Your president, Jay Barlow, is currently representing the SMM at the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP-CBD) in Cancun, Mexico. The Society was invited to participate by Mexico’s environmental minister, Rafael Pachiano Alaman, who was one of the recipients of the SMM Conservation Merit Award at the last biennial. The theme of this year’s meeting (COP13) is the mainstreaming of biodiversity conservation. In this context, “mainstreaming” means spreading the responsibility for biodiversity conservation from the environmental ministries to other sectors of government, including fisheries, forestry, and agriculture. Barlow issued a position statement from the SMM pleading for additional help in preventing the extinction of the vaquita: https://www.cbd.int/cop/cop-13/hls/statements/statement-society-for-marine-mammalogy-en.pdf.
Category Archives: President’s Blog
SMM President, Jay Barlow, to attend Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 13) in December 2016
Jay Barlow, Society for Marine Mammalogy President, has been invited to attend the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 13).
The purpose of this meeting is to set the scene and provide the necessary impetus to make progress on specific issues in conservation and to discuss challenges and opportunities. During COP 13, about ten thousand participants, including representatives of the countries parties, observer countries, international organizations and others interested will meet in Cancun to negotiate agreements and commitments that give impulse to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity as well as the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the Aichi goals.
Jay’s presence at the meeting will help to promote the goals of the SMM’s conservation committee in the worldwide conservation of marine mammals in being the go-to source for governments and NGOs to obtain facts and unbiased reviews.
The meeting will take place in Cancun, Mexico on December 1-2, 2016. To find out more about the meeting, visit: http://cop13.mx/en/science-for-biodiversity-forum/
Dr. James Mead – 2015 Norris Award Winner
I am delighted to announce that the winner the 2015 Norris Award is James Mead. Jim is a truly worthy recipient of an award which was established in the name of the society’s founding president to acknowledge his exemplary lifetime contribution to science and society through research, teaching, and service in marine mammalogy.
Jim is Curator Emeritus at the Smithsonian, a title bestowed upon him on his retirement in 2009. Jim was appointed curator of marine mammals at the Natural History Museum, Smithsonian Institution, in 1972 and it is from his work here, particularly on anatomy and ziphiids, that he is best known. Jim has published widely in science on cetacean biology, usually specimen – informed, as well as books for a more general audience, such as “Whales in Question”. His greatest work is the lexicon on the dolphin skull which took some 15 years of research and writing.
Jim first discovered an interest in natural history during his childhood in and around the Olympic Peninsula, Washington State, USA. As a school kid, he helped his dad to log trees, learned to drive a bulldozer and drove truckloads of logs to the mill. This early foray into logging convinced him to take up a different career and he subsequently won a place at Yale University, Connecticut, USA, with the intention of becoming a botanist. Jim, in fact, drifted into vertebrate paleontology and while conducting field work in Kenya came across a fossil in an ancient river strata which catalyzed his career long discourse in ziphiid anatomy. After Yale, Jim moved to Austin, Texas, to study for a masters on fossils where he also developed a proficiency with human anatomy. More significantly, Jim bought his Land Rover which still survives in Jim’s possession today! And, perhaps more importantly, he gained a room mate, his future wife, Becky Maglidt.
Following his masters, it was off to the University of Chicago, Illinois, to study for his PhD. By chance, Jim had an opportunity to dissect a dolphin and it was this event that set him on the path to his career in cetology. His PhD led to a major monograph on the anatomy of the dolphin head and he established the anatomical basis for echolocation. After his PhD, Jim worked in the Canadian Province of Newfoundland where he gained experience with large cetaceans. Jim was appointed as curator of marine mammals at the Smithsonian in 1972, at about the same time as Charley Potter who became long-term collection manager. Jim and Charley developed an active recovery program for cetaceans from USA eastern shores. Jim went so far as to learn to fly while working in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, to increase their ability to spot strandings. The recovered specimens were prepared in a necropsy lab located in the centre of one of the Museum’s courtyards. A pungent procedure that ensured all the staff knew when THAT work was under way! Jim and Charley worked hard to fill the gaps in the Smithsonian marine mammal collection which has resulted in the collection being the largest and most important in the world today.
Jim was not only an excellent and dedicated researcher, he also encouraged pre- and post-docs to visit and work with the Marine Mammal Program and thus he launched many young cetologists on their careers. His office was a clearing-house for cetology, a place to meet colleagues and to admire Jim’s library. Visits to Jim’s office were excellent social occasions and provided the motivation to eat out at a new place or look at a new exhibition. Likewise, Jim’s house in Arlington, commonly known as the “the Happiness Hotel”, has been a meeting place and both short and long-term home for interns, fellowship students and diverse cetological vagrants.
