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
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- @emilyhuston
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Hi! I am currently pursuing a masters degree in wildlife conservation and management, and I am looking to gain more information and form connections with people who are interested in all the same things :)
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- @reny.tyson.moore
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Currently a data scientist in industry working on mechanistic models of risk, previously worked on modeling coral reefs. I am interested in the potential for emerging technologies and new ideas to help us solve environmental crises.
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- @SteveL
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I am an ecologist developing low-cost tools to support conservation of marine resources
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Fauna & Flora
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- @claumemo
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- @GrunCrow
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Computer Scientist
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Background in sustainable development + data science, AI for bioacoustics (BSc Cooperation and Development, Italy; MSc data science, Sweden)



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- @Stelios
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I am a Software Developer living in Berlin, Germany. Previously studied Informatics (BSc) and Data Science (MSc) in Athens, Greece.
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I have mixed experiences from 20+ years doing SATCOM and other IT roles with the US Army. I also have 4 years experience working in the marine environment doing forage fish spawning research. My goal is to advance my abilities in AI to bring into the realm of wildlife research.
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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
This article covers how Sofar's Spotter monitoring buoys can collect data for longer periods of time by improving battery life. According to this article, "GPS Sleep turns off Spotter’s GPS sensor during sampling dwell...
13 June 2023
As we celebrate World Oceans Day this month, we are reminded that addressing climate change will take more than any one organization. It will require companies, governments, NGOs and communities, all working together,...
9 June 2023
Inger Andersen, the Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) explains how the innovative approaches towards curbing plastic pollution witnessed across African nations can help in pivoting to a plastics-...
5 June 2023
It's World Environment Day! This year the focus is on solutions to plastic pollution under the campaign #BeatPlasticPollution. How are you getting involved to solve plastic pollution using conservation technology?
5 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
June 2025
October 2025
event
September 2024
event
Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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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 | |
Hey Xavier! Thank you for your interest and question!! The overarching goal of the FinDrop v1 for the WildLabs award is to characterize an instrument and make it as, if... |
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Acoustics, Build Your Own Data Logger Community, Marine Conservation, Protected Area Management Tools, Sustainable Fishing Challenges | 8 months 4 weeks ago | |
Hi Filipo,It has been a while since you created this post. I just joined the community, looking for AI tools that would speed up BRUV data processing. I am currently working as a... |
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Marine Conservation | 9 months ago | |
Hi all,maybe it helps 😉 My free manual 'Drones in Biomonitoring' - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8077113 can help to get (more) knowledge how to proceed easily and successfully... |
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Drones, Marine Conservation, Wildlife Crime | 9 months 2 weeks ago | |
Hi César, Is there a geographic area you're limited to? That would help to narrow down options. I would recommend reaching out perhaps to the Kitzes Lab, Sound Forest... |
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Acoustics, Citizen Science, Community Base, Early Career, Marine Conservation | 9 months 2 weeks ago | |
@cmwainaina please take a look |
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Animal Movement, AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Connectivity, Data management and processing tools, East Africa Community, Emerging Tech, Ethics of Conservation Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Marine Conservation, Protected Area Management Tools, Geospatial, Sensors, Software Development | 10 months ago | |
A community device isn’t just about the technology; it’s also about creating a collaborative community. Shout out to all innovators... |
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Animal Movement, Marine Conservation, Open Source Solutions, Sensors | 10 months 3 weeks ago | |
Fantastic!! |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Animal Movement, Build Your Own Data Logger Community, Community Base, Early Career, Ethics of Conservation Tech, Marine Conservation, Open Source Solutions | 11 months 2 weeks ago | |
🌊🐋 Join the Coastal and Marine Wildlife Working Group of The Wildlife Society! 🦈🐢Are you passionate about marine wildlife... |
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Marine Conservation | 1 year ago | |
Hello guys,I'm looking into the topic of measuring species vulnerability to overharvesting of species in trade. I am exploring existing... |
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Ending Wildlife Trafficking Online, Marine Conservation, Wildlife Crime | 1 year ago | |
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... |
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Animal Movement, Marine Conservation | 1 year ago | |
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... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Early Career, Marine Conservation | 1 year 2 months ago |
Office & Warehouse Exec
5 April 2023 6:22pm
Computer Vision Competitions on Natural-World datasets
5 April 2023 4:26pm
Tools & Experiences with Sea Turtle Monitoring
17 March 2023 1:00pm
21 March 2023 1:00pm
Hey Amelia, thanks for reaching out and sorry for my late feedback. I am sharing my address: mtalii@baharihai.org for more conversation about this. we can schedule an online call and also introduce the teams when ready. Thanks
30 March 2023 6:00pm
In 2020, I made a survey of sea turtle research databases and an outline for a design of the most commonly required features. At that time, building such a database seemed too risky for me, but if you are interested, please do drop me a line.
