PowerPoint Presentations:

Marine Science Ethics and Policy PowerPoint Training Presentation Descriptions. Please do take advantage of this NEEP free download of training slides.

If you are interested in downloading an electronic copy of one the presentations below, please complete and submit our Materials Request Form.

Aquaculture and Its Effect on the Community and the Environment
This presentation reviews both the benefits and risks of various aquaculture projects – presents various ethical perspectives on aquaculture and offers an eco-centric perspective to the aquaculture industry.

Blue Crab Disaster in the Chesapeake Bay
This presentation summarizes the commercial fishery failure for soft and peeler blue crab fisheries in Chesapeake Bay in 2008. This slide show provides details on how the disaster was addressed, and recapped the ethical issues involved with the disaster.

Coral Reefs
This presentation defines a coral reef, outlines its major ecosystem services, informs us of current threats to coral reefs and how important they are to the sea. Lastly, it describes restoration projects underway to help coral reefs.

Effects of Military Sonar on Cetaceans
This presentation reviews the impacts of using military sonar at sea that may damage the hearing and tissues of whales. The pros and cons of this practice are outlined with various ethical considerations for reducing harm to whales.

Effects of Pollution on Marine Organisms
In this presentation, types of pollution that are affecting specific marine mammals and species are detailed. High levels of plastics in the ocean are discussed, along with potential solutions to this problem. Ethical theories and considerations are outlined.

The Effect of Ocean Acidification on Coral Reefs
This presentation describes the process of ocean acidification and how it leads to coral bleaching, and the effects of that bleaching on the habitat. It then outlines the ethical values relevant to the protection of coral reefs.

Environmental Ethics on the Exploitation and Recovery of the Atlantic Spiny Dogfish (Squalus acanthias)
This presentation introduces the Atlantic Spiny Dogfish, explains how and why it became overfished, and describes the management plan which led to progress on protecting this species today. It then posits the conservation ethics and environmental ethics involved in the management of the population, including a case study in the Foerdefjorden in Norway.

Ethical Issues in Modeling
This presentation introduces the definition of a model, including the different parts of a model, and different types of models. It then describes the ethical implications that are involved in the building and using of models in marine sciences.

The Ethics of Rescuing Stranded Seals
This presentation explains why some seals get stranded, or why some people may think that seals are stranded when they are not. It then debates the pros and cons of saving stranded seals, including current federal guidelines and a proposed decision tree for future guidelines.

European Green Crab
This presentation describes the European Green Crab and its effects on populations of juvenile lobsters, Eel grass beds, and soft-shell clams. It then leads a discussion of the ethics of invasive species from several viewpoints.

Eutrophication in the Gulf of Mexico
This presentation provides a discussion of the dramatic effects of eutrophication, the depletion of oxygen, in parts of the Gulf of Mexico, and the creation of dead zones in the ocean. The causes and impacts of eutrophication are outlined, the ethical concerns of this problem and possible restoration strategies are reviewed.

Eutrophication of the Salt Marshes of New England
This is short presentation on the current impacts of eutrophication in some salt marshes of New England. Ethical challenges of working with this problem are outlined as well as potential solutions to this eutrophication.

Fishing Governance
This presentation outlines important marine legislation, such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MFCMA), and the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), among many others. It looks more closely into several case studies, including whaling in Japan, the drift net ban in Italy, and the tuna-dolphin dispute.

Forage Fisheries
The document outlines the background of forage fisheries, an overview of the problems caused by them, and the ethical perspectives associated with these fisheries. It also outlines the alternatives to fishmeal and fish oil to reduce harms on foraged fish.

Ethical Treatment of Horseshoe Crabs for Biomedical Use
This is second presentation of the problems surrounding using horseshoe crabs for biomedicine – produced by a bioengineering student. It describes the chemical process of this procedure and later offers potential solutions to reduce harms to horseshoe crabs.

Grey Seals: A Marine Mammal Conservation Success
This presentation reviews the biology and distribution of grey seals in the North Atlantic; the history of grey seal hunting and then the efforts to conserve these seal populations. It details this successful recovery program but also discusses current efforts for sea culling due to their overfishing. Ethical alternatives are presented to avoid detrimental seal culling efforts.

