MiCO wins Ocean Awards 2020

MiCO, a system that illustrates migratory connectivity in the oceans, has won the Innovation Award at this year’s Ocean Awards organised by the Blue Marine Foundation and BOAT International.

Source: Blue Marine Foundation

The Innovation Award recognises the individual or group that has introduced innovative technologies and practices that help aid ocean conservation. MiCO has so far analysed the tagging data of nearly 400 animals, tracking their movements through 17 ‘corridors’ in about 100,000 locations across 55 countries. An ongoing literature review has provided information on a further 133 connections between 109 nodes. When it is completed later this year, the review will make information on migratory connectivity from more than 1,200 publications freely available online.

While MiCO is already proving useful to scientists, conservationists and decision-makers, this award is an encouraging endorsement of its value and utility to the whole maritime community. Congratulations to all the MiCO team at Duke University’s Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab and at the University of Queensland.