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
- @DanielHugelmann
- | He / Him
Hi, I'm the co-founder of OceanLabs Seychelles. We design and build environmental and marine remote sensing devices for conservation NGOs. As an engineer and avid diver, with a love for the environment, connecting conservation and technology was the natural thing to do!
- 0 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 12 Groups
- @chmod000
- | he/they
I build sensing and perceiving hardware that is designed to address issues that matter to me. That ranges from assistive technologies, to conservation ecology, and connecting individuals with place and each other.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 7 Groups
- @DBayley
- | He/him
Fauna & Flora & University College London (UCL)
I'm a tropical marine ecologist, specialising in coral reefs, MPAs, and blue carbon. Within conservation technology my focus has been around developing underwater imaging techniques, primarily to assist coral reef monitoring
- 0 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 5 Groups
- @nicoboenisch
- | He / him / his
Co-Director FOS Europe, Conservation Strategist and Technical Advisor to the Miradi Software Team, Improving Conservation through Adaptive Management and Evidence-based Learning
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 8 Groups
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
I study movement, behaviour and/or physiology using combine various sensors and tracking techniques. My focus is marine predators. However, my interest extends through the entire food web in all types of environment.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 7 Groups
Technology for Wildlife Foundation
- 0 Resources
- 3 Discussions
- 5 Groups
Siren Project Executive @ African Marine Mammal Conservation Organization (AMMCO). 20+ year in technology. Polyglot. Divemaster.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 3 Groups
Co-founder and CEO of Goldfish.io
- 0 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 6 Groups
- @gob1thaasan
- | he/him
Gobithaasan started his career as a lecturer in 2009 and was promoted as an associate professor in 2015. His research current focus at Universiti Sains Malaysia is twofold; Topological Data Analysis and Machine Learning.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 4 Groups
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
I am a postdoctoral researcher using animal tracking technologies to investigate how chemical pollution influences fish movement and behaviour.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 7 Groups
- @Xavier_Mouy
- | he/him
I build software and hardware tools to help the analysis or the collection of passive acoustic data.
- 1 Resources
- 6 Discussions
- 6 Groups
A Marine Conservationist based in Malaysia
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 5 Groups
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
Cefas is seeking a Director to lead the development and application of innovative, data-driven approaches for marine and freshwater monitoring efforts.
2 June 2023
In this Conservation Tech Showcase case study from Ashored Innovations, we’ll learn how conservation technology is transforming fishing techniques to safeguard marine wildlife.
1 June 2023
This Data4Good project has led to immediate conservation impacts for many islands and many different resources. We hope that this project will inspire others to use data science and technology to solve the conservation...
17 May 2023
In this Conservation Tech Showcase case study from Happywhale, you’ll learn about how AI tools are helping researchers and citizen scientists identify and protect humpback whales.
16 May 2023
Are you using or creating tech to protect wildlife? We want to support your organization through two $15,000 grants!
15 May 2023
How can you use tools like photo quadrats, AI, and MERMAID together? We share an example overview of how WCS Staff in Mozambique use image classification tools with MERMAID to integrate photo quadrat and other coral...
12 May 2023
Welcome to our new Conservation Tech Showcase, a series highlighting innovative and impactful projects from outstanding organizations around the world.
11 May 2023
Global Fishing Watch are looking for a data scientist to join the Research and Innovation team. Help us tackle geospatial data fusion problems to produce the most complete picture of human activity at sea.
19 April 2023
If you've been waiting to try a HydroMoth, join the GroupGets campaign before limited supplies run out
17 April 2023
Careers
We create Precision Fishing technology to help commercial fishermen catch their target species more consistently & sustainably.
5 April 2023
Skylight is looking for someone who loves our ocean, has a deep interest in apply cutting-edge tech to protect it, is proficient in English and Spanish, and has a background in partnership building and training.
10 March 2023
July 2024
August 2024
October 2024
June 2025
November 2023
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Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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Hello all! There is an upcoming seminar on turtles in Yonkers, NY on Saturday, March 25th. If you care about turtles, you... |
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Marine Conservation | 7 years 2 months ago | |
We are starting to deploy buoys to demarcate no entry, no-take zones in a recently declared Marine Fisheries Management Area in Cambodia,... |
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Marine Conservation | 7 years 6 months ago | |
Hi Steph, Sorry for the late reply as I have other commitments currently. In our case, we are using facial scales pattern because we found out that each individual... |
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Marine Conservation | 7 years 8 months ago | |
This news made me so happy this morning.. a fish chorus, what a delightful thought! And you can even listen to it! |
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Marine Conservation | 7 years 8 months ago | |
The Niskin bottle, a seemingly simple tube designed to take water samples at discrete depths, is one of the most important tools of... |
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Marine Conservation | 7 years 11 months ago | |
The Coral Trait Database houses physiological, morphological, ecological, phylogenetic and biogeographic trait information with the... |
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Marine Conservation | 8 years ago | |
Algae technology is central to innovation to conserve biodiversity against the threats of climate change. I am part of a global scientific group called Ocean Foresters.... |
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Marine Conservation | 8 years 1 month ago | |
An upcoming NOAA webinar might be of interest to this group: Ocean Exploration & MPAs: Priorities, Technological... |
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Marine Conservation | 8 years 2 months ago | |
Hi John, Have you checked out Whale Alert? There may be some scope for applying/adapting the same technology for averting manatee strikes by applying it to the... |
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Marine Conservation | 8 years 2 months ago | |
A new article argues that aesthically pleasing reefs are healthy reefs: 'This shows that mathematical approaches designed to assess... |
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Marine Conservation | 8 years 6 months ago |