is estimated that we only know about 1 in 10 species in the ocean, which is unsurprising given that 90% of the ocean is more than half a mile deep and still remains largely unexplored. How might technology help us discover, understand and protect the vulnerable ecosystems below the waterline?
Marine Conservation is a fast-growing group in the WILDLABS community, capturing a wide variety of tech expertise within its member base, including those working with bioacoustic gear and hydrophones, AUVs and drones, sensors, machine learning, and more. By bringing together WILDLABS members from so many areas of conservation tech, the Marine Conservation group is the perfect place to collaborate on big, complex issues like marine biodiversity monitoring, coral reef health, plastic pollution, and sustainability.
The Marine Conservation group forum is also your place to chat about and solve the challenges unique to using conservation technology in marine environments. Whether you're struggling with deep-sea connectivity or salt water impacting gear longevity, or looking for remote solutions for long-term reef monitoring or biologging data collection, this group wants to help you explore the possibilities!
Check out some of the key marine conservation tech resources, conversations, and virtual events from across the WILDLABS platform:
Tutorials and Talks to Watch on Demand:
- Virtual Meetups: Developing cost-effective, open-source marine megafauna tracking, Jake Levenson
- Tech Tutors: How do I use open source remote sensing data to monitor fishing?, Max Schofield
- Virtual Meetups: eDNA for Aquatic Biodiversity, Alice Valentini
Case Studies, Tools, Research, and News:
- Southern Right Whales & Genome and Satellite Technology, Emma Carroll | eDNA & genomics, satellite data, biodiversity monitoring, climate change
- Building Experts Into AI, Whale Seeker | Machine learning, marine conservation, AI ethics
- Using AIS Data to Investigate the World’s Fishing Ports, Max Schofield | Remote sensing, data visualisation, fishing monitoring
- Small-scale fisheries and tech resources, Dan Steadman | Fishery monitoring, webinars, best practices
- Press Release: BAS Giant Iceberg Mission, British Antarctic Survey | Climate change, AUVs, remote sensing
- Case Study: Thermal imaging, drones, and loggerhead sea turtles, Megan Ossmann | FLIR, Duo Pro R camera, drones
- eDNA sampling to detect invasive snails in shipping ballast water, Gavin Shelton | Invasive species, eDNA, shipping
- Sustainable Fishing Challenges: Fish Catch Monitoring, Dan Steadman | Biologging, sensors, fishing monitoring
Conversations and Questions:
- Satellite tags for marine turtle recommendations | Alasdair Davies
- Calling all hydrophone users! | Team Open Acoustic Devices
- How difficult is it to build a buoy and constrain it in place? | Lindy Knowles
- Methods to detect Derelict Fishing Gear | Nandini Mehrotra
- Drone Mapping for Algal Blooms? | Harold Tay
- Minimising habitat impact of trawling gear | Dan Steadman
- Estimating carbon from 3d models of mangroves | Mark Brown
- Can we detect gillnets in turbid water? | Aurélie Shapiro
- New low cost DIY temperature loggers for reef monitoring | Harold Tay
- Machine learning to detect fish bomb blasts | Jamie Macaulay
Header Image: Emma Vogel
- @alexrood
- | she/her
WILDLABS & World Wide Fund for Nature/ World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
I'm the WILDLABS Communications and Community Management Associate Specialist at WWF-US
- 29 Resources
- 18 Discussions
- 8 Groups
- @TaliaSpeaker
- | She/her
WILDLABS & World Wide Fund for Nature/ World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
I'm the WILDLABS Research Specialist at WWF-US
- 12 Resources
- 55 Discussions
- 24 Groups
- @Frank_van_der_Most
- | He, him
FileMaker developer with a passion for nature.
- 4 Resources
- 76 Discussions
- 7 Groups
- @carlybatist
- | she/her
Science Outreach Lead-Rainforest Connection (RFCx) & Arbimon; Ecoacoustics, biodiversity monitoring, primates, lemurs
- 69 Resources
- 284 Discussions
- 18 Groups
Worked as a mechanical engineer for a defence co, then software engineer, then for a research lab specialising in underwater robotics.
- 1 Resources
- 137 Discussions
- 16 Groups
- @bradnahill
- | he / him
SEE Turtles
Brad has worked in sea turtle conservation & ecotourism for 20+ years. He is the lead writer of Sea Turtle Research and Conservation and co-author of the Worldwide Travel Guide to Sea Turtles. He has won the President's Award from the International Sea Turtle Society.
