This weekend I’ll be making my first official public appearance since AES back in July, and this time it’ll be a bit of a change of pace.  I’ll be heading down to sunny Miami for the inaugural Oceans edition of ScienceOnline.  When not lounging on the beach or developing raging marine lab envy at the University of Miami, I’ll be co-moderating the session “Social Media in the Fisheries Management Sector” with Beach Chair Scientist Ann McElhatton.  We’ll be covering the use of social media to communicate with fishers and other industry groups and the importance of keeping those lines of communication open.  To get an idea of where I’m coming from on this topic, check out these posts on working with fishermen.  That said, this is a discussion session and it’ll be boring if all the stories come from me (I’m assuming Ann will also be more interesting than me).  Anyone who is interested in working with fishers or has worked with the industry are welcome, as are any scientists who have collaborated with other types of stakeholder (I knew a few deep sea scientists who have worked with the oil and deep-sea mining industries, for example).

I’m really looking forward to meeting up with some old friends and making new ones, so feel free to say hi.  Also, anyone familiar with Miami (specifically the area near Coconut Grove and/or the UM main campus) with tips on cool stuff to check out, let me know in the comments section.