After I published the list, I also found out about Torsooi
The rush to increase deep sea mining
16 March 2023 9:19pm
Skylight | LATAM & Caribbean Partner Relationship Manager
10 March 2023 5:21pm
Underwater Fish Datasets from the Mediterranean
15 August 2022 11:45pm
26 September 2022 9:32pm
Not sure if audio data would be of any use to you, but if so FishSounds has some - I just tried their search function and there is a location tag for 'Mediterranean & Black Sea'.
You might try reaching out to the folks at Name that Fish, Innovasea, or perhaps an entity on the Fisheries Tech list would have Mediterranean stuff?
21 October 2022 7:52am
Hi,
If this is still relevant, you can try reaching out to the Belmaker lab, they do BRUV surveys in the eastern Mediterranean and have hours of video, some of it I believe is annotated. Particularly, Shahar might be helpful, he's the PhD student running point on the project.
2 March 2023 2:03pm
We have made available our underwater videos on YouTube as a playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnhVZKKy8WkZKriCIV6r7upWhHNVrU_7L
It's about 1.113 short video clips with annotation and each is linked to the corresponding www.iNaturalist.org observations. The iNaturalist.org observations are research quality and have been uploaded to GBIF.org. The observations have been made between 2014 and 2022 around the Ionian Islands (Greece).
If you would need the original videos please contact me.

Zooplankton Prosome and Lipid Sac Segmentation
15 February 2023 1:44pm
Catch up with The Variety Hour: February 2023
14 February 2023 6:26pm
How do I get started with mobile phones in sea turtle monitoring?
13 February 2023 10:01am
Research Associate - Machine Learning (Underwater Sound)
10 February 2023 10:19am
Engineering Manager, Skylight
10 February 2023 10:14am
Technical Officer – IMOS Animal Tracking Facility
7 February 2023 12:30pm
International Congress for Conservation Biology
16 January 2023 2:53pm
Case Study on Monitoring Aquatic Species with Gliders and Biologging Gear
13 January 2023 3:51am
Global Fishing Watch's Marine Manager Raises the Bar on Ocean Monitoring
13 January 2023 12:09am
Job: Software Engineer at Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory
19 December 2022 7:59pm
Crowdfunding Aerial Baseline Study of Ghost Gear in Koh Phangan, Thailand
18 December 2022 11:06am
Upcoming PAM & R Ocean Science Courses
16 December 2022 3:27pm
Join NASA’s harmful algal bloom ML challenge and win prizes!
15 December 2022 7:56pm
ONLINE TRAINING: Project Planning for Wildlife Conservation
15 December 2022 7:11pm
New: Satellites for Biodiversity Award
5 December 2022 2:08pm
Image datasets of Indo-Pacific fish species
19 November 2022 6:57pm
Underwater Camera Trap Video Confirms 1,100-Mile (1800-km) Swim of Tagged Great White Shark
25 October 2022 10:20am
Shark Lab Data Analyst
24 October 2022 7:12pm
New paper: Benthic animal-borne sensors & citizen science combine to validate ocean modelling
10 October 2022 4:15pm
Long-term tracking of whale feeding behavior via satellite now possible with new tag
4 October 2022 5:20pm
Multi-day workshop: Machine Learning Advances for Marine Acoustics & Imagery Data
4 October 2022 5:20pm
Conservation leadership: Learning
4 October 2022 2:29pm
ONLINE COURSE: Monitoring and Evaluation for Wildlife Conservation
4 October 2022 2:04pm
17 March 2023 4:23pm
Great webinar! I am working with the Dominica Sea Turtle Conservation Organization and would love to get in touch about the apps Mtalii and his team use for collecting their data. We're looking to streamline our process and make it easier for our volunteers to help capture vital nesting and sighting data on Dominica. Hoping to connect with Mtalii so we can implement some of the awesome apps they've been using for their turtle research. Feel free to message me! Thanks!