- 1 Resources
- 4 Discussions
- 6 Groups
Interested in EvoDevo, Bioinformatics, Genomes and Conservations Tools. Your contact for SequenceServer. https://sequenceserver.com/
- 0 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 5 Groups
- @StephODonnell
- | She / Her
WILDLABS & Fauna & Flora
I'm the Executive Manager at WILDLABS.
- 152 Resources
- 665 Discussions
- 30 Groups
WILDLABS & Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)
I hold a PhD in Biological Sciences and specialize in bioacoustics and passive acoustic monitoring of cetaceans in the Argentine Sea and Antarctica. Recently, I've also embraced computing to leverage technology in enhancing our conservation efforts.
- 0 Resources
- 2 Discussions
- 14 Groups
PhD Candidate in autonomous marine biodiversity modelling
- 0 Resources
- 11 Discussions
- 8 Groups
FruitPunch AI
CTO and Founder of FruitPunch AI
- 0 Resources
- 4 Discussions
- 11 Groups
- @stefan_istrate
- | he/him
Machine Learning Researcher & Nature Photographer. Building conservation tech for biodiversity monitoring at Wildlife Insights.
- 0 Resources
- 2 Discussions
- 9 Groups
TagRanger® is a state-of-the-art wildlife finding, monitoring and tracking solution for research, conservation and environmental professionals. With superior configurability for logging data, reporting location and...
23 November 2023
Prospective PhD students with a background in acoustics and an interest in Arctic ecology are encouraged to email Michelle EH Fournet
16 November 2023
Engaging in seagrass conservation research along the Kenyan coast with dynamic approaches that integrate the skills I gained from the WiCT Training as part of my Master’s (by thesis) in Zoology program at Stellenbosch...
14 November 2023
We're delighted to announce that Connected Conservation Foundation and Airbus Foundation have today launched round 2 of the ‘Satellites for Biodiversity Award’.
2 October 2023
The partnership will support the Global South with the development, planning and management of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the high seas.
22 September 2023
Careers
The Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands (CDF) is recruiting a Senior Spatial Ecologist to join our shark research team and strengthen the ongoing long-term research on shark population ecology and...
24 August 2023
The Smithsonian Institution seeks a field- and data-oriented biologist to support marine animal telemetry research and to assist with activities of the Atlantic Cooperative Telemetry (ACT) Network.
24 August 2023
Please join us in celebrating this year’s top #Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge Honorees as chosen by our panel of leading conservation organization judges, and enjoy the story contained within these entries about how our...
4 August 2023
Join us as we count down the WILDLABS community's honorees in the first-ever #Tech4Wildlife Community Choice Awards!
3 August 2023
Article
In 2019, the U.S. Navy initiated a time-lapse camera study to investigate seal presence at select haul-out locations in the lower Chesapeake Bay and coastal waters of Virginia, which are important areas to Navy training...
13 July 2023
In this article from Alasdair Davies, he discusses how marine tracking's unique challenges could impact its potential for sustainability in the future.
12 July 2023
Careers
With a focus on using and combining vessel tracking data, other satellite derived datasets and big data methods and AI generated estimates related to vessel identity and activity, the Fisheries Analyist with Global...
