Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation

Community-based marine stewardship depends on continuity: sustained monitoring, long-term relationships, institutional memory, and the people who remain engaged despite changing ecological, social, and funding conditions. In conservation philanthropy, there is growing discussion of trust-based and relational funding approaches. Yet a gap often remains between the stated desire to support conservation this way and the funding structures available to community-based organizations, which are still frequently organized around short-term projects, discrete deliverables, and fixed reporting cycles. These models are poorly aligned with the longer time horizons required for adaptive marine governance.

This case study examines Mālama Pūpūkea-Waimea (MPW), a community-based organization that has co-managed the Pūpūkea Marine Life Conservation District on the North Shore of Oʻahu with the State of Hawaiʻi for more than two decades. Drawing on interviews, documents, literature reviews, and field observations, the study analyzes how MPW’s stewardship continuity has been sustained through long-term relationships, local trust, and flexible support.

The case provides a grounded example of what relational conservation funding can look like in practice. MPW’s experience shows that stewardship capacity does not emerge from isolated projects alone, but from the accumulation of knowledge, trust, relationships, and presence over time. The study argues that organizational continuity should be understood as a core component of marine governance infrastructure. For donors, funders, and community partners, the implication is not simply to give more, but to support differently: through flexible, recurring, relational, and in-kind support that allows community-based organizations to keep showing up, learning, adapting, and governing over time.

This report is useful for any leader interested in supporting marine enforcement and compliance within Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). The project synthesizes and shares best practices, insights, and ideas of marine conservation professionals who are adept at working together to lead enforcement and compliance effort for California’s extraordinary network of MPAs. The project’s focus is on Marine Monitor (M2) technology, provided by ProtectedSeas, and how it can best be used to support the work of California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) wildlife officers and allied agencies, regarding MPA enforcement. Deliverables contained in this report will be useful for enforcement officers, team members at ProtectedSeas, M2 Site Partners including team members of the California Marine Sanctuary Foundation (CMSF) and WILDCOAST, members of the MPA Collaborative Network, or decision makers from funding organizations like the Resources Legacy Fund (RLF), California’s Ocean Protection Council (OPC), and other organizations. Deliverables include a M2 Site Selection and Readiness Guide, M2 Pro-Tips for Enforcement Officers, and an M2 Site Partner guide for structured feedback from enforcement officers. M2 is currently adding value, and in the future it can provide even more. This report is intended to help leaders continuously improve M2’s support for MPA compliance and enforcement.   

Given the documented and projected growth of global aquaculture, care is needed to scale the sector sustainably so that food security, economic development, and social equality gains can be fully realized as aquaculture expands to meet global demand for aquatic animal products. The Food and Agriculture Organization’s Guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture (GSA) provide a comprehensive set of recommendations to support the responsible and sustainable growth of global aquaculture. Following the 2024 adoption of the GSA, additional work is now needed to promote streamlined implementation of the Guidelines, and facilitate monitoring and evaluation of their outcomes. This project developed theories of change, identified indicators of success, and highlighted examples of the GSA recommendations in practice to operationalize Chapter Five of the Guidelines. In doing so, this project strives to encourage increased uptake and efficacy of the Chapter Five recommendations in global aquaculture, and to provide Food and Agriculture Organization members and aquaculture stakeholders with tools for gauging the success of sustainable aquaculture interventions following implementation.

Brain organization in elasmobranchs has been shown to reflect habitat complexity and sensory demands across species, yet whether geography alone can drive similar patterns within a single species remains an open question. This study examined whether brain region proportions vary across the latitudinal range of the Atlantic Sharpnose Shark, Rhizoprionodon terraenovae, using a dataset of 47 specimens collected across six sites spanning the species' distribution, with populations compared between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Three brain regions differed significantly between Atlantic and Gulf populations after controlling for body size. The olfactory bulb was proportionally greater in Atlantic sharks, consistent with the chemosensory demands of navigating low-visibility estuarine environments. The mesencephalon and cerebellum were proportionally greater in Gulf sharks, consistent with the visual and locomotor demands of clearer, more open coastal waters. These findings provide the first evidence of latitudinal variation in brain organization within R. terraenovae and suggest that regional environmental differences may influence sensory investment at the population level, contributing to a broader understanding of how environmental gradients may shape neurobiological traits within marine species.

Recent revisions to the Pacific Groundfish Fishery Management Plan removed 26 species, including cabezon (Scorpaenichthys marmoratus) from federal management, raising the question of what data sources can inform future monitoring and management of these species. Using spatiotemporal models fit to 35 years of CalCOFI ichthyoplankton and oceanographic survey data, we develop a standardized, relative larval abundance index for Southern California cabezon and evaluate its relationship to stock assessment-derived quantities and surface oceanography. The CalCOFI record carries a coherent ecological signal for this species, but the derived larval index does not correlate significantly with spawning stock biomass, age-0 recruits, or recruitment deviations at any biological interpretable lag, a result we ascribe to the life history of cabezon, post-spawning and post-larval survival filters, and the fundamental differences in construction between time series. Sea surface temperature and dissolved oxygen were significant predictors of larval presence, with detection probability higher in cooler, more oxygenated waters. We conclude that CalCOFI larval data for cabezon are most informative as an environmentally-structured indicator of early life history conditions, and discuss how this framing positions these results as a tool for ecosystem-based management of a species no longer subject to formal stock assessment procedures.

