Dear Members,

As you may be aware, the Society is currently holding a special election for the office of President-Elect.

Due to low voter turnout, we have decided to extend the ballot for one more week. The ballot will now be open until 14 March 2024 at 12 PM EST.

For members who have not already voted PLEASE VOTE NOW! Follow this link to the ballot.

Please note, following Dr. Stephen Trumble withdrawing his candidature last week, members who have yet to cast their vote can either endorse the remaining candidate, Dr. Jeremy Kiszka, or abstain.

For members who voted prior to 28 February, any votes cast for Dr. Trumble will be converted to ‘abstain’.

All the best,
Katharina J Peters
Chair, Nominations & Elections Committee

Dear Member,

As communicated on the 12th February, we are holding a special ‘snap’ election for the office of President-Elect to fill the role effective immediately. The ballot will be open for 2 weeks until 7 March 2024 at 12 PM EST.

Please sign in and vote here.

Thank you for your participation and your continued support of the Society and its values.

Katharina J. Peters
Chair, Nominations & Elections Committee

Dear Members,

This message is to inform you that we will shortly be holding a special ‘snap’ election for the office of President-Elect, following the resignation of Dr. Daniel Palacios from the position on 18 January 2024, approximately one year into his 2.5-year term (note that current Board members have an extended term to accommodate the delay in the timing of the 24th Biennial).

Our Secretary, Dr. Jeremy Kiszka, has agreed to act in the role of President-Elect (as well as Secretary) as our Constitution provides a path for the Board to fill the vacancy of the President-Elect office through succession, with the Secretary succeeding into the role of President- Elect (Article XI). However, Article XI also states that an ‘officer who succeeds to the position of President-Elect will not succeed to the Presidency unless elected by the membership in a regular election.’

To address this requirement, the Board has decided to hold a special election so that the person elected to the office of President-Elect can then succeed to the Presidency.

Normally, elections are held following the Biennial Meeting and the General Members Meeting. However, this option is not favored by the Board because it could lead to the Society having both a new President and a new President-Elect commencing their terms simultaneously, with the elected President having very limited time (perhaps just a few months) to serve as President-Elect before becoming President (in July 2025). The Board considers that this is not enough time to become familiar with the complex and demanding responsibilities of the President. The President-Elect position, by design, straddles successive Boards in recognition of the multiple responsibilities that must be learned during the period of office (usually 2 years).

The special election will ensure the elected President-Elect has sufficient time to gain critical experience to effectively execute their responsibilities as President; enable the Board to address the loss of an officer quickly and move forward with their critical, time-sensitive duties on behalf of the Society; and resolve the current requirement from Article XI and appoint (via special election) a President-Elect that can ascend to the Presidency.

The special election will conform to the regular election process. This involves the Nominations and Elections Committee providing the Board ‘with a slate of no more than two candidates’ (General Operating Policies 4.8.1), and the holding of an open online General Members Meeting lasting 5 days, during which ‘additional candidates may be nominated by Society members’ (General Operating Policies 4.8.2), followed by ‘an electronic ballot’ (General Operating Policies 4.8.3).

The open online General Members Meeting will commence Monday 12 February and close at 12 midnight GMT on Friday 16 February 2024. This meeting will provide the window of time during which members may nominate a candidate for President-Elect.

All candidates for President-Elect must be current members of the Society, be willing to serve as a member of the Board of Governors and provide a background and vision statement of up to 300 words (General Operating Policies 4.8.2).

If you are nominating a colleague for this position, please ensure that the individual agrees to be nominated and meets the criteria listed above. Nominators, and the individual seconding the nomination, must also be current members of the Society.

To nominate a colleague, please send the name of the nominee, your full name and the name of the individual seconding the nomination to elections@marinemammalscience.org. Please direct the nominee to send their statement of interest and photo to the same email address with subject heading, “President-Elect Nominee Statement”.

The open online General Members Meeting will be followed by the electronic ballot (members to be notified by email).

I encourage any members considering being nominated for the position of President-Elect to contact the President to discuss the role beforehand.

The Nominations and Election Committee, with the approval of the Board, have put forward a single nomination for the position of President-Elect, Dr. Jeremy Kiszka (acting President-Elect).

Any additional candidates nominated during the 5-day open online General Members Meeting will be included in the ballot.

If any member has any questions regarding the election, please contact myself (president@marinemammalscience.org) or Katharina Peters (Nominations and Elections Committee chair, elections@marinemammalscience.org).

