Ocean Conservation Science and Policy

The ocean is home to beloved animals and is vital for food security and livelihoods for humans. Unfortunately, the ocean faces many threats, including habitat destruction, overfishing, climate change, and plastic pollution. The good news is that every single one of these problems is solvable. The bad news is that evidence-based solutions can be quite complex, and some solutions popular among non-experts don’t work. In this 3-unit course, we review the evidence showing how these threats can harm marine species and marine habitats, and we discuss the numerous solutions and the evidence that each does or does not work. We also discuss key decision-makers, how to find an effective environmental organization, and the processes that result in change.

Unit 1: Introduction and Fundamentals of Ocean Conservation introduces learners to key background information necessary to understand how threats can impact marine life and habitats, and how we can mitigate those threats. It will include a discussion on how to spot an effective solution, and how we know what works and what doesn’t. It will include an overview of how conservation policy gets made and the different roles played by different institutions and stakeholders in these processes.

Unit 2: Marine Conservation Threats and Solutions: Overfishing, Habitat Destruction, and Endangered Species Conservation introduces learners to leading and emerging threats to marine biodiversity, including how scientists study these threats and the evidence showing why they are major problems. We will also discuss leading solutions and the evidence showing that these solutions work as well as non-profits working in this space. Topics covered will include overfishing, bycatch, habitat destruction, deep-sea mining, marine protected areas, sustainable seafood, and more.

Unit 3: Marine Conservation Threats and Solutions: Pollution and Climate Change builds on Unit 2 by introducing learners to further leading and emerging threats to marine biodiversity, including how scientists study these threats and the evidence showing why they are major problems. We will also discuss leading solutions and the evidence showing that these solutions work as well as non-profits working in this space. Topics covered will include plastic pollution, oil, spills, climate change, ocean acidification, decarbonization, and global plastic pollution treaties.

Learn at your own pace (see Online Course Format Chart below for details).

Spring 2027: The first 5 weeks of each unit include instructor support.

Unit 1: January 19 - May 2, 2027

Unit 2: Feb 21 - June 6, 2027.

Unit 3: March 28 - July 11, 2027.

Early bird discount of $75 on Standard, $85 on Premium ends December 20, 2026.

This is a 3-credit course, consisting of three 1-credit units that may be taken together or individually. You may register for 1, 2, or all 3 units. Select the units during registration.

Each unit has 5 weeks of self-paced instruction with instructor support. After the 5-week period ends, learners have access to material on Canvas for an additional 10 weeks.

This course has no specific prerequisites but assumes a basic knowledge of life science and chemistry. It is broken into three units that are recommended to be taken in sequence.

Unit 1: Introduction and Fundamentals of Ocean Conservation

• Describe the roles of different institutions in processes of policy change and apply that knowledge to analyze case studies

• Identify key checkpoints and milestones and inflection points during a process of change

• Evaluate different approaches to starting a process of change

Unit 2: Marine Conservation Threats and Solutions: Overfishing, Habitat Destruction, and Endangered Species Conservation

• Identify and discuss the threats to marine biodiversity

• Apply scientific tools to approach studying these threats

• Analyze and evaluate claims about threats to marine biodiversity and solutions to those threats

• Describe the key principles of evidence-based conservation policy

• Evaluate conservation policy solutions for effectiveness

Unit 3: Marine Conservation Threats and Solutions: Pollution and Climate Change

• Identify and discuss the threats to marine biodiversity

• Apply scientific tools to approach studying these threats

• Analyze and evaluate claims about threats to marine biodiversity and solutions to those threats

• Describe the key principles of evidence-based conservation policy

• Evaluate conservation policy solutions for effectiveness