Marine Pollution Forum

Impacts of marine pollution threaten our fragile ecosystem in SWFL and as part of BIPS' Mission to inspire the exploation and preservation of our natural and historic treasures, we are proud to co-host the 2024 Marine Pollution Forum with Coastal & Heartland National Estuary Partnership, CHNEP. The annual forum brings together top experts in a variety of fields to present on topics vital to preserving marine health in SWFL. 

Please join us for an informative educational program with Nicole Iadevaia, Director of Research & Restoration, CHNEP. Nicole oversees CHNEP’s work in research and restoration project management, as well as public engagement to protect water resources and habitat in Central and Southwest Florida and serves as the staff liaison to the CHNEP Technical and Citizens Advisory Committees. Nicole has a background in research science, as well as environmental communication and policy. She was previously a principal investigator for the Florida Wildlife Research Institute – Fisheries Independent Monitoring and smalltooth sawfish research programs. Her experience in water quality includes project management, data collection and analysis for several surface water quality projects, including stormwater and seagrass monitoring for the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, NPDES program.

Mark Thompson will also present for SCCF, Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation. Mark received a B.S. in Environmental Engineering from Purdue University and M.S. in Environmental Science from the College of Charleston-Medical University of South Carolina. Mark currently serves at SCCF Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation and has earned a wealth of experience in his journey.

As an engineer for private industry, he worked to control and minimize pollutants in wastewater, stormwater runoff and hazardous waste from large manufacturing facilities. In 1992, he joined the Virginia Institute of Marine Science to work with sea turtles, oysters, and estuarine fishes.

From VIMS he migrated to South Carolina where he worked with sea turtles and a variety of marine creatures before joining the Marine Resources Research Institute, where he participated in oyster reef research, headed the horseshoe crab program, and worked with water quality monitoring in the ACE-Basin National Estuarine Research Reserve.

Mark moved to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, where he monitored and analyzed southeastern Florida’s waters using biological, chemical, and physical indicators. His work also included taxonomy, data management, laboratory work, and resulting publications.

The U.S. Peace Corps captured Thompson in 2005, where he spent three years in a tropical Philippine paradise teaching Coastal Resource Management of baseline assessments of coral reef, seagrass, and mangrove habitats as well as the state of local fisheries.