15 June 2023
June 2024
October 2024
May 2024
April 2024
event
Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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If you are considering an external microphone and a towed system, then you would also be in a position to consider a raspberry pi with an external microphone with sbts-aru.... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Marine Conservation, Sustainable Fishing Challenges | 5 months ago | |
Hi Eva, Me and my colleagues run a small NGO based on Yogyakarta in Indonesia, although our projects are spread around the country. One of our active project is working with... |
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Community Base, Biologging, Citizen Science, Climate Change, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Marine Conservation, Remote Sensing & GIS | 5 months ago | |
Dear community,For my MEng thesis at Imperial College London, I am building deep learning model that automatically postprocesses shark... |
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Marine Conservation | 5 months 2 weeks ago | |
My suggestion would probably be a 3D printer and Solder Station with a stock of common components. With those two things you can solve most problems. |
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Community Base, Emerging Tech, Marine Conservation, Protected Area Management Tools, Sensors | 5 months 3 weeks ago | |
Hey Stephanie,Thanks a lot! Sorry I missed your message but of course I can ask our users about their experience with sensors! |
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Biologging, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Marine Conservation, Protected Area Management Tools | 7 months 1 week ago | |
I agree, this would be great for canopy work! |
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Autonomous Camera Traps for Insects, Camera Traps, Emerging Tech, Marine Conservation | 9 months 2 weeks ago | |
Steve Simpson (on behalf of collaborator @MilesParsons) joined our June Variety Hour to give a report from the Wolrd Oceans Passive... |
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Acoustics, Marine Conservation | 10 months 1 week ago | |
During Andrew's talk in our June Variety hour (see here), @dmorris put out a call in the chat that might be relevant to our marine and ai... |
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AI for Conservation, Marine Conservation | 10 months 1 week ago | |
During Andrew's talk, @dmorris put out a call in the chat that might be relevant to folks catching up on the video, so I'll drop it here too: Re: Andrew's fish work... part... |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Drones, Marine Conservation | 10 months 1 week ago | |
Hi Lev,We always need more hands in conservation, from whichever field! Engineering, computer science, AI/ML, ecology, environmental science, communications, statisticians, etc.... |
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Community Base, Data management and processing tools, Marine Conservation, Protected Area Management Tools | 10 months 1 week ago | |
Hello Everyone! My name is Claire and I work as a Field Technician and Veterinarian for Arribada Initiative, check out our upcoming... |
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Marine Conservation, Open Source Solutions | 10 months 1 week ago | |
Hi all! I am a mechanical engineer working in the Aerospace Engineering department at a University, and I have the opportunity to take over... |
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Emerging Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Marine Conservation, Open Source Solutions, Sensors | 10 months 2 weeks ago |
Measurements for species vulnerability to overharvesting
20 May 2024 3:06pm
Consultancy opportunity - Tech for the Blue Economy
19 May 2024 5:23pm
Share Your Work in a Conservation Technology Video
17 May 2024 9:06pm
Fully-retrievable Satellite Tags for Seals?
10 April 2024 4:49pm
7 May 2024 4:04pm
Honestly, no (at least not for wildlife applications).
I suspect for the manufacturing community it's a balancing act, and I am not confident that the manufacturing community has invested a lot of resources or effort to integrate sustainability in their tag designs specifically related to the materials. Reasons that come to mind are material durability and cost (both materials costs and cost to for R&D).
With that said, I think Stuart (below) makes a good suggestion...
14 May 2024 11:26am
We are ready to make efforts on materials, but today there are few solutions available. Today, our partners' R&D efforts are focused on renewable energies and the energy source's capacity. In the absence others solutions, and to take action, we have chosen to develop solutions to recover these tags, some of which are reusable (thanks to Gonio RXG-234 @ThomasGray). To date, thousands of tags have been recovered and some reused. This is the "upcycling" of science! It's a small step, but a great leap forward!
The Inventory User Guide
1 May 2024 12:46pm
Introducing The Inventory!
1 May 2024 12:46pm
2 May 2024 3:08pm
3 May 2024 5:33pm
17 May 2024 7:29am
Post Doctoral Research Assistant at ZSL
9 April 2024 7:03pm
The IUCN-SSC Crocodile Specialist Group (CSG) Conference
9 April 2024 8:21am
WILDLABS AWARDS 2024 - FinDrop: Accessible Acoustic Monitoring for Mesophotic Marine Environments
5 April 2024 10:22pm
7 April 2024 6:07pm
Congrats @MattyD797 and team!!! We do a lot of work in the underwater bioacoustic realm and your tool certainly seems like it would be a great instrumental addition to the community. Look forward to learning more about your project!
Liz
Not so silent spectators: How spectator vessels at international sailing regattas alter marine soundscapes
3 April 2024 4:50pm
Check out how water-based sporting events are impacting underwater noise pollution for marine life.
Rescuers hope AI will help reunite orphaned whale with its family in B.C.
3 April 2024 4:43pm
Finwave, while currently in beta-testing, is being used to help reunite an orphaned whale with its family.
Seventh International Conference on the Effects of Noise on Aquatic Life
3 April 2024 4:34pm
AI for Conservation!
4 March 2024 8:51pm
22 March 2024 12:29pm
Welcome, Have you considered participating in any of the AI for Good challenges. I find it is good way to build a nice portfolio of work. Also contributing to existing open source ML projects such as megadetector or to upstream libraries such as PyTorch is good way to getting hired.
