10:30 AM - Event Welcome
Opening words from Ellen Rikhof, Deep Sea Conservation Festival founder and head organizer.
11:00 AM - International Ocean Film Festival
In Too Deep - The True Cost of Deep Sea Mining, Maarten van Rouveroy (Netherlands) 19 min, 2022, courtesy of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition
Our least understood ecosystem, the deep sea holds millions of species as well as a trove of minerals worth trillions of dollars that the mining industry is racing to exploit. A small island nation holds the key to one of the greatest environmental threats the ocean has ever faced.
11:30 AM - Dexter Davis
Explore the deep sea from invertebrate biology to methane seeps and hydrothermal vents with Dexter Davis, OSU master’s student and scientist studying the deep sea!
12:00 PM - Marine Stewardship Council
Dive into deep sea fisheries and sustainable seafood consumer practices, learning about a growing fishing industry as well as how to be a responsible and informed purchaser.
12:30 PM - Samuel Georgian
Deep-water corals and sponges are critical foundation species found in every ocean basin. However, these vital species are threatened by ocean acidification, caused by the ocean’s absorption of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Join Samuel Georgian in examining the range in responses of the stony coral Lophelia pertusa to ocean acidification and the significant implications these findings have on the long-term management and conservation of delicate cold-water coral ecosystems around the world.
1:00 PM - Nautilus Live: Ship to Shore
A one-on-one live video Q&A broadcast, meet with members of the Ocean Exploration Trust team aboard Exploration Vessel Nautilus and learn more about life onboard the ship as well as the latest deep-sea discoveries.
2:00 PM - FathomVerse
Get introduced to FathomVerse, a community science video game that invites ocean enthusiasts to interact with real underwater images and improve the artificial intelligence that helps researchers study ocean life, through a demo from the team that helped create it.
2:30 PM - Whale Fall Puppet Show!
Journey into the deep as we explore one of the most complex ecosystems, Whale Falls. Through the art of Shadow Puppetry, let’s learn all about the century long, ever changing, and vital food resource for the creatures who call the deep their home.
3:00 PM - ONC/NEPDEP: Ship to Shore
Connect with scientists during their at-sea expedition studying the deep sea in the NorthEast Pacific. Using video conferencing, discuss ocean science, technology, and life at sea with experts in the field. ONC/NEPDEP’s at-sea team will share the excitement of recent discoveries and give a short tour of the ship, as well as directly answer any questions.
3:35 PM - Sebastian Martinez
With the economic demand for rare earth metals rising to fuel the mass creation of new technologies, there has been increased interest in the exploration and potential excavation of mineral deposits found on the seafloor. Work with Sebastian to understand the three primary target deposits of seabed mining and the respective deep-sea communities that mining activities could impact.
4:00 PM - Callum Backstrom
The coral reefs of the mesophotic zone (30-150 meters deep) of the ocean could compose up to 80% of all coral reef ecosystems on the planet. Despite living in the pitch-black, many mesophotic corals contain photosynthetic algae and thrive with less than 1% of the sunlight that shallower reefs use to grow. Follow Callum’s research and uncover his findings that suggest that coral-algal symbiosis strengthens in the darker mesophotic zone, and that photosynthesis is a necessary driver of reef-building coral survival and growth across great depths.