Patrick Halpin

About

Patrick N. Halpin is a Professor of Marine Geospatial Ecology in the Marine Science and Conservation Division of the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. He leads the Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, which has facilities at both the main campus of Duke University and the Duke University Marine Lab. Prof. Halpin received his Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences from the University of Virginia in 1995. His research focuses on marine geospatial analysis, ecological applications of geographic information systems and remote sensing, as well as marine conservation and ecosystem-based management. He serves on several international scientific and conservation program steering committees, including the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS), the Global Oceans Biodiversity Initiative (GOBI), the Marine Working Group for the Group on Earth Observations - Biodiversity Observing Networks (GEO-BON), and the Google Oceans Advisory Council.

Research topics

• Oceanography
• Environmental science
• Geography
• Political Science
• Geology
• Ecology
• Environmental resource management
• Archaeology
• Law
• History

Selected publications

• Integrated ocean management for a sustainable ocean economy

  Nature Ecology & Evolution · 2020 · 233 citations

  DOI

• Satellite mapping reveals extensive industrial activity at sea

  Nature · 2024 · 211 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  . We combine satellite imagery, vessel GPS data and deep-learning models to map industrial vessel activities and offshore energy infrastructure across the world's coastal waters from 2017 to 2021. We find that 72-76% of the world's industrial fishing vessels are not publicly tracked, with much of that fishing taking place around South Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa. We also find that 21-30% of transport and energy vessel activity is missing from public tracking systems. Globally, fishing decrea…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Memorializing the Middle Passage on the Atlantic seabed in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction

  Marine Policy · 2020 · 59 citations

  More than 12.5 million Africans were held captive on 40,000+ voyages during the transatlantic slave trade. Many did not survive the voyage and the Atlantic seabed became their final resting place. Exploration for mineral resources on the international seabed (the “Area”) in the Atlantic Basin is already underway, governed by the International Seabed Authority (ISA). Through the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Member States of the ISA have a duty to protect objects of an…

  DOI

• Synthesizing connectivity information from migratory marine species for area-based management

  Biological Conservation · 2023-05-31 · 19 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Understanding the areas used by migratory marine animals and their movements is critical in supporting management decisions that target their conservation. This is especially important for long-lived species with large geographic extents and are more vulnerable to multiple threats. We conducted a literature review on data collected for 173 marine mammal, marine fish, sea turtle, and seabird species and determined that tracking animal movements with telemetry methods was the most effective tool f…

  PublisherDOI

• Role of low‐impact‐factor journals in conservation implementation

  Conservation Biology · 2024-10-17 · 18 citations

  articleOpen access

  Academic review, promotion, and tenure processes place a premium on frequent publication in high-impact factor (IF) journals. However, conservation often relies on species-specific information that is unlikely to have the broad appeal needed for high-IF journals. Instead, this information is often distributed in low-IF, taxa- and region-specific journals. This suggests a potential mismatch between the incentives for academic researchers and the scientific needs of conservation implementation. To…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Expansion of Metadata Management, Visualization and Data Processing Functionality of OBIS-SEAMAP

  NSF · $314k · 2011–2014

• Collaborative Research: U.S. SO GLOBEC Synthesis and Modeling - Habitat Utilization and Predator-Prey interactions In Western Antarctic Peninsula

  NSF · $201k · 2006–2009

• Developing the Next Generation Marine Mammal Information Center for Integrated Ocean Observing: OBIS-SEAMAP 2.0

  NSF · $1.7M · 2007–2011

Frequent coauthors

• Daniel C. Dunn

  83 shared

• Andrew J. Read

  Duke University

  46 shared

• Jason J. Roberts

  Duke University

  43 shared

• André M. Boustany

  California State University, Monterey Bay

  36 shared

• Jesse Cleary

  Duke University

  29 shared

• Benjamin D. Best

  28 shared

• Connie Y. Kot

  Duke University

  23 shared

• Kristina M. Gjerde

  Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey

  23 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Environmmental Sciences

  University of Virgina

  1995

Similar researchers at Duke University

• James S. Clarkh-93
• Emily Bernhardth-84
• Nicolas Cassarh-61