A frontier worth fighting for: World‑renowned photographer inspires at sustainable oceans event

Award-winning photojournalist Brian Skerry's mission is clear: to illuminate people's minds with the beauty of the ocean and promote enthusiasm towards ocean conservation in the process.

He did just that in Halifax earlier this fall when he delivered a keynote address at Dalhousie's fifth-annual Sustainable Oceans Conference.

Skerry, a seasoned National Geographic photographer specializing in marine wildlife and underwater environments, took a crowd of awed and optimistic marine enthusiasts gathered in Paul O’Regan Hall at the Halifax Central Library on a journey around the world and into the sea, sharing tales from behind the scenes of his photos and how they are made.

While the photographer has often turned his lens towards the many challenges the ocean faces — the planet’s last remaining pristine coral reefs, the global fish crisis, and the plight of shark and marine mammal species — the audience did not walk away from his keynote address feeling gloomy.  

During his career, Skerry has had the opportunity to experience depths of the planet that most people will never be able to witness for themselves, and a major focus of his talk was celebrating the sea and raising awareness that with the bad news comes a new hope. Skerry’s heart-stopping footage of first-hand encounters with massive tiger sharks reminded even the most disheartened marine advocates that the battle has not yet been lost and there is still plenty worth fighting for.

The conference, which is organized annually by Dalhousie's Master of Marine Management (MMM) students, provides a platform for the discussion of marine conservation issues and promotes active participation in global ocean awareness and active participation in a call for solutions.

This year's event, which ran from September 30 to October 1, centred around the theme of Into the Blue: The Body Connecting Us All. The overall goal: to help integrate the public and academic sectors through examining our unique connections to the ocean.

With this in mind, the Sustainable Oceans committee divided student oral and poster presentations into the following concepts: "Our Brain: Ocean Education and Literacy"; "Our Stomach: Sustainable Seafood"; "Our Heart: Marine Conservation"; and "Our Lungs: Ocean Resources."

Integrating solutions for health oceans

Support for the conference came from the Sobey Fund for Oceans (SFO), a unique partnership between the Donald R. Sobey Family Foundation, the Marine Affairs program at Dal and WWF-Canada.

Four new SFO scholarships were announced during this year's conference. The awards support students pursuing graduate studies at Dal with the goal of integrating governance and management solutions for healthy oceans.

"The opportunity for us to help support brainpower at a globally recognized centre for oceans students is an honour, and something that our foundation is privileged to do,” said Rob Sobey, president of the foundation in remarks during the presentation of the scholarships.  

Two PhD students (Leah Beveridge and Laurenne Schiller) and two master's students (Kelly Fretwell and Laura Steeves) were recipients of this year's scholarships.

“I am very thankful to the Sobey Fund for Oceans for their support of my research on multi-stakeholder and cross-cultural governance of Arctic marine spaces," said Beveridge, pictured right.

"I am drawn to the Canadian Arctic because I believe it provides the unique opportunity to be proactive and to find balance between environmental protection, economic development, and human well-being."

Fretwell, pictured right, expressed thanks to SFO for facilitating her studies with the Marine Affairs program.

"Through the interdisciplinary approach of the program, I aim to gain an understanding of the ways that ecosystem science informs policy in marine and coastal management," she said, noting her particular interest in examining how the study of cross-boundary linkages between marine and terrestrial systems can inform policy and management.

Schiller, pictured below right, said she was grateful for SFO's support for enabling her to further her research on sustainable fisheries management.

“I fell in love with the ocean for its incredible creatures, but like many people I have come to realize the significant impacts humans are having on fish stocks around the world," she said.

"Although civil society is now taking a prominent role in promoting sustainable fisheries through private certification programs, little work has been done to understand the interplay between these initiatives and traditional public management bodies.”

Lastly, Steeves — a MMM student at Dal, shown right — expressed her thanks to the SFO for support of her research.

“With the support of the SFO Scholarship I hope to further my understanding of the ecology of our waters so that we may better manage the way that we harvest resources from the ocean. I believe that the MMM program, will assist me in gaining the skills required to both conduct original research, and to present the research under the broader lens of our society and economy."

On the Saturday, eight oral and 15 poster presentations were given in each of the sub-themes of the conference. Guest speakers introduced each sub-theme and guest judges and the audience took part in selecting prizes for first and second place and peoples’ choice awards. The winners this year are as follows:

Jenny Weitzman - first place oral presentation
Catherine Schram - second place oral presentation
Alba Garcia Rodriguez - peoples' choice award for oral presentation
Kayla Glynn - first place poster
Kendra Moore - second place poster
Meghan Borland - peoples' choice award for poster

You, Me and the Sea

As part of this year's conference, an educational outreach program called You, Me and the Sea was held in partnership with the Halifax Public Libraries. With the conference theme “Into the Blue: The Body Connecting Us All”, this program cast their net wide to include the public in the “all” of their slogan.

The program enticed children of all ages, including those young at heart, with fun and educational games. Activities ranged from Sharks versus Rays by Anika Riopel (which involved teaching participants about the human impacts on marine ecosystems through experiential learning) to a shark necropsy demonstration by Chris Harvey Clark, Dal university veterinarian.

The program hosted live marine animals by the Back to the Sea Society’s touch tank, providing hands-on experience with local intertidal species.

Emiley MacKinnon, the chair of the events committee for the conference, said the idea to incorporate this new program stemmed from “wanting to share [their] passion for the ocean, while providing educational and fun activities for families to enjoy. A take-home message from [the Marine Affairs Program] is the importance of communicating important ocean issues.”

The conference engaged participants of all ages and backgrounds to connect to the ocean through interactive and educational activities that demonstrate just how unifying and important the global ocean is to all of us.

Picturing the ocean

Conference attendees were reminded of just that with the Sustainable Oceans calendar, which was available for purchase during the conference.

The calendar features a collection of ocean-related photos submitted by students, faculty, staff and alumni over the spring and summer months as part of the annual Sustainable Oceans Photo Contest (view all of this year's photo contest winners).

Based on votes obtained from the Dal community, 30 photos — ranging from underwater shots to marine animals and micro-organisms — were sent to a panel of esteemed judges who made the final selection for the calendar. They awarded first place to Lauren Dehens, for the image below. All proceeds from sales go to the Canadian Sea Turtle Network.