IFM Marine Conference 2026
Rebuilding Marine Resilience
The Guildhall, Hull | 1–2 December 2026
Overview
Britain’s marine environment is at a turning point. Decades of pressure from fishing, pollution, habitat loss and climate change have taken their toll — but there are real signs of recovery. Early monitoring data from England’s Highly Protected Marine Areas is emerging, bluefin tuna are returning to UK waters, and new molecular tools are transforming what we can detect and measure.
Hosted at the Guildhall in Hull — one of Britain’s great fishing cities and a gateway to the North Sea — this two-day conference will examine the evidence, practice and policy behind rebuilding marine resilience.
Themes and Subjects
Over the two days, more than 25 speakers will share their work, drawn from government agencies, regulators, universities, NGOs, consultancies and citizen science groups.
Conference sessions will cover:
- Policy, People and Communities
- Transitional Waters
- Humber and Yorkshire Coast
- Panel Discussion: Where next for marine resilience?
- New Eyes on the Water: eDNA, Acoustics and Sampling
- Tagging, Tracking and Telemetry at Sea
- Changing Seas: Spotting and Responding to Shifting Fish Populations
Keynote Speakers
We are delighted to welcome Dr Erwin Winter and Professor Mike Elliott to the conference to present the keynote addresses.
Erwin is a scientific researcher at Wageningen Marine Research and the Aquaculture and Fisheries Group of Wageningen University in the Netherlands. His work spans fish behaviour across settings as varied as Dutch rivers, North Sea offshore wind farms and Caribbean reefs, working on species from eels and lampreys to sharks, rays, cod and sea bass.
Mike is Emeritus Professor of Estuarine & Coastal Sciences at the University of Hull and Director of International Estuarine & Coastal Specialists (IECS) Ltd. A marine biologist by training, his work spans estuarine and coastal ecology, anthropogenic impacts, environmental policy, governance and management, with particular emphasis on ecosystem-based management, social–ecological systems, and the development of widely adopted conceptual frameworks such as DAPSI(W)R(M).
For full event details and to register, visit the IFM website here