Webinars
Upcoming Webinars
Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs): Giving marine mammals a seat at the negotiating table
Tuesday, March 11, Noon US EDT/9 am US PDT/4 pm UTC/5 pm CET. Presented by: Erich Hoyt, Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara, Gill Braulik, and Simone Panigada of the IMMA Secretariat of the IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force. Description: Important Marine Mammal Areas, or IMMAs, are making waves for conservation as a valuable science-based tool that highlights the most important areas and habitats for marine mammals globally. This webinar will provide an overview of the 10-year program to bring expert analysis and peer review to the identification of the habitats of whales, dolphins, seals, sea lions, manatees, dugong, sea otters, and polar bears. To date, the global IMMA effort has examined 80% of the ocean and identified 321 IMMAs and 196 Areas of Interest. Governments are now using IMMA layers for marine spatial planning and designing MPAs, and conservation groups, shipping companies, and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) are using IMMAs to slow down or reroute vessels to reduce the risk of shipstrikes. This webinar will spotlight more than 40 new IMMAs for the Northwest Atlantic Ocean and Wider Caribbean; show how IMMAs can be used for many ocean planning and conservation initiatives; and discuss where IMMAs are going in 2025 and beyond.
30 x30? What about the other 70%? Cumulative analysis of place-based marine regulations for a more holistic marine protection picture
Wednesday, May 14, 1 pm US EDT/10 am US PDT/5 pm UTC. Presented by: Claire Colegrove and Alex Driedger of ProtectedSeas. Description: While hundreds of nations have committed to the global 30×30 target, much work remains to reach that goal and sustainably manage the remaining 70%. Regulatory protections are crucial for marine management efficacy, and accurate data on in-place management measures are essential for assessing existing marine protections and informing the creation of new areas. However, collecting and interpreting marine regulations can be challenging due to often unavailable or difficult-to-access legal instruments. Overlapping measures and siloed management add further complexities. ProtectedSeas Navigator contains data on worldwide regulations for MPAs, fishery management areas, and other place-based marine managed areas (MMAs) and considers restrictions cumulatively across overlapping areas using spatial aggregation techniques to provide insights into overall protection. This cumulative analysis of regulations in overlapping marine managed areas offers insights into overall uses and protection across ocean spaces, enabling better protection assessments, planning, and management. As an example, initial analysis in California revealed several ocean spaces where individual MMA protections were minimal, yet when combined with protections from other overlapping MMAs, resulted in more highly regulated spaces with enhanced protection.
Past Webinars
Indigenous Knowledge and Use of Ocean Currents in the Bering Strait Region
In this webinar, Julie Raymond-Yakoubian of Kawerak, Inc. will presented a recently completed project on indigenous knowledge and use of ocean currents…
Plastic Waste Inputs from Land into the Ocean
Considerable progress has been made in determining the amount and location of plastic debris in our seas, but how much plastic actually enters them in the first place is more uncertain.
Lessons in Managing Public Space: From Public Lands to the EEZ
One of the most recent trends in ocean management has been the introduction of Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) to reconcile multiple human objectives, including economic growth and ecosystem protection,
Climate-Smart Adaptation: Vulnerability Assessment Results and Next Steps for the North-central California Coast and Ocean
Learn how the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary MPA is planning for climate-smart adaptation and how you might be able to use the same approach..
Estimating Blue Carbon Storage in Texas Coastal Wetlands
Blue Carbon is a term used to define carbon that is stored and sequestered in coastal wetland habitats. Wetland habitats found along the Gulf Coast of Texas include coastal salt marshes…
Application of the Sea-Level Affecting Marshes Model (SLAMM) to New York and Connecticut
In 2013, the states of New York and Connecticut and the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission funded the application of the Sea-Level Affecting Marshes Model (SLAMM)..
Integrating Oceans into the Landscape Conservation Cooperative Network
Conservation challenges of the 21st century are complex and include both local challenges and widespread threats such as drought, climate change, and large-scale habitat fragmentation…
Assessing Data-Limited Fisheries: the Framework for Integrated Stock and Habitat Evaluation (FISHE)
Thousands of commercial and recreational fisheries exist worldwide, representing an important component of many countries’ economies and supporting billions…
An Ocean of Story Maps
The story map is a relatively new medium for sharing not only data, photos, videos, sounds, and maps, but for telling a specific and compelling story by way of that content…
Keeping the Promise of Sydney – Next Steps for the Marine Agenda from the World Parks Congress
In this webinar, Lauren Wenzel, Acting Director of the NOAA National MPA Center, and Dan Laffoley, Marine Vice Chair for IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Areas..