Marine Forensics: Advances in Investigations and Technologies

Dear Colleagues,

Marine forensics—the technical and legal issues related to the scientific study of investigations in the marine environment—has been widely applied in maritime and aviation disaster investigations (including The Scorpion, Monitor, Hood, Titanic, Lusitania, Prince of Wales, Bismarck, Andrea Doria and Edmund Fitzgerald). There is a growing need for law enforcement agencies, officers and forensic scientists to leverage advances in DNA technologies to protect marine wildlife and habitats, thereby bringing marine criminals to justice. Marine forensics investigations can play a key role in enforcing domestic environmental protection laws and supporting international treaty requirements. An increasing number of professional societies, laboratories, research centers and organizations are becoming involved with marine forensics, including the UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB), an independent division of the United Kingdom’s Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTLR); the US Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology; the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS); and the Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC) at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is the only laboratory in the United States for marine forensics.

The increased usage of advanced technology has led to breakthroughs in the topics of marine forensics and underwater exploration, particularly for deep sea exploration. This has revolutionized the entire maritime forensics enterprise, leading to innovative procedures and techniques for marine forensic investigations. In particular, the use of autonomous undersea vehicles (AUVs) has led to advances in underwater exploration and transformed the way shipwrecks and aviation disasters are investigated, discovered and handled. Teams of underwater explorers have been able to discover black boxes from aviation disasters more efficiently and safely; a recent example includes the recovery of the black box from the 2010 Air France flight 447 ocean disaster. Advances in marine forensics have not only improved the sustainability of the maritime environment, but have also shaped the course of human history.

This Special Issue should appeal to a range of experts, including investigation professionals, fisheries managers, deep-sea explorers, naval architects and marine forensics experts. Authors are encouraged to explore the way in which advanced marine forensics approaches and processes are improving forensic investigations. Insights gained from this Special Issue will help to standardize and mainstream procedures in the professional field of marine forensics.

Dr. Jason Levy
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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• marine forensics investigations
• aviation disasters 
• marine mammal forensics
• underwater exploration 
• marine crimes
• marine forensics laboratory
• DNA
• UAV 
• NOAA 
• shipwrecks