Kind regards,
Simon

Simon Goldsworthy
President
The Society for Marine Mammalogy

Dear Members,

This is your reminder to vote for SMM’s Honorary Member nominees by 30 January 2024.

We are pleased to present two new nominees to become Honorary Members for you to vote on. An Honorary Member is a member recognized for distinguished service to the field of marine mammalogy, as recommended unanimously by the Board of Governors, and elected by two-thirds of the voting members. Honorary Members have all the privileges of full members but are exempt from dues.

Here is the link to the ballot: https://marinemammalscience.org/for-members/2023-members-ballot/

The ballot will close at 3:00 PM EST on 30 January 2024.

Best wishes,
Katharina J. Peters
Nominations and Elections Committee Chair

NOMINATE A FELLOW MEMBER
In 2019, the members of the Society for Marine Mammalogy (SMM) voted to establish a Fellows Membership Category. We are pleased to announce our Society’s second call for nominations of Fellow Members.

The SMM Constitution identifies a ‘Fellow’ as a member who is being recognized by the Society and its membership as having “rendered conspicuous service or made truly notable contributions to the advancement and diffusion of the knowledge of marine mammal science or the fostering of its practical applications through conservation of marine mammals. Payment of dues to the Society by the Fellow would remain the same as for a normal Full member.”

Nominations are Open.
The deadline to nominate a fellow is 15 January 2024. So please come nominate a Fellow for the Society.

ELIGIBILITY
Any current Full member of the SMM after being a Full member for a minimum of five years is eligible. These five years do not have to be contiguous. Please confirm with the nominee that they meet the five-year eligibility criterion prior to submission.

Note: the current members of the SMM Board (which includes elected officers and committee chairs) are not eligible for consideration for Fellows status.

HOW TO NOMINATE
If you are a current SMM member, you may nominate an eligible SMM member as a Fellow. We ask that you submit a complete dossier, described in detail below, to the Fellows Nomination web page by 15 January 2024. The dossier must be uploaded to the Fellows Nomination web page as a single .pdf document.

Each dossier shall include the following elements.

(1) Letter of Nomination. This letter should provide insight into a nominee’s service, notable contributions to the advancement and diffusion of the knowledge of marine mammal science, or the fostering of its practical applications through the conservation of marine mammals. The nominating letter can be no longer than one page (12 pt font).
The Committee will consider the following factors:

1. service to the Society;
2. contributions to marine mammal science including activities such as publications and presentations, field work, research and development, or administrative and logistical support; or
3. contributions to the teaching or dissemination of knowledge of marine mammal science and conservation. Due to the diversity of disciplines and activities of The Society for Marine Mammalogy members, the relative importance of these factors will differ from candidate to candidate. The Fellow candidate would be expected to be exemplary in, and have made substantial contributions to, at least one of these factors (e.g. be in the top 10% of the membership).

(2) Seconding letters. The dossier should also include two seconding letters, one of which must be from a current SMM member. Signed-in SMM members can search for all current members via the SMM Member Directory. Each seconding letter can be no longer than one page (12 pt font).

(3) Complete curriculum vitae of the nominee. The format and length of this document is unrestricted, as we are encouraging nominations of individuals from broadly different backgrounds and the standard CV formats across fields are likely different. Note that only text should be submitted as part of the CV. If audio or video files are relevant provide a link in the documents submitted.

(4) Proposed maximum 20-word citation for the Fellow (e.g., Kenneth S. Norris – for efforts to found the Society and contributions to the process of dolphin echolocation and hearing).

All materials must be uploaded here: https://marinemammalscience.org/about-us/fellows-program/fellows-program-nomination/

DOSSIER REVIEW PROCESS
The dossiers will be received by the committee Co-chairs and the SMM Members-at-Large.

Identifying information about the nominator and seconders will be redacted from each dossier to ensure a blind review. The Fellows Committees will be Co-Chaired by the Members-at-Large, who will form a committee of seven members holding Fellow status, and at least one contributing, but not voting student member, with attention paid to diversity of representation. Members will serve staggered, four-year terms. Fellows Committee members may not submit nominations. For more information about the Fellows Committee, please see the General Operating Policies of our SMM governing documents.

QUESTIONS
If you have any questions about the nomination process, please reach out to the Co-Chairs of the Fellows Committee, our Members-at-Large:
Cindy Peter and Dipani Sutaria (mal@marinemammalscience.org)
For any technical questions regarding the online application, please email admin@marinemammalscience.org.

