Dr. Agardy is an internationally renowned expert in marine conservation, with extensive field and policy experience in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, North America and the Pacific. Her major research interests and publications focus on coastal and marine planning, ocean zoning, marine protected areas, ecosystem services, and marine ecosystem based management. She is senior consultant to the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in Rome, and is currently Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Oxford University, working on sustainability issues.

Camille Ross is a UMaine PhD student in Oceanography interested in using computational approaches to model the relationship between changing climate conditions and past, present, and future North Atlantic right whale habitat. A graduate of Colby College, she has held positions at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences and the New England Aquarium.

Kristin Isfeld grew up fishing, crabbing and harvesting oysters on her family boat in southern Virginia. She transitioned into kelp farming in 2020, after moving to Maine and noticing the abundance of seaweed and other life on the rocky shore. She considers the ocean to be her home and works to honor and support the planet. Krisitin is so grateful and proud to be a part of this culture and the working waterfront community.