International conference comes to Tasmania

About 270 marine scientists and students from around the world will visit Tasmania for the International Temperate Reefs Symposium in January (8^th to 12^th).

The symposium, to be hosted by the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), is the premier global conference for marine scientists with a focus on temperate (cooler water) reefs.

Business Events Tasmania CEO Marnie Craig said the conference was one of the first international conferences to head to Tasmania since COVID.

“It will be the first of nine international conferences that will be hosted in Tasmania in 2023,” she said. “Importantly, the conference links to one of Tasmania’s key sectors. “In addition, the conference, and others like it, will showcase Tasmanian industry on the international stage, providing opportunities for knowledge creation and exchange of ideas, opportunities for talent acquisition and future research collaboration.”

Ms Craig said the delegates were coming from 19 countries including Canada, Chile, France, Italy, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, United Kingdom and United States. “They work in a range of ecosystems including estuaries, marshes, seagrass and kelp beds, coastlines, to the deep sea,” she said.

Topics that will be covered at the conference include ecology and understanding marine systems and interactions, human impacts including climate change, biodiversity loss, threatened and invasive species, and conservation and restoration strategies.

In Australia, 43.7 million people attend a business event every year, injecting $17.2 billion in direct value to the Australian economy.