Webinars
Upcoming Webinars
Valuing Marine Ecosystem Services for Better Decisions
Wednesday, April 8, 1 pm US EDT/10 am US PDT/5 pm UTC/6 pm BST. Presented by: Angela Fletcher and Glen Delaney of Earth Economics. Description: Marine and coastal ecosystems provide many ecosystem services that are essential to human communities, including food, recreational opportunities, and protection of infrastructure from natural disasters. These benefits are not often framed in economic terms, which can lead to them being overlooked in decision-making. Communicating ecosystem services in economic terms can support more holistic decision-making that accounts for the full range of benefits these systems provide. In this webinar, Angela Fletcher and Glen Delaney of Earth Economics will introduce the fundamentals of ecosystem service valuation and demonstrate how they have applied these methods in marine and coastal contexts. Earth Economics is a nonprofit economic consultancy with 26 years of experience applying valuation techniques in decision-making, policy, and project implementation. They will begin with a brief overview of ecosystem services and valuation basics, then walk through three real-world case studies that illustrate how valuation can inform conservation, restoration, and policy decisions: a valuation study of kelp forests along the California coast; the use of valuation to inform a National Marine Sanctuary application for the St. George Unangan Heritage site; and how valuation can support funding for salmon habitat restoration in the Duckabush Estuary in Washington State.
Coastal Marine Litter Observatory: Combining drones and AI for real-time beach and coastal monitoring
Thursday, April 16, 10 am US EDT/7 am US PDT/2 pm UTC/3 pm BST/4 CEST/5 pm EEST. Presented by: Kostas Topouzelis of Scidrones. Description: Marine litter is a significant environmental problem that can dramatically affect flora and fauna and have severe economic impacts on coastal communities, tourism, and fisheries. Currently, most mapping protocols for marine litter in the coastal environment rely on conventional on-site sampling, with limited ability to spatially display concentrations of coastal zone marine waste. To provide real-time, actionable data, Scidrones has created the Coastal Marine Litter Observatory (CMLO), an online platform that detects, maps, and monitors marine litter in the coastal zone using Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and machine learning. UAS aerial images – collected using the Scidrones data acquisition protocol and uploaded to the CMLO platform – provide wide area coverage of actual litter, and machine learning algorithms are used to detect marine litter and categorize it (i.e., plastic, paper, metal, cloth, glass and ceramic, rubber, and wood). Marine debris in the coastal zone is then visualized through high-resolution density maps and spatiotemporal analytics, enabling scalable, operational monitoring and empowering stakeholders to take precise, data-driven action for cleaner beaches and coastlines. A free trial covering 1 km of coastline is available, allowing users to test and explore the platform’s capabilities.
Past Webinars
The impact of human-caused ocean noise pollution on fish, invertebrates, and ecosystem services
This webinar originally aired on 30 April, 2019. Most fish and invertebrates use sound for vital life functions. This presentation will summarize highlights from 115…
Managing the ocean in real-time: Tools for dynamic management
This webinar originally aired on 24 April, 2019. Description: Spatial management is a useful strategy to regulate human activities and provide protection for vulnerable species…
The effects of temperature on species distributions and community composition: Implications for Marine Protected Area management
This webinar originally aired on 11 April, 2019. Description: Recent research has shown that the geographic distributions of marine species are changing – and will…
Unmanned Systems (UxS): Transforming How We Study and Manage the Marine Environment
This webinar originally aired on 28 March, 2019. Unmanned Systems (UxS) are transforming how we study and manage the marine environment. This presentation will provide…
Sustaining MPA Benefits In a Changing Ocean: A Call To Action from the US Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory
This webinar originally aired on 14 March, 2019. The Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee (MPAFAC) provides recommendations to the US Departments of Commerce (NOAA)…
Learning from others: The new global conservation planning database
Webinar originally aired on 27 February, 2019. Creating a new marine conservation or management plan? Learn what others have done in the past – build…
Case Studies in Climate Adaptation in MPAs
This webinar originally aired on 14 February, 2019. Climate impacts are already being felt at coastal and marine protected areas, and some managers are moving…
Can Private Investment Advance Sustainable Wild-Caught Fisheries?
Although billions of public and private dollars are invested in fisheries every year, more often than not, sustainability is neither the driver nor the intended outcome of those investment dollars.
Not all those who wander are lost – Fishers communities’ responses to shifts in the distribution and abundance of fish resources
Fish resources in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast US are sensitive to the impacts of climate change, with marked shifts in species’ distribution already taking place.
Sharpening Our Focus on MPAs for 2020 and Beyond – Extended Q&A
As countries work toward meeting their Aichi and SDG targets of protecting 10% of the ocean by 2020, and as post-2020 agenda discussions begin, many players are wrestling with the confusion around the plethora of types of MPAs and other related conservation measures.