As a recipient of the Norris Award, Jim has been invited to give a plenary lecture at the Society for Marine Mammalogy Biennial Conference between December 13-18, 2015 and to write an associated paper for Marine Mammal Science.
Acknowledgements go to Ewan Fordyce for his insights and contributions in providing us with this history
Venue Change for the 2017 SMM Conference
Greetings!
Please find below a few news items of interest from the Society for Marine Mammalogy for you regarding the next two conferences and a reminder to vote.
Venue Change for the 2017 SMM Conference
The organizers for the planned 2017 SMM Biennial Conference in Veracruz, Mexico had to reluctantly withdraw their offer to host our meeting. Citing security issues in Mexico and specifically in the State of Veracruz, Ibiza Martinez and Eduardo Morteo were advised by their University to halt their plans to bring the Conference to Veracruz. The Society is extremely grateful to the hard work of Eduardo and Ibiza on our behalf. We are all hopeful that the security situation in Mexico will improve in the coming years, giving us another opportunity to come together in that wonderful country.
Given the relatively short lead time to select a new venue, the Board departed from our normal procedure of seeking nominations from interested parties, and taking these options to the membership for a vote. Consequently, since the announcement from Mexico in November 2014, the Board has conducted a focused search for an alternate site for our 22nd Biennial Conference. We are excited to announce that our 2017 meeting will be, for the first time, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. An excellent proposal was submitted which has now been accepted by the Board. As many of you know, Halifax has been a center of marine research in general and marine mammal research specifically for many years. We will be using a new convention center in Halifax that will open in 2016. The 22nd biennial conference will be held from 23-27 October 2017. The SMM Board thanks all of those who helped us find this outstanding option. We look forward to seeing you all there.
2015 SMM Conference Abstract Submission Now Open; Early Bird Registration Opens April 6
We are accepting abstract submissions for the Society’s biennial conference to be held in San Francisco from December 13-18, 2015. Abstract submission deadline is May 15, 2015 and conference registration opens on April 6, 2015.
Please Vote!
The Board has identified and recommended that four changes be made to the Governing Documents of the Society. Changes to the Constitution and Bylaws require approval by a majority of all members. Please cast your vote today on the Board’s recommended changes to the Governing Documents.
Wishing you all the best,
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| Nick Gales, President | Jay Barlow, President-Elect |
December Update from Nick Gales
Christmas greetings to you all.
I hope you are able to find time to immerse yourselves with friends and family and take pause before 2015 sweeps us up into another busy year.
Two weeks ago we held the annual meeting of the SMM Board in San Francisco. The organising committee for the 21st Biennial Conference in San Francisco (13-18 December 2015) also attended for one of our two day meeting. I have always loved San Francisco and was reminded yet again what a great venue it is for our next meeting.
Reaching the ‘one year to go’ stage has seen our hard working local organisers move up several notches to prepare for what is highly likely to be our biggest gathering yet. With co-chairs Frances Gulland and Ellen Hines leading the overall team, and Dan Costa and Sarah Allen leading the science team we are in good hands. As with every Biennial we owe a huge debt of thanks to the local organisers who freely give so much of their time to ensure we have a great meeting. Keep an eye out on our website for updates and timelines.
I should note that San Francisco is not a cheap place to host a meeting. We will have full hotel and conference facilities in downtown SF and some spectacular venues in which to meet, mix and learn. We are doing all we can to keep the costs of the meeting down to affordable levels. This is being achieved through a combination of active fund raising and a decision to dip into the Society’s cash reserves to the degree necessary to strike the right balance. Some conferences have added to our cash reserves and some should – quite appropriately – dip into them. The conference co-chairs are working closely with the Board to get this balance right.
While on conferences, we received the very sad news that the organisers of the 22nd Biennial (voted by all of you to be Veracruz, Mexico) have had to withdraw their offer to host the meeting. This very hard decision was made on the basis of political and security issues in Mexico. I take this opportunity to sincerely thank Ibiza Martinez and Eduardo Morteo for all the hard work they and their team had done in preparing for the meeting. It was a tough decision for them to make. We all hope that safety and security issues will be resolved in Mexico, and that hopefully our active Mexican marine mammal community might consider hosting a meeting at some future time.
The Board is working hard to determine an alternate venue for our 2017 meeting.
