Over 15 years of ocean science and conservation online
I have several upcoming public talks, panels, and workshops in May and June. Here they are all in one place! Public talk! Endangered Species in U.S. Waters: What threatens, them, and how can we save them? May 16th in Baltimore through the Natural History Society of Maryland. Get tickets here. Talk description: Over 100 marine … Read More “Sustainable Seafood, Endangered Species, and Jaws: Some upcoming talks and panels” »
Late yesterday afternoon, the President signed and executive order on Unleashing America’s Offshore Critical Minerals and Resources. This order accelerates the US’s expansion into the nascent deep-sea mining industry, asserts its claims over minerals of the US outer continental shelf, and reasserts its claims over mineral deposits in the high seas, with some interesting caveats. … Read More “Understanding the Executive Order on Deep-sea Mining and Critical Minerals: Part 1, what are we talking about?” »
Donald Trump opened an area of about 250 million acres of protected American waters to industrial fishing fleets on Thursday. This sets a very dangerous precedent that our public lands and waters are for sale to the highest bidder. I know that we’re all exhausted from the onslaught of daily outrages by the Trump administration. … Read More “5 things you can do if you’re pissed off about the latest Trump EO” »
Opening ceremony of Tiaki Moana in Tahiti, French Polynesia.
The leading textbook in Marine Conservation Biology (Norse and Crowder) is 20 years old. It’s great and it shaped the field for a generation, but a lot has happened since it came out. There are new conservation threats, new policy tools, and new research methods to study them. And in that time, we’ve radically changed … Read More “We’re making a new marine conservation science and policy textbook. What do you want to be in it?” »
Anupa Asokan, founder and executive director of Fish On—a new fishing interest organization working to advance ocean conservation policy—recently published a peer-reviewed perspective in Frontiers, “Marine Protected Areas as a Tool for Environmental Justice.” Anupa is a lifelong fisherwoman and has become a passionate advocate for ocean conservation and justice. I’ve known her for several … Read More “People and Ideas You Should Know: 5 Questions with Anupa Asokan” »
At the beginning of 2024, I made a commitment to make it the year of the OpenCTD. A CTD is an oceanographic instrument that measures salinity, temperature, and depth. It is an essential tool in the conduct and marine scientific research. Access to CTDs often present a barrier to communities and knowledge seekers interested in … Read More “Open-source science hardware for an Open Ocean: Reflecting on the Year of the OpenCTD” »
More people care about marine biodiversity and saving the ocean than ever before. But progress towards evidence-based conservation is hindered by widespread public misunderstanding of the key issues in play. You’ve heard versions of this rant from me for 15 years, but this is not a post about sustainable fisheries, or shark conservation. This … Read More “The wrongest belief about the deep sea is wronger than you know” »
As an informal learning assignment, I have my students use social media to follow ocean science and conservation experts for the semester. Each week, they’re asked to check social media for a few minutes, and report on something interesting they learned about marine science or conservation (and why they thought it was interesting.) I’m sharing … Read More “My “Follow ocean science and conservation experts on Bluesky and Instagram” assignment” »
Five years ago, a small team of ocean scientists, conservationists, sea turtle patrollers, and distillers came up with a radical idea to create a sustainable, long-term funding model for Dominica’s Sea Turtle Conservation Organization and Ocean’s Forward. From dozens of meetings, market analyses, and viability assessments, the Rosalie Bay Distillery was born. The distillery would … Read More “This Rum Protects the Ocean: the world’s first conservation distillery is open for business.” »
