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
Project Eyes on the Seas
This webinar originally aired on May 12, 2016. Presenter(s): Mark Young of the Pew Charitable Trusts Click here to view YouTube
Management on the Move: Making EBM and MSP More Dynamic
This webinar originally aired on May 6, 2016. Presenter(s): Daniel Dunn of Duke, Sara Maxwell of Old Dominion, and Alistair Hobday of CSIRO Click here…
The Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment Tool for Coastal Habitats
This webinar originally aired on April 27, 2016. Presenter(s): Jen Plunket, Scott Lerberg, and Robin Weber of NERRS Click here to View on YouTube
Ocean Exploration and MPAs: Priorities, Technological Advances, and Partnerships
Advances in technology for ocean exploration are allowing us to reach new depths and previously unknown areas. As we reach these new frontiers
“To Target Everyone Is to Target No One”: What Social Marketing Can Offer Conservation and Management
Marketing techniques, honed by the commercial sector, are inherently about getting people to change their behavior, whether it is buying a product
Lost Whaling Fleets of the Western Arctic
NOAA archeologists have discovered the battered hulls of two nineteenth century whaling ships nearly 144 years after they sank off the Arctic coast of Alaska in one of the planet’s most unexplored ocean regions.
Maps and Datasets for Blue Carbon Habitats
Blue carbon denotes the long-term storage of carbon within plant habitats growing in coastal lands and nearshore marine environments.
Status of Marine and Coastal EBM among the Network of US Federal Programs
This webinar originally aired on 20 January 2016. This webinar will provide an overview of the current state of practice among a number of US…
A New Era of Cooperation Between Cuba and the US Established Through MPAs
On Nov 18, 2015, NOAA and the US National Park Service signed a memorandum of understanding with Cuba’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment to ..
How to Improve Marine Conservation Research in Small Island States
Healthy, functioning marine ecosystems are critical to the well-being of so called small island developing states (SIDS): these ecosystems contribute to local food security, foster a sense of community ..