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
No showcases have been added to this group yet.
- @kara_birk
- | She/Her
Advancing the international partner engagement work of ABALOBI, a tech platform aimed at integrating small-scale fishers into information and resource networks.
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- 8 Groups
- 2 Resources
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- 8 Groups
Applied ML for Sustainable Fisheries, Co-Founder of OnDeck Fisheries AI
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- 4 Groups
- @brittanypalmer
- | she/her
Entrepreneur and environmental attorney with a passion for wildlife conservation.
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- 4 Groups
TechnoSmArt
I am an ornithologist, have been working with GPS tracking of both seabirds and terrestrial birds. I have been involved also in conservation projects in Italy, Chile and Ecuador

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- 5 Groups
Drone Operator and Tech Developer


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- 33 Discussions
- 9 Groups
I am a ecologist and conservationist particularly excited about tech to aid biodiversity monitoring with a growing interest in analytics and AI. I am also a Project Manager at Rainforest Connection.
- 0 Resources
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- 8 Groups
A budding marine biologist interested in studying the biodiversity of nearshore habitats.
- 0 Resources
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- 4 Groups
- @Ymuyia
- | She/her
I am a marine Conservationist based in Kenya, I currently work at REEFolution Trust, a non profit that works to restore corals of the Wasini Channel
- 0 Resources
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- 2 Groups
- @VeraKloettschen
- | she/her
Vera conceptualises and implements environmental projects and strategies. Her passions are NBS, Climate Finance and Circular Economy.
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- 4 Groups
- @willgertler
- | he/him/his
Co-Founder & CEO, Kumbatia Seafood. Passionate about small-scale fisheries, regenerative ingredient sourcing, and sustainable coastal development.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 3 Groups
- @billardball8
- | She/Her
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 6 Groups
We are developing a project in Thailand, using drones to locate lost & discarded fishing gear across Koh Phangan, Thailand. We're 86% there & only need $1500 to get us over the line. If you can help us, we...
18 December 2022
Using satellite imagery to detect and classify the severity of cyanobacteria blooms in small, inland water bodies.
15 December 2022
Conservation partnership launches new award to advance biodiversity conservation from space
5 December 2022
First known baited underwater video match of an individual white shark, based on facial scars and other unique features White shark undertakes 1,100-mile (1800-km) transboundary swim from South Africa to Mozambique
25 October 2022
Careers
This position (at California State University, Long Beach) provides data management & analysis support to Shark Lab research operations including shark tagging, active tracking, receiver data, AUV & UAV data...
24 October 2022
"We develop the use of benthic species as animal oceanographers by combining archival (depth, temperature) data from animal-borne tags, passive acoustic telemetry & citizen-science mark-recapture records for the...
10 October 2022
Oregon State University researchers have developed a new satellite tag that allows them to better track whales’ behavior, including previously unobservable feeding events during dives.
4 October 2022
The device could help scientists explore unknown regions of the ocean, track pollution, or monitor the effects of climate change.
26 September 2022
Link
Authors demonstrated "a low cost, simple method to support acoustic tag surveys by identifying tags both from direct acoustic recordings & by reconstructing code packets from processed C-POD data. Method was applied...
26 September 2022
Explore BOEM data, build analytic tools, and recommend solutions for sea turtle relocation trawling approaches to reduce incidental risk. Prize: $40,000
21 September 2022
Authors "developed a three-hydrophone passive acoustic monitoring system that provides bearing information along with marine mammal detections to allow for informed management decisions in real-time."
20 September 2022
Tenure track position in Marine Biology
12 September 2022
October 2025
event
March 2026
October 2023
event
event
Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, together with The Prince of Wales’s International Sustainability Unit, have announced the launch of... |
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Marine Conservation | 8 years 2 months ago | |
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 | 8 years 5 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 | 8 years 8 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 | 8 years 10 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 | 8 years 10 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 | 9 years 1 month ago | |
The Coral Trait Database houses physiological, morphological, ecological, phylogenetic and biogeographic trait information with the... |
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Marine Conservation | 9 years 3 months 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 | 9 years 3 months ago | |
An upcoming NOAA webinar might be of interest to this group: Ocean Exploration & MPAs: Priorities, Technological... |
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Marine Conservation | 9 years 4 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 | 9 years 4 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 | 9 years 8 months ago |