GitHub - alexvmt/awesome-data-and-ml-for-good
Contribute to alexvmt/awesome-data-and-ml-for-good development by creating an account on GitHub.
GitHub
22 March 2024 5:57pm
Thank you for the tip! I'll definitely consider contributing to open source projects and taking part in challenges :)
25 March 2024 5:22am
We could always use more contributors in open source projects. In most open source companies Red Hat, Anaconda, Red Hat and Mozilla, people often ended up getting hired largely due to their contributions on open source projects. These contributions were both technical such as writing computer code and non-technical such as writing documentation and translating tools in their local language.
Add Bio-accoustics support · Issue #441 · microsoft/CameraTraps
Please kindly add support for using pytorch wildlife platform for bio-acoustics to analyses audio recordings of insects, birds and animals including sounds that are inaudible to human ears. Having ...
GitHubHow does behavior influence the use of technology for animal detection ?
22 March 2024 7:49pm
Consultants - Mapping EU’s Marine Protected Areas and analyzing their ecological coherence
19 March 2024 9:39am
Using citizen science image analysis to measure seabird phenology
13 March 2024 9:32pm
Our new paper uses data from the citizen science project, Seabird Watch (hosted on the Zooniverse platform; seabirdwatch.org), to measure seabird phenology. Volunteers marked birds in time-lapse images to investigate arrival and departure to/from the breeding grounds.
Senior Post-doctoral Researcher/Senior Research Associate Opportunity: Movement ecology of Greenland halibut
13 March 2024 2:00pm
IMU and orientation data for marine species
13 March 2024 9:12am
Project71: A Venture Competition for Ocean Regeneration
4 March 2024 10:49am
Species ID Needs?
19 February 2024 7:55pm
23 February 2024 2:10pm
Hello Nadia,
A forensic genetic challenge exists when DNA is destroyed by processes used in manufacturing of derivative animal products, preventing law enforcement in identification of protected species. Alternative methods such as lipid profiles or isotope analysis unique to certain species may be possible but require voucher specimens that may or may not be available and methods that have not been tested or peer reviewed. Examples below:
- derivative products made from endangered shark squalene (eg. Liver oil capsules).
- derivative products made from lion bone and tiger bone (eg. lion bone cake and tiger wine).
This is a law enforcement issue and would like to discuss possible solutions.
1 March 2024 2:27am
Hi Scott, thanks so much for sharing your thoughts here! It would be great to learn more about this, would you be interested in finding a time to chat? Thanks!
Timelapse Infrared Camera Suggestions
14 February 2024 1:54am
24 February 2024 6:18am
I doubt there is an off the shelf solution. Likely you will have to build one. Again I think the FLIR leptons could be of value here.
@krasi_georgiev you have worked with Leptons before ? Is this something you are able to advise on ?
25 February 2024 1:11pm
Ah yes. I didn’t notice that. Indeed it’s “near infrared”, 850nm lighting.
Senior Software Engineer, Skylight
21 February 2024 3:44pm
Workshop: Advances in eDNA for monitoring and ecological studies of marine mammals
14 February 2024 7:25pm
Contrasting strengths of eDNA and electrofishing compared to historic records for assessing fish community diversity and composition
14 February 2024 7:24pm
This study investigated the accuracy of eDNA and electrofishing as alternative methods for assessing diversity.
eDNA Collaborative: Small Grants Application for Marine eDNA Research
12 February 2024 7:45pm
The eDNA Collaborative is partnering with Experiment to offer $80,000 in small grants to support projects that demonstrate novel approaches in marine eDNA collection, analysis, or application.
Submission Deadline: March 30, 2024
Bio-Logging Science Symposium
9 February 2024 3:59pm
Southern African Wildlife Management Association Conference 2024
6 February 2024 12:20pm
Project Planning for Wildlife Conservation
30 January 2024 3:13pm
3 May 2024 8:08pm
Hi Courtney,
I haven't read through all the Wildlife computer options but I have heard of people using Zinc Anode disks as a type of slowly degrading attachment point for tags. We use these also as a backup for other types of releases on Oceanographic moorings etc. It would take some testing to see how the zinc could be attached or be small enough to degrade completely away from the pinniped but still be strong enough to hold a tag.....just some thoughts!
Cheers,
Stuart