During the Board meeting we also reviewed the very successful Otago Biennial. This was the first time the meeting had been held in the Oceania region and so was a further important step in representing the international status as a Society. There was some great innovation in the meeting – not only in having to set up a whole new (and wonderful) venue following the catastrophic Christchurch earthquakes – but in areas such as speed talks and a much greater reach through social media. Our sincere thanks to go to Liz Slooten, Steve Dawson and their team for their leadership and delivery of a great event. Thanks also to the University of Otago for providing their facilities.
One of the events from Otago that continues to give rise to correspondence was the panel discussion on captive killer whales. Quite a few people have requested that the transcript from the panel discussion be made public. While this is a perfectly reasonable request, it is not possible in this case. Some panel members agreed to participate on the panel, in good faith, on the basis that there be no public product from the discussion, including publicly available transcripts. As this was the agreed basis for the panel, we must honour it. In discussing this topic the Board agreed that in future we should not give any such undertakings, and that any event held as a formal part of our biennial meetings will be made fully public. Future participants will be made aware of this.
Once again, Merry Christmas to you all. I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in San Francisco in a year.
My best regards,
Nick
Nick Gales’ First Blog as Society President
Well here we go – my first blog in my new role as President of this very fine Society.
Like all of us privileged enough to serve in the variety of roles that keep our Society vibrant, relevant, informative, influential and above all, attractive to be a part of, we do so in a voluntary capacity. We have to learn to balance our usually busy day jobs with the varied and (mostly) interesting roles we play for the society. The fact that my first blog has appeared a couple of months into my new role is a sign that I’ve yet to get that balance quite right! I promise to lift my game (particularly to my patient friends and colleagues on the Board)!
The first and most important task is to thank – most sincerely – out past President, Helene Marsh. Helene is quite simply a force of nature. Her drive, passion and depth of knowledge are a potent combination and have delivered measurable, positive impacts in marine mammal science and conservation. Thanks so much Helene for all you have done for marine mammals, and in this case, for the Society. It’s an overused metaphor, but you really have left very large shoes to fill!
So…the Australocene continues – two Australian Presidents (no – that’s not an oxymoron!) in a row. Its a great sign of our growing internationalisation; surely a healthy trend for our Society.
There are some very real – and in my view quite healthy – tensions emerging among our membership. Some of these were manifest in Dunedin where there were ‘robust’ views in the lead up, during and post our special events on issues of marine mammal killing techniques and killer whales in captivity – both complex and value-laden issues. While there were very few members who suggested that we had got it dead right for those sessions, there were almost equal numbers of people I heard from who said that we either went much too far, or not nearly far enough! So perhaps we did as well as was possible in steering our path on how our science should influence conservation and welfare issues.
I believe almost all in the Society would agree that we have an important role in issues like these – and many other marine mammal conservation issues where science intersects with disparate values, motivations and politics.
The tensions emerge primarily in resolving just what our role is and how we should enact it. None of us should be apologetic about having views on these issues that may not accord with some of our colleagues, but nor should we be intolerant or dismissive of those alternate views. This is a complex issue and there are many valid viewpoints.
Let’s start with the Society’s Mission: ‘… to promote the global advancement of marine mammal science and contribute to its relevance and impact in education, conservation and management’. We are unambiguously a global community focused on conducting and improving the quality and impact of our science (the growing impact factor of our Journal suggests we are making great progress on that front!).
I won’t try, in this blog, to outline a clear path for how we maximise the relevance and impact of our science, while avoiding the slippery slope to the role of advocate – a place where the well earned science credential of our Society would be devalued.
I, of course, have my views, and indeed I have spent almost my entire career in the challenging and interesting space where science interacts with the development of public good policy. But my role as President is not to promote my particular views, but rather, to ensure that I help facilitate, and indeed encourage, a respectful dialogue that takes accord of the divergent views and finds that acceptable pathway that ensures our science continues to make a difference.
In a couple of months I will meet with the Board and conference organising committee to further plan towards what is likely to be our largest ever gathering; San Francisco; 13-18 December 2015 (if you have not already done so – block it out in your diary and start saving your travel money!). The theme; ‘Bridging the past towards the future’ will ensure the conversation on influence and impact from our science will continue there, along with all the great diversity of the work and issues the conference will cover.
I will let you know how our meetings go in a later blog – but keep an eye out for the many conference updates in the meantime.
Best wishes to you all,
Nick
A Final Presidential Blog from Helene Marsh
In a few hours (depending on the time zone), I pass the baton of President of the Society to the very capable hands of Nick Gales. I am sure his experience at the International Court of Justice has given him the gravitas required for the role!
