North West Marine Ecosystems (NWME) conference
Reporting Annual Change at a Regional Scale & Building Social Capital
Photo credit: Emily Baxter
30 June 2025, Lancaster
10:00 – 17:00
Join us at North West Marine Ecosystems (NWME) Conference 2025!
Join us at the inaugural North West Marine Ecosystems (NWME) Conference! NWME will feature short talks reflecting on local observations, research outputs and findings from 2024. The talks will cover a comprehensive range of natural systems including oceanography and plankton, marine and coastal birds, marine mammals (seals and cetaceans) and fisheries. A number of themes relating to the management of the environment will include marine planning, marine protected areas, marine plastics, water quality, underwater noise and radioactive monitoring.
With its ambition to mobilise marine social capital, this one-day conference is an opportunity to develop networks, open communication and build relationships among people in the marine and coastal community.
The event is being hosted at The Storey Institute and is open to citizen scientists, academics, managers, policy makers, industry, dedicated volunteers and the public. With a £35 (+ Eventbrite fees) registration fee, the event aims to be accessible to all those interested.
Programme
Welcome and introduction to the conference: Linn Wiberg, North West Coastal Coordinator, North West Coastal Forum
NW England’s Regional Seas: Georgia de Jong Cleyndert, Head of Marine Conservation, North West Wildlife Trusts
Regional Marine Ecosystems Model (RME): Mike Nelson, Senior Adviser Estuaries and Coasts, Environment Agency
Session 1
- Oceanography: Christopher Unsworth, Bangor University
- Plankton: Barry Kaye, Lancashire MCS
Break and refreshments
Session 2
- Marine and Coastal Birds: Speaker TBD
- Marine Mammals : Seals and Cetaceans: Beth Churn, Cumbria Wildlife Trust and Sarah Neill, British Divers Marine Life Rescue
- Fisheries: Annabel Plumeridge, North West Inshore Fisheries Conservation Authority
Lunch
Session 3
- Marine Protected Areas: Laurence Browning, Natural England
- Marine Planning: Hannah Jones, University of Liverpool
- Water Quality: Speaker TBD
Break and refreshments
Session 4
- Marine Plastics: Gill Notman, University of Cumbria
- Underwater Noise: Speaker TBD
- Radioactive Monitoring: Speaker TBD
Closing: Speaker TBD
All event details, including timing and format, are subject to change. In the event of any significant changes, ticket holders will be contacted via email.
This NWME conference has been co-organised by the North West Coastal Forum, The North West Wildlife Trust, and Ocean and Coastal Futures. The NWME project forms part of the Natural Capital approaches at the land-sea interface (LSI) project, which is being led by the Environment Agency under Defra’s Marine Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (mNCEA) programme. The proposed work will deliver the LSI project’s work package on ‘Mobilising marine social capital’.
We hope you can join us to celebrate being part of the inaugural NWME conference. Please share with colleagues and within your networks if you think there is someone who may want to join.
If you would like to hear the latest news and updates about NWME, sign up here.