See media created for this project: Github

Drowned Mermaid is a science-informed novella and companion website that uses fiction to build emotional connection to the ocean and inspire interest in marine conservation. The project centers on the hypothesis that narrative storytelling can reach audiences who would not otherwise engage with marine science.

The protagonist is Morgan, a woman in her twenties who travels to Hawai'i with her boyfriend's wealthy family. After a scuba diving accident, she unexpectedly transforms into a marine animal and must learn to navigate the northern tropical Pacific Ocean. Guided by false killer whales, a tiger shark, plankton, and a personified Ocean itself, Morgan is on a journey of self-discovery. The ocean guides her to develop her own definitions of success, beauty, and purpose. While the story is fictional, the world is built from real marine biology and physical oceanography. It shapes the characters and the decisions they make.

Deliverables include a polished, print-ready manuscript; ten prototype paperback copies; original illustrations; and a companion website at  drownedmermaid.com. The website features an ArcGIS-based story map and character profiles tied to marine science.

Success is measured by the manuscript completion, a version 1website launch, and 25 new email signups from readers interested to follow the book's path to publication

Coral restoration efforts are increasingly bottlenecked not by biology but by the manual labor required to maintain nursery tanks, particularly the routine scrubbing of algal fouling from coral growth substrates. This capstone project, "Foul Play," addresses that bottleneck by pairing Coral Guard, a nontoxic algae-deterrent tile coating developed at the Scripps CRE Lab, with a custom-built single-axis robotic gantry system ("Sisi") capable of dislodging fouling using water pressure alone. The system was designed and fabricated from first principles over approximately 10 weeks, integrating NEMA 17 stepper motors and TR8×4 lead screws on a V-slot aluminum frame, GRBL-based motor control via an Arduino Uno and CNC Shield, MOSFET-switched pump control, and a Flask web application supporting mouse, keyboard, and voice-driven operation. A factorial experiment varying nozzle standoff distance and sweep duration identified an optimal cleaning configuration (1-inch distance, 10-second sweep), which was evaluated using a companion image-analysis tool, the Coral Guard Tile Scorer, that quantifies algal fouling coverage from RAW tile photographs using CIELAB color space segmentation and deep-learning-based coral masking. Results showed cleaning effectiveness comparable to manual toothbrush scrubbing, with no visible coral tissue damage, while reducing required human presence by an estimated 10–15x and projecting roughly 33 hours of annual labor savings per 10 nursery tanks. These findings demonstrate that automated, contact-free cleaning is a viable path toward scaling ex situ coral restoration operations.

The heavily polluted San Gabriel river in Long Beach, CA is home to a growing population of Eastern Pacific green sea turtles, also known as the Pacific black turtle.  Beginning in the 1980s, conservation efforts to bring these turtles back from the brink of extinction have been largely community based beginning at their nesting beaches in Michoacán, Mexico and now in Long Beach. The film begins with the indigenous community in Mexico and travels to the San Gabriel river. The story combines compelling interviews with the community members leading the protection initiatives with intimate footage of turtles and other wildlife in this dangerous habitat.  The goal of this film is to raise awareness with city leaders to initiate official support for the Long Beach community protecting these turtles on their own time with their own resources.

See the media created for this project: 

https://youtu.be/4fqdafvcRMg?si=CRalu1NGxa02yuQC

https://www.instagram.com/konservationfilms/

Historical and present-day displacement from the ocean creates a disconnection between the marine environment and local communities. In Puerto Rico, barriers to ocean access include transportation, privatized development, policies, and the increased frequency and intensity of storms resulting from climate change. The grassroots organization Sail for Reefs works to bridge water-based recreation and the conservation of marine resources through education, ocean engagement, and habitat restoration. The goal of this project is to develop a place-based, hands-on curriculum to be taught through Sail for Reefs education and outreach programs with the intention of connecting young people to local coastal habitats. The success of the curriculum will be measured through expert review of materials and alignment of the content with proposed learning objectives. A workshop was held to train Sail for Reefs staff and local educators on how to administer the curriculum, increasing implementation of the educational tool.

Icebergs are dynamic floating masses of ice that play a critical role in global ocean circulation, marine ecosystems, and sea level rise (Cenedese and Straneo, 2023; NOAA, 2024). Formed over thousands of years, traveling southward through “Iceberg Alley” off the coast of Newfoundland, these ancient ice masses are shaped by wind, waves, sunlight, and seawater (Cenedese and Straneo, 2023; NOAA, 2024). Rising global temperatures accelerate the rate of iceberg calving and their longevity, thereby altering the sea level, the marine trophic web and the global meridional overturning circulation (Vernet et al., 2012; Arrigo, 2014; Sévellec, Fedorov and Liu, 2017; NOAA, 2024). 

Despite their ecological significance, icebergs are often perceived as distant, remote symbols of the Arctic, far removed from daily life. This perception hinders the general public’s understanding of the dynamic role icebergs play in the global ocean system. 

Drifting Giants is an interactive multimedia StoryMap designed to communicate the environmental importance of icebergs to a general audience through photography, video, scientific visualizations, and storytelling. By combining ocean science with digital media, the project aims to increase public understanding of the impacts of climate change on the Arctic and inspire ocean stewardship.

See media created for this project: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/efa75ee8d8324129ba6a18a36b7f4e40