It has (mostly) been a very interesting and rewarding experience to be Present of your Society and I feel very honored to have had the opportunity to serve in that capacity. I would like to thank all my fellow Board members for their support. I could not have done the job without their friendship and professionalism. Particular thanks to:
- Nick Lunn and Ailsa Hall who are also leaving the Board after very long and faithful stints;
- Jim Harvey and Heather Koopman who have bravely agreed to soldier on in their invaluable roles of Treasurer and Secretary (how could the Society manage without you);
- Simon Goldsworthy and Coralie D’Lima who also rotate off the Board after giving stellar service as Member-at –Large and Student-Member-at Large respectively leaving Simon Northbridge and Carolina Loch Silva and their newly elected colleagues to carry on their good work ;
- Liz Slooten and Steve Dawson for such a great conference in Dunedin and leaving the Society in such excellent financial shape;
- Alana Phillips and Shane Gero for their hard work as chairs of the Membership and Education Committees respectively and their attempts at educating me about social media (I still haven’t got a Facebook account though);
- Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara for his attempts to make the Society more international;
- Daryl Boness for his outstanding stewardship of our journal;
- Charles Littnan for his leadership in all things ethical, especially his hard work on developing the Code of Conduct and for organizing the Humane Killing Panel in Dunedin;
- Doug Wartzok for his efficient administration of the grants-in-aid and for moderating the Killer Whale Panel in Dunedin at such short notice – a tough gig;
- Barb Taylor for facilitating the production of a record number of Presidential Letters, some of which actually appear to have made some difference;
- Bill Perrin for his taxonomic wisdom and deep insights into the history of the Society.
A special thanks to Shane for taking over the awards in Dunedin when Nick Lunn could not come at the last minute.
When I stood for President, I aimed to make the Society more international. How are we doing on that front? Membership Secretary, Alana Phillips, has come up with some interesting stats.
- Members from the USA comprise approximately 50% of membership. It will be important to stage at least every second Biennial in the US to serve that constituency.
- Presumably as a result of the Dunedin Biennial, the Society had more members in Australia and New Zealand in 2013 than ever before. For the first time, there are more Australian members than Canadian, although that situation will presumably revert when the 2015 Biennial is held in San Francisco.
- Membership is increasing from Central and South America; Brazil and Mexico have the 6th and 8th most members respectively and we can expect membership from that part of the world to be boosted by the 2017 Biennial in Mexico.
- Although Monaco has the distinction of having the highest per-capita membership of any country, membership from Europe is not as high I would like, presumably because of competition with the European Cetacean Society. I hope that European membership might be boosted by a joint meeting with that Society in 2021. Negotiations to that end have commenced…
- Membership from Asia is still low apart from Japan (5th) – perhaps we need to be thinking about an Asian Biennial in 2025!
However, I am less sanguine about the geography of marine mammal research effort. Between 2008 and 2012, only 12 % of papers in marine mammal were about taxa in low income countries, even though the coastal and riverine populations of marine mammals in such countries are disproportionately at risk. Bob Brownell recently pointed out that 9 of the 12 taxa of small cetaceans listed on the IUCN Red List as “Critically Endangered” are from low income countries. The conservation of these populations needs to be informed by science. I recently attended a workshop on one of these species the Mekong River dolphin in Phnom Penh in Cambodia. Although the survival of this dolphin population is far from certain, its prospects have improved as a result of assistance from a team of international experts. This team is hoping to be able to provide similar expertise to assist in the conservation of the Ayeyarwady dolphin, a liaison that has been facilitated by a Presidential letter – demonstrating that our science can make a difference.
I wish the new Board all the best and look forward to seeing you all in San Francisco in 2015.
Warm regards,
Helene Marsh
Reflections on the 20th Biennial Meeting
The Society held its much awaited biennial conference on the theme of ‘Conservation of Marine Mammals: Science Making a Difference’ on the Otago University campus in Dunedin last week. The conference was a great success despite the unprecedented impact of multiple key threatening processes: the Global Financial Crisis, the Christchurch earthquakes, the US government shutdown and the propeller falling off the ferry bringing the recycled paper for the program booklets from the North Island of New Zealand.
Congratulations to Liz Slooten, Steve Dawson and their team for their fantastic job in organizing such a wonderful conference and their assistance in raising almost $US200,000 in sponsorship. Special thanks are also due to Kim Rhodes from Experient who adapted her professional skills to help shape and deliver a conference in a very different setting from those in which she normally operates.
