Dear Colleagues, The Human-Wildlife Conflict Collaboration (HWCC) is soliciting interest and potential invitees for a focus group to explore lessons learned and best practices in addressing marine-based human-wildlife conflict, to be held on Sunday May 15th at the IMCC in Victoria, BC. While there is limited space, we hope to attract and will structure invitations to ensure a diverse group of practitioners and leaders in the marine conservation field. Please read the background information below and contact us at mdraheim@gmu.edu if you are interested in joining this group. In your email, please include your name, affiliation, years of experience, specialization, current projects, if applicable, and expectations for the session. A list of your relevant publications (if any) would also be helpful. We look forward to meeting and working with as many of you as possible! Francine Madden, Executive Director, Human-Wildlife Conflict Collaboration (HWCC) Megan Draheim, Research Fellow, HWCC, and PhD Candidate, George Mason University Background: While human-wildlife conflict (HWC) has long been recognized as a serious conservation threat within the terrestrial conservation biology community, there have been few opportunities for the sharing of lessons learned and best practices, both between the terrestrial and marine communities as well as cross-taxonomically within the marine community. HWC has classically been defined as a situation where wildlife impacts humans negatively (physically, economically, or psychologically), and where humans likewise negatively impact wildlife, but there is growing consensus in the HWC community that the conflict between people about wildlife is as much a part of HWC as is the conflict between people and wildlife (www.humanwildlifeconflict.org ). HWC not only affects the conservation of one species in a certain geographic area, but also impacts a community’s desire to support conservation programs in general. This focus group facilitated by leaders from the Human-Wildlife Conflict Collaboration (HWCC) will engage leading marine conservationists in a dialogue to 1) identify commonalities across the spectrum of marine conflict issues facing the marine community, 2) share lessons learned and 3) map a path for both developing and sharing best practices in effective conflict prevention and resolution. This focus group will result in a review paper on marine-based human- wildlife conflict that will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal. The paper will focus on the current state of marine-based human- wildlife conflict, underlying similarities between situations, and potential solutions.