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
Tools to Plan for Hazards Resilience and Climate Change
A major challenge for coastal communities is planning for the impacts of current and future flood hazards. This webinar will highlight two resources that NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management …
Solving the Mystery of MPA Performance: Linking Governance to Ecological Outcomes
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are increasingly being employed as a tool to promote biodiversity conservation and maintain ecosystem goods and services.
Guide to Consistent Protection Across Europe from Destructive Fishing in EU Natura 2000 Sites
Over 100 European Marine Sites (EMS) have been designated in the UK under EU laws since 1994. Yet historically there has been no effective system in place to manage destructive fishing practices in these sites…
Lessons Learned: Impacts of Coastal and Ocean Tourism
Coastal resort and cruise tourism are the fastest growing sectors of the tourism industry, and uncontrolled, large scale tourism development is causing…
IMBER-ADApT: A Decision Support Tool for Responding to Global Change
Global change is occurring now, often with consequences far beyond those anticipated. Although there is a wide range of assessment approaches available..
The IUCN Green List and Marine Protected Areas
The IUCN Green List is a new and progressive initiative that encourages and celebrates the success of protected areas, both terrestrial and marine..
Community-Based Sea Level Rise Projections
Washington Sea Grant has partnered with the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and Adaptation International to develop local sea level rise projections and sea level scenario maps…
Discovering Data and Informing Regional Ocean Health Priorities with the West Coast Ocean Data Portal
The West Coast Ocean Data Portal, launched in January 2014, connects people to ocean and coastal data to better inform regional ocean management, planning, and policy development along the US West Coast. ..
Where’s My Fish? New Tools to Visualize Climate and Other Impacts on Marine Animals
By 2100, ocean waters are expected to be substantially warmer than they are today, with profound effects on fisheries. One of the most commonly observed impacts of climate change…
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…