Harvesting of the Atlantic Horseshoe Crab, Limulus Polyphemus
This presentation reviews the ethical issues surrounding harvesting the horseshoe crab for medicinal purposes. The costs and benefits of this practice are outlined along with the difficult ethical issues of long-term harm to the horseshoe crab populations.

Impacts of Rising Seal Populations in New England
This presentation describes the different perspectives on the changing numbers of seal populations, such as those of fishermen, local property owners, and rehabilitation facilities. It also outlines the research that’s been conducted on the issue, how it intersects with legislation such as the MMPA, and debates what can be done to solve the problem.

Importance of Protecting and Conserving Coastal Habitats
This PowerPoint presentation covers the ecosystem importance of mangroves, seagrasses and corals in order to support their conservation. It discusses the conflicts between human uses and their intrinsic value and reviews threats from eutrophication stresses with potential solutions to alleviate this harm.

Large Whale Entanglement
This presentation states the statistics, causes, effects of entanglement on large whales, and proposed solutions. It also delves into the ethical considerations, including traditional ethical theories and environmental ethics.

Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA)
This presentation details the implementation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, including why it was needed, the species it protects, recent amendments, and its enforcement. It also defines many key terms that are specific to this act.

Marine Mammal Tagging
This presentation describes the uses of tagging and comparing different kinds of tagging: active vs. passive, radio vs. satellite vs. implantable vs. digital acoustic recording. It also discusses the ethics involved with tagging.

Marine Pollution Prevention Act of 2008
This presentation describes the implementation of Annexes I, II, V, and VI of MARPOL, the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships. Besides offering case studies of when these annexes were applied to certain geographical regions, it goes over recent amendments to the annexes and to the act in general.

National Marine Sanctuaries Act (NMSA)
This presentation describes all 13 national marine sanctuaries, as well as a nationally protected area and monument in northwestern Hawaii. It also describes some case studies of special programs sponsored by individual sanctuaries.

Reacting to Climate Change in the Northeast United States
This presentation discusses the efforts by Union of Concerned Scientists and 50 other independent experts to assess the effects on key climate-sensitive areas. Notes are provided on potential impacts to lobster and cod in the NE Atlantic.

Sea Turtle Bycatch
This presentation focuses on the problem of depletion of sea turtles due to bycatch in commercial fisheries. TED nets as a solution to bycatch is discussed along with several other technological alternatives. Ethical issues involved are described.

Sea Turtle Conservation
In this presentation, types of sea turtle species are detailed, their conservation status and life histories. The dangers faced by sea turtles are described along with ethical considerations for protecting sea turtles.

Sea Turtle Endangerment and Associated Ethical Issues
This presentation gives a general background on sea turtles, their habitats, and the threats they face from anthropogenic activities. It then proposes preservation and conservation and management policies, and describes the ethical considerations involved with such policies.

Shark Finning
This presentation describes the history of shark finning, including which species are affected, how they are affected, and how the fins are used. It then details legislation banning shark finning in the US, the foreign response to the ban, and an outline of the ethics involved in shark finning.

Sunscreen is Killing Our Coral
This presentation informs us of the dangers of benzophenomes in sunscreen lotions. Drops of this chemical will cause coral bleaching and adversely harm coral reefs. The ethical benefits/risks of this sunscreen and the coral reefs are discussed.

Acknowledgements
These PowerPoint Training Slide Shows were put together with funding from National Science Foundation’s grant program in Ethics Education and Science and Engineering (EESE) to provide ethics training to graduate students in marine science/engineering through a grant to the Northeast Ethics Education Partnership (NEEP), at Brown University . Training slide shows were produced by mostly graduate and some undergraduate students at both SMAST, UMASS-Dartmouth, New Bedford, MA, and Northeastern University graduate/undergraduate students; all who were enrolled in Marine Science Ethics and Policy courses, sponsored by NEEP at both universities. Victoria Quennessen, Research Assistant at SMAST – UMASS-Dartmouth, worked with the Principal Investigator of NEEP, Prof. Dianne Quigley, to organize and compile these presentations as well as authoring various slide shows. NEEP is very grateful to all students whose presentations allow us to provide this ethics training on marine science issues to the public. We are grateful to the faculty at UMASS-Dartmouth and Northeastern University who allowed us to teach these courses and promote this valuable training.