Thank you,
Members-at-Large 2023
Society of Marine Mammalogy

The SMM Fellows Program is now accepting nominations. From our Constitution, a Fellow is a member who is being recognized by the Society and its membership as having “rendered conspicuous service or made truly notable contributions to the advancement and diffusion of the knowledge of marine mammal science or the fostering of its practical applications through conservation of marine mammals”. A nomination for advancement to Fellow is appropriate for any current Full member of the SMM after that individual has been a Full member for a minimum of five years.

If you are a current SMM member, you may nominate an eligible SMM member as a Fellow. We ask that you submit a complete dossier, described in detail below, to the Fellows Nomination web page by 18 November 2023. The dossier must be uploaded to the Fellows Nomination web page as a single .pdf document.

If you have any questions about the nomination process, please reach out to the Co-Chairs of the Fellows Committee, our Members-at-Large:

Cindy Peter and Dipani Sutaria (fellows@marinemammalscience.org)

For any technical questions regarding the online application, please email admin@marinemammalscience.org.

Thank you in advance for your nominations!

Best regards,

Cindy Peter and Dipani Sutaria

Hi All,

Hard to believe another few months has passed since the last (April) newsletter. As indicated then, a key focus of the Board has been taking stock of the impacts of the last few years on the Society’s financial situation (e.g., COVID, year delay of the Florida conference, stock market performance). Our Treasurer, Dee Allen, has been tirelessly working with our former Treasurer Katie Moore, Marsha Flood from Talley Management Group (who manage the Society’s accounts), Danette Harfst from Harfst and Associates (who manage the Society’s investments), and other committee chairs and myself to assess and summarise the SMM’s financial situation over the last four years, as well as our expected revenue and expenses through to the end of 2023. This was presented to the Board at our recent Board Meeting (6 July).

To summarise briefly, the operating budget of the Society has run at a net loss over the last four years and is expected to do so again in 2023 (~$1M operating loss over five years). To cover these losses, we have had to successively draw down on the unrestricted funds in the Society’s investment portfolio (i.e. liquidate assets). On current projected expenses and revenue, there will be no unrestricted funds remaining by this time next year.

As the Small Grants-in-Aid of Research (SGIAR) program is funded through these unrestricted funds, we cannot launch the 2023 round until financial issues are addressed. As the Society’s ‘named’ and Conservation awards are funded through the Society’s restricted investment funds (that can only be paid out to awardees), they have remained largely unaffected by the Society’s cash-flow issues, but of course are subject to fluctuations in the stock market. With the downturn in the stock market in 2022, a decision was made to delay the Conservation fund call-for-proposals until mid-2024.

The Board will reconvene in a month to develop a financial plan and strategy to address the current situation. At its most basic, this will need to include a strategy to minimise our current losses, grow and diversify our revenue base, and grow our unrestricted funds back to a point where they are investments with a spending policy (i.e., not to be continuously drawn down). We will keep the membership informed of the steps we will be taking to improve the financial situation of the Society.

One immediate way our Society can improve its bottom line is to encourage all lapsed members to renew their membership. Current membership is running at about 70% of what it usually is. (If you are receiving this newsletter, your membership is currently active. An early renewal of your membership will be added onto your existing membership.) We will be initiating a mail-out shortly to encourage renewal of memberships, so if you have friends or colleagues whose memberships have lapsed, please encourage them to re-join! If you are a longtime member, please consider becoming a lifetime member of the Society to save yourself money over time and to help the Society through this challenging time.

On a more positive note, I want to thank all the members who participated in the recent SMM Science Communication meeting. Over the coming weeks we hope that this re-badged ad-hoc social media committee will begin to develop a strategy to consolidate and improve the coordination of the Society’s various scientific communication platforms and products (e.g., web pages, e-mails, social media, podcasts, conferences, and the broader virtual environment) with a dedicated team who are innovative and media savvy. The intent will be for the committee to help us more strategically and consistently communicate the work being done by our committees, garner more attention from the general public about our work and the work we support. It is hoped this can be part of the solution to broadening the financial support for our Society (support through sponsors, donations, legacy giving, etc)!

More good news – the Perth 2024 SMM Conference Team continue to advance conference planning and I am pleased to announce a sneak preview of the Perth 2024 SMM logo below! The official conference launch with website and prospectus is anticipated to occur in the next couple of months, so stay tuned!

Thanks again to my SMM team and to all our members for their contributions to our field. Our Society remains strong!

Cheers,
Simon

Simon Goldsworthy
President, Society for Marine Mammalogy