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
- @nadyam
- | she/her
Michigan State University
Conservation geneticist at Michigan State University. Co-founder of iCatch. Solving problems in monitoring, traceability, and enforcement through rapid species identification tech.
- 0 Resources
- 3 Discussions
- 6 Groups
Passionate advocate for nature and experienced communicator, looking to explore opportunities to leverage technology in wildlife and marine conservation
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 7 Groups
- @mariahmeek
- | she/her
Michigan State University
Dr. Mariah Meek is the PI and co-founder of iCatch, an Associate Professor at Michigan State University, and the Director of Research at The Wilderness Society.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 5 Groups
- @Alex.S
- | She/Her
MSc Marine Biologist and Data Scientist, Co-Founder and CSO & CTO of Galene Pathways
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 8 Groups
- @Cathrine
- | She
Ocean Conservationist
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 5 Groups
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 2 Groups
- @SeanB
- | he/him
Cellular Tracking Technologies
Software Engineer at Cellular Tracking Technologies. I'm passionate about developing cutting-edge technology for scientific research and advancing data analysis methods for telemetry devices.
- 0 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 6 Groups
- @Seagoose
- | she/her
Ecologist & Conservationist. Women for the Environment, Africa Fellow. National Geographic Explorer.
- 0 Resources
- 4 Discussions
- 8 Groups
Wild Me
- 1 Resources
- 20 Discussions
- 6 Groups
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 8 Groups
Adventure Scientists is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in Bozeman, MT that equips scientists and researchers with high-quality data collected from the outdoors that are crucial to addressing environmental challenges around the world.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 16 Groups
- @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
Article
Nature Tech for Biodiversity Sector Map launched!
Carly Batist and 1 more
Conservation International is proud to announce the launch of the Nature Tech for Biodiversity Sector Map, developed in partnership with the Nature Tech Collective!
1 April 2025
Article
Call for nominations for the Tusk Conservation Awards 2025
20 March 2025
Funding
Arctic Community Wildlife Grants Program
World Wide Fund for Nature/ World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
WWF's Arctic Community Wildlife Grants program supports conservation, stewardship, and research initiatives that focus on coastal Arctic ecology, community sustainability, and priority Arctic wildlife, including polar...
7 March 2025
Article
Advancing Hierarchical Classification of Ocean Life
Lilli Wakinekona Carlsen
Join the FathomNet Kaggle Competition to show us how you would develop a model that can accurately classify varying taxonomic ranks!
4 March 2025
Careers
Customer Support and Marketing Specialist
Thomas Gray
We are hiring for a customer support / marketing specialist.
20 February 2025
Link
GhostNetZero.ai
Alex Rood
Using advanced AI technology, GhostNetZero.ai analyzes the collected sonar data to identify specific locations where ghost nets are likely to be found. This enables the recovery of these abandoned nets and helps to rid...
13 February 2025
Funding
Osa Conservation is launching our inaugural cohort of the ‘Susan Wojcicki Research Fellowship’ for 2025, worth up to $15,000 per awardee (award value dependent on project length and number of awards given each year)....
10 February 2025
Careers
New PhD - Drones, seaweeds & climate change
Chris Yesson
A PhD opportunity for anyone interested in coastal drone surveys, seaweeds, climate change and the chance to do a whole bunch of different computer modelling including AI-driven species distribution modelling to assess...
30 December 2024
Funding
The International Climate Initiative opened its Thematic priorities call for proposals. Besides on the development of finance and business models, the call addresses several marine conservation topics.
25 November 2024
Article
FathomVerse: Gaming for the Good of the Ocean
Lilli Wakinekona Carlsen
Dive into meaningful play with FathomVerse!
20 November 2024
Careers
Arctic Acoustic Technician
Alex Rood
WCS iseeking candidates for an acoustic technician position to support the Western Arctic Program’s ongoing work using passive acoustic monitoring to study marine mammals, fish, and underwater noise in the Canadian...
19 November 2024
Funding
Ocean Exploration and Discovery Request for Proposals
Frank van der Most
The Schmidt Ocean Institute (SOI) and the National Geographic Society have a joint call for "early career scientists who can lead ship-based research, technology, or conservation projects aboard SOI’s Falkor (too)"
13 October 2024
June 2025
October 2025
event
Lacey Hughey and 3 more
November 2023
| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| True, the US ecosystem is a challenging space right now, for basically all sectors. We should not let the US chaos prevent us from engaging with opportunities in other... |
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AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Connectivity, Drones, Emerging Tech, Ethics of Conservation Tech, Marine Conservation, Sensors | 1 month 1 week ago | |
| Play FathomVerse: App Store | Google Play Join the Community: Discord | Instagram | TikTok | LinkedInStay up-to-date: ... |
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Marine Conservation, AI for Conservation, Citizen Science | 1 month 3 weeks ago | |
| Good morning JocelynThank you very much for your comment, this is proving to be very useful advice and thank you so much for setting me on the right path!! This is very exciting!!... |
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Animal Movement, Citizen Science, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Marine Conservation, Drones, Community Base, Geospatial | 1 month 4 weeks ago | |
| Thanks so much for all the advice!! This seems very achievable. We don't mind having the fibre optic fixed in place as we planned to have a shorter one specifically for this... |
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Sensors, Marine Conservation | 2 months 3 weeks ago | |
| Hey Scott, I'll answer that since Evelina left us.Since 2021, we've been on a few expeditions collecting our own data, collaborated with organisations worldwide, and won... |
+3
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Marine Conservation | 3 months 1 week ago | |
| Hello everyone. My name is Bilal. I recently graduated with a degree in bioengineering and hold a bachelor's degree in computer science,... |
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AI for Conservation, Animal Movement, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Marine Conservation | 4 months ago | |
| Hi Simon,We (Reneco International Wildlife Consultants) have an ongoing collaboration with a local University (Abu Dhabi, UAE) for developing AI tools (cameratrap/drone... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Animal Movement, Camera Traps, Citizen Science, Connectivity, Drones, Early Career, eDNA & Genomics, Marine Conservation, Protected Area Management Tools, Sensors | 4 months 1 week ago | |
| Hi Matthew Wow, what an amazing project! It is incredible how you have managed to figure out some of the complexities of combining underwater imagery with UAV imagery. I am... |
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Drones, Geospatial, Marine Conservation, Protected Area Management Tools | 5 months ago | |
| Hello everyone,I built Brave Puffin (https://bravepuffin.com) - a small, autonomous, long range, solar powered boat. It is designed to... |
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Build Your Own Data Logger Community, Marine Conservation, Sensors | 5 months ago | |
| Steve and I are looking to develop a low-cost benthic drift camera with a live video feed. Our hope is to use an acoustic modem to give us a low quality feed for navigation /... |
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Marine Conservation, Build Your Own Data Logger Community, Connectivity, Emerging Tech, Open Source Solutions | 5 months ago | |
| Hi Muhammad,The best reference I know of covering shallow soft corals around Indonesia is Fabricius & Alderslade, its not a complete guide to everything you might see there,... |
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Marine Conservation, Conservation Tech Training and Education | 5 months 3 weeks ago | |
| Hi Brett, I am interested in developing really low cost multi channel underwater acoustic recorders. Can you tell me a bit more about the board and stuff you were using... |
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Build Your Own Data Logger Community, Acoustics, Camera Traps, Climate Change, East Africa Community, Marine Conservation, Open Source Solutions, Protected Area Management Tools | 7 months ago |