Today’s graduate students are the future of the Society, and they are the ones who will stand of the shoulders of the giants who founded it. The Society and especially the local Organising Committee raised nearly $90,000 for student travel grants and 132 students were supported to attend the conference. An estimated 300 students participated in the student workshop which featured chapter presentations, a thought-provoking keynote address from Mark Orams and group discussions with professionals in different fields.
For the first time, the conference program included two panel sessions to discuss current important and sensitive issues facing marine mammalogists. Conference attendees voted with their feet by their excellent attendance at these panels indicating the deep interest in our Society becoming an engaged society – one that wants our science to make a difference.
The Society’s Ethics Committee convened a panel to discussing the Humane Killing of Marine Mammals. The purpose of the panel was not to attempt a consensus on the killing of marine mammals, but to educate members regarding current scientific perspectives on these complex technical, ethical and cultural issues. Former New Zealand Prime Minister, Sir Geoffrey Palmer, moderated the panel, comprised of four member with expertise in marine mammal science or animal welfare issues. The panel speakers were: Nick Gales (Australian Antarctic Division), Diana Reiss (Hunter College, CUNY), Paul Jepson (Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London) and James Kirkwood (Universities Federation for Animal Welfare).
The second panel discussed the Scientific Studies of Captive and Free-Living Killer Whales. The goals of this panel discussion were to: 1) provide an overview of scientific data collected from free-ranging and captive killer whales; and 2) offer an opportunity for experts to discuss comparative aspects of killer whale biology in these two environments and the implications thereof. The Chair of the Society’s Committee of Scientific Advisors, Doug Wartzok, moderated the panel. Doug DeMaster (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, USA), a member of the panel, presented a short background paper comparing life history and other parameters between free-ranging and captive killer whales. Other members of the panel were Robin Baird (Cascadia Research), David Duffus (University of Victoria, British Columbia), Mark Orams (Auckland University of Technology), Naomi Rose (Animal Welfare Institute, USA), and Judy St. Leger (Sea World Parks and Entertainment).
The topics discussed by both panels were submitted by members of the society prior to the meeting and posted on the conference wiki. The sessions were recorded and will be made available to members on the Society’s website.
As planned, the panel discussions generated controversy (and controversy inevitably generates rumor). I assure you that the Board was not offered and did not receive money to promote or cancel either panel. The travel costs of some panel members were externally sponsored. The Board has learned lessons from the Dunedin panel discussions and is developing protocols for panel discussions at future conferences in anticipation of lively discussions in San Francisco.
I am pleased that that the Society used our collective knowledge of conservation biology and animal welfare science to inform members about these sensitive issues. I regard it as very important that the Society continues to advance the scientific aspects of such discussions and the Ethics Committee will be forming a Welfare Science Sub-Committee to advance the issues raised by the Humane Killing Panel.
The issues faced by marine mammals are serious and growing. We learned a great deal in Dunedin about the conservation challenges to marine mammals. Much of it was not good news, especially for coastal and riverine species. We must engage with other specialists to address the root causes of these problems which are largely the human issues of poverty, governance and political will. We must also face tough ethical issues if our science is to make a difference.
I hope that some of you will feel inspired by the Dunedin meeting to serve your Society by standing for the Board or agreeing to serve on one of its committees or sub-committees. We look forward to receiving additional nominations for the elected officer position that are up for election in 2014. If you are interested in standing for election please contact Ailsa Hall (ajh7@st-andrews.ac.uk) and if you are interested in being a committee chair or member please contact the President-Elect Nick Gales (nick.gales@aad.gov.au) indicating how you can contribute.
I look forward to seeing you all in San Francisco in 2015.
Helene Marsh,
President (until June 30 2014)
The shocking reality of the risks to Asian River dolphins
In a few weeks we will be gathered in Dunedin for our 20th Biennial Conference. This year’s theme is “Marine Mammal Conservation: Science Making a Difference“.
Despite the triple challenges of the Global Financial Crisis, the devastating Christchurch Earthquake and the recent shut-down of the US public sector, the conference organizers have done an amazing job. The conference program includes 357 talks and more than 400 posters. We are expecting between 1000 and 1200 people to attend from more than 30 countries!
My recent visit to Myanmar (formerly Burma) highlighted the importance of the conference theme and the urgent need for the Society to make a difference to marine mammal conservation.
The Ayeyarwady River in Myanmar supports a Critically Endangered population of Irrawaddy dolphins (Orcaella brevirostris) and a unique practice of cooperative fishing by dolphins and local cast-net fishermen. The Ayeyarwady River dolphin population is fragmented into three sub-populations by two defiles (rocky river regions with fast flowing