WATERVILLE — Conservation Marine leaders will convene at Colby College on Friday for a conference on the future of Maine’s coastal communities, ecosystems and fisheries. The conference, “Changing Oceans and the Future of the Gulf of Maine: Solutions, Success and Sustainability,” is sponsored by Colby’s environmental studies program. It will bring together experts on marine ecology, history, policy, law and community development. The conference is free, and the public is welcome.

Carl Safina, an internationally recognized marine conservation activist, host of the PBS series “Saving the Ocean,” and director of the Blue Ocean Institute, will deliver the keynote address at 1 p.m. He is the inaugural Mellon Distinguished Fellow in Environmental Studies at Colby this academic year.

Formal presentations will conclude with a panel discussion including all presenters beginning at 4:20 p.m.

A full schedule of talks, with links to information about speakers and panelists, is available at colby.edu/gulfofmaine. Speakers include experts from the Bigelow Laboratory for Marine Sciences, the Island Institute, the Conservation Law Foundation, Maine’s Department of Marine Resources and the University of Connecticut.

At 7:30 p.m. the Saving the Oceanepisode “Cod Comeback?” will be screened, followed by a discussion with Safina and Maine residents featured in the television show.

To register, email gulfofmeconf@colby.edu or visit colby.edu/gulfofmaine.