Big Blue Ideas
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Turn up. Speak out. Dive in.
Big Blue Ideas is a new series from the Australian National Maritime Museum about the future of our ocean.
Forget doom and gloom—this is not your typical climate conversation.
Big Blue Ideas is where action meets imagination, where science meets hope.
We’re not here to preach. We’re here to explore positive ideas, practical solutions.
From AI and conservation tech to cultural storytelling and deep-sea discovery, these talks put you in a room with innovators, scientists, artists, and disruptors.
Join the conversation. Let’s talk about the world we want to have.
Who owns the ocean?
Thursday 15 May | 6.30pm
Marine Protected Areas – the national parks of the sea - promise to save our oceans, but do they work?
Are they protecting marine life or just drawing lines on a map? Some say they are our best hope for ocean recovery. Others argue they’re just too difficult to enforce and threaten livelihoods.
What are they, who do they serve and what could they become?
Speakers
David Booth | Professor of Marine Ecology at UTS
Camille Comtat | Manager, Biodiversity and Habitats at Minderoo
Big Blue Bundle
Dive into the full series – bundle all four talks and save $30!
Plastic – the final straw?
Thursday 14 August | 6.30pm
Our oceans are full of it. We eat, drink, and breathe tiny plastic particles every day.
Is this the health crisis of our time, or are we overreacting? This session cuts through the noise with real solutions—no empty promises, just the hard truth about what works.
The problem is inside us—literally—but the solutions might be, too.
Is the deep sea a wasteland or wonderland?
Thursday 16 October | 6.30pm
The deep ocean is Earth’s final frontier—vast and largely unseen by humans. So, what’s really down there?
Is it a mysterious ecosystem full of untapped knowledge and creatures of the abyss — or just rock, darkness and mining potential? The deep sea could be our next scientific breakthrough, our next gold rush—or even our next home.
With billionaires, governments and researchers racing to the bottom, the pressure is on: should we explore, exploit, or leave it alone?
Can AI talk whale?
Thursday 22 January | 6.30pm
From tracking sharks to scanning the ocean floor, artificial intelligence is already reshaping how we explore, protect and manage the sea—but could it go even further? Like... decoding whale language?
This talk gets into the wild world of ocean AI—where neural networks meet coral reefs.
Can it really help us restore ecosystems, outsmart overfishing and clean up pollution, or are we handing too much power to the algorithm?
