Ocean Sciences Meeting

Every two years, the Ocean Sciences Meeting brings together scientists, students, journalists, policymakers, educators, and organizations in the ocean community. Ocean Sciences Meeting 2024, co-sponsored by the American Geophysical Union, the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography, and The Oceanography Society, will be held in New Orleans and online February 18-23.

Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions at the Ocean Sciences Meeting

Can digital platforms transform small-scale fisheries? A case study of ABALOBI’s marketplace deployed across four countries

February 22nd | 4-6pm CST | Poster Hall, First Floor (NOLACC) | F44A-0325

Collaborators: Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions (Staci Lewis, Josheena Naggea, Colette Wabnitz, Fiorenza Micheli), ABALOBI (Kara Birkenmayer, Serge Raemakers, Chris Kastern, Greg Duggan), and Ebiil Society (Ann Singeo)

Over 100 million people engaged in small-scale fisheries (SSF) produce two-thirds of global fisheries catch, yet face severe inequities across supply chains and are disproportionately affected by resource exploitation and climate change. Digital technologies, especially mobile applications, are emerging as promising innovative tools to help redress these imbalances by supporting more effective fisheries co-management, enhancing financial services across value chains, formalizing SSF through the creation of digital footprints, and increasing economic opportunities via directly connecting fishers to buyers. However, despite the rapid proliferation of such platforms, the conditions and adaptive processes necessary for an equitable and sustainable design, deployment, and implementation of these platforms are not well understood. This study examines the scoping, co-designing, and deployment of a digital marketplace tool run by the social enterprise ABALOBI in four countries: Palau, Mauritius, Seychelles, and South Africa.

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Palau eDNA Project: Democratizing Biomonitoring with Large Ocean States

February 23rd | 2:58-3:07pm CST | 215-216, Second Floor (NOLACC) | OT53A-07

Collaborators: Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions (Collin Closek, Althea Marks, Lucie Hazen, Fiorenza Micheli) and Palau International Coral Reef Center (E. Ikelau Otto)

As the aim to conserve and protect more of the global ocean increases, large-scale marine protected areas globally will require low-cost and accessible methods to monitor these vast blue spaces. In 2020, the Republic of Palau implemented the Palau National Marine Sanctuary (PNMS), which fully protected 475,077 km2 (80%) of their national marine waters to protect marine biodiversity, ensure food security, and grow its economy for future generations. As part of this decision, Palau’s Division of Marine Law Enforcement was mandated to enforce the regulations and the Palau International Coral Reef Center was charged with conducting science in the largely unexplored PNMS. Biomonitoring via environmental DNA (eDNA) — the genetic material shed by organisms — was selected as a broad, innovative, and cost-effective method to inventory the biodiversity in Palau’s marine waters.

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