Registration is now open for the ACRN 2025 Symposium!

ACRN Symposium 2025!

#ACRN2025

De-risking marine and coastal restoration

Dates: 2nd-3rd September, with an optional field trip on Thursday 4th September

Location: CSIRO Black Mountain, Canberra, Australia

See our symposia page to register and for more information.

Past Events

Join us at the 58th annual AMSA conference!

September 15-20, 2024, in Nipaluna, Hobart, Tasmania

Abstracts due Wednesday 27th March: Click here to submit!

Symposium: Lessons in repairing sea country 

Convenors: Elisabeth Strain (UTAS), Beth Toki (BMT), Jenny Hillman (University of Auckland), Vishnu prahalad (UTAS), Maria Vozzo (CSIRO), Megan Saunders (UTAS), Conor Jones (BMT), Nathan Waltham (James Cook University)

Coastal and marine ecosystems face increased impacts of climate change. It is increasingly being recognised that marine habitat restoration will be a key tool that is available to support marine resilience and adaptation planning as the climate changes. Scaling these initiatives involves strategic interventions such as rebuilding shellfish reefs, reforestation of mangroves and kelp forests, and rehabilitation of seagrass meadows and saltmarshes, combined with management of key anthropogenic pressures. The restoration projects underway across Australasia, range from small- to large-scales, across multiple habitat types, and involving researchers, indigenous and community groups, industry, and local government agencies. 

Critical to restoration success will be a multidisciplinary and cross-agency approach, whereby there is collaboration between multiple government agencies, as well as knowledge brokers, industries, and communities. Existing barriers to restoration must urgently be addressed, and up-scaling of corporate investment should be fostered. This symposium will highlight the growing research efforts and on-ground projects into scaling coastal and marine ecosystem repair in Australasia and discuss ways in which projects have incorporated future-proofing into their efforts. Its audience will include a diverse array of stakeholders, including research scientists, Traditional Owners, NGOs, community groups, and local and federal government employees. This session is linked to a Special Issue in Wetlands Ecology and Management on this topic, with speakers welcome to contribute their papers to this issue

Save the Date!

The International Conference
on Shellfish Restoration
ICSR2024

Save the date: September 15-18, 2024

Location: Jekyll Island Convention Center, Jekyll Island, Georgia, USA

Click here for more information: ICSR2024

Updates from the network

Recently published: An opinion piece by Maira Vozzo in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science!

Exploring large-scale coastal and marine restoration through positive cross-habitat interactions. Discovering 200+ interactions, including wave control, the paper highlights the emerging multi-habitat restoration approach.

Find the paper here: https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2300546120

At the ACRN, we acknowledge and pay our respects to the Traditional Custodians and First Nations Peoples and communities who have cared for marine and coastal habitats for millennia. We are committed to increasing our cultural safety and capability and ensuring that partnerships with First Nations People are preferred and explored, where possible, in marine and coastal restoration projects. Our team pays respect to the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we live, work and play and extends that to the lands, waterways, seas, and skies of our extended network.