Visual science communications: Disseminating timely marine conservation issues to increase awareness among the general public

Marine biodiversity is rapidly decreasing worldwide, primarily due to anthropogenic stressors. Marine scientists recommend strong protection for 20-30% of the world’s oceans in order to combat those stressors and to ultimately save marine life from extinction. Marine Conservation Institute, with offices in Seattle, Washington, Washington D.C., and California, is an organization dedicated to securing permanent, strong protection for the oceans’ most important places for future generations. Most notably, their Global Oceans Refuge System (GLORES) initiative is designed to catalyze strong protection for at least 20% of the ecosystems in each marine biogeographic region of the world’s oceans by the year 2030. In order to ensure further development and success of the GLORES initiative, and ultimately conserve the world’s oceans, Marine Conservation Institute fully understands the need to continue developing and increasing their science communications efforts. As a result, the primary goal of this fellowship was to use visual and social media to effectively communicate their goals, as well as to effectively interact with scientists, key stakeholders and the general public. Tactics to communicate included creating and managing current news, social media and visual content, analyzing engagement and overall reach, and disseminating critical information as efficiently as possible. Throughout the duration of the project it was important to monitor the impact of Marine Conservation Institute’s increased online media presence. Individual scientists and organizations are finally harnessing the power of visual and social media to enhance the rate at which they are developing and distributing knowledge, both to raise awareness among the general public and to elevate support, and this fellowship contributed to just that