Sable Island Conference 2023
Friends of Sable Island Society presents “Timeless Tides”, a weekend dedicated to the past, present, and future of Sable Island.
Dates: October 20-21, 2023
Venue:
Delta Hotels Dartmouth
240 Brownlow Avenue
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
B3B 1X6
Book on-line at Marriot.com, or call the hotel directly at 902-468-8888 or email reservations@deltadartmouth.com
Sable Island is a National Park Reserve (NPR) protected under Canada’s National Parks Act. The conference is dedicated to Sable Island NPR and the marine environment that surrounds and maintains the Island. This is the fifth in a series of conferences related to the appreciation and management of this surprising sandbar in the north Atlantic Ocean. The conference is open to all topics related to Sable Island NPR, Sable Island Bank, and Sable Gully. The main themes will be: natural history/science, cultural history, visitor experience, and park management.
Schedule and Tickets
Opening Reception – Friday, October 20th, 7:00pm – 9:00pm
The conference will open with a reception on Friday evening to celebrate our 25th anniversary of caring for Sable Island. It will feature special guest speakers and an opportunity to share stories informally over nibblies and beverages. Thanks to our generous sponsors, we are pleased to offer the opening reception at no cost and request that you register to ensure we order enough food.
Conference Program – Saturday, October 21st, 8:30am – 5:30pm
The formal conference sessions will be held during the day on Saturday with two snack breaks and a light lunch. The program will include at least twenty presentations selected using an open call for presenters. Because the future of Sable Island rests in the hands of our youth, young researchers and recent graduates will be strongly encouraged to present. Information on confirmed presentations will be displayed below as it becomes available.
Speakers
Abbie Branchflower
Beyond Compare: Sable Island Horses and What Makes Them So Unique
Debbie Brekelmans
8 Decades of Aviation on Sable Island
Kayla Doucette
Making sound waves in the North Atlantic: detecting the offshore bats of Sable Island using acoustic monitoring
Geordie Mott
Fotographing Failures – Camera Tips for Sable Island
Elizabeth Bateman
Tracking the Movements, Migrations, and Seasonal Residency of Atlantic Halibut (Hippoglossus) in the Sable Gully
Sarah Hall
Pairing remote sensing and in-situ monitoring to track pond dynamics on Sable Island
Jill Martin
Mapping Sable Island
Charles Burke
An Archaeologist Reflects on the Fragility of Sable Island’s Cultural Heritage
Ella Stevens
Exploring the possibilities of a Mi’Kmaq presence on Sable Island through the lens of a Mi’Kmaq youth
Alex Cadel
Sable Island’s Changing Climate
Rachel Chang
Highlights from the Fog And Turbulence in the Marine Atmosphere 2022 field campaign
Nicole Harrington
Up close and personal: Movements and Habitat Choice of Male Grey Seals on Sable Island
Keith Mercer
Drafting a Cultural Resources Value Statement for Sable Island
Anne Marie Lane Jonah
Revisiting the history of Sable Island
Rebecca Dunham
Sable Island Paleosols – Researching the Island’s paleoenvironment through a cultural lens
Dan Kehler
Fences in the Sand - A collaborative project exploring the ecological role of horses on Sable Island NPR
Mathieu D'Astous
Sable Island National Park Reserve - Park Management Update
Jordan Eamer
Decades of coastline change on Sable Island and hypotheses about the future
Damian Lidgard
Cameras on seals: use of animal-borne video cameras to evaluate the nature, distribution and intensity of grey seal foraging behaviour
Katie Kowarski
Singing through winter nights: Seasonal and diel occurrence of humpback whale (Magaptera novaeangliae) vocalizations in and around the Gully MPA, offshore eastern Canada
Noreen Kelly
Temporal change in plastic pollution in the critical habitat of an endangered cetacean on the continental slope, Nova Scotia, Canada
Jessica Wingfield
Listening for blue whales in the Gully Marine Protected Area and beyond
Damian C. Lidgard
Seeing. Sable Island
Damian C. Lidgard
Photography of Sable Island
Cedar Swan
Inspiring Sable
Friends of Sable Island would like to thank the many supporters of our confernce
Further Details
All available oral presentation spots have been filled. We are still welcoming poster presentations, interactive activity stations, and artist exhibits. Email conference@sableislandfriends.ca for more information.
We believe that the Island has an amazing capacity to teach people about our world and we seek ways to provide a variety of learning opportunities. Sponsorships will be used to keep registration fees at $60 or less to make it affordable for a broad audience. Any money raised above the cost of the conference will be used to finish the development of a set of related and downloadable lesson plans to teach school children about the historical, environmental and scientific significance of Sable Island. All sponsors will be recognized on the conference webpage and in conference materials. There are several levels of sponsorship available for those who wish to support our mandate – see details at Conference Sponsor Invitation. To sponsor the conference or help with fundraising, please contact us at conference@sableislandfriends.ca.
As a charitable organization registered in Canada, we issue receipts for income tax purposes for all donations received. Financial gifts support our education programs, including our annual scholarships. To donate use either Friends of Sable Island or Canada Helps – Friends of Sable Island.
We’re also looking for volunteers to help with the planning activities leading up the conference, and for the day of the conference. Volunteers receive a complimentary pass to the conference. If interested, e-mail conference@sableislandfriends.ca (please state “Conference Support” in the subject line) and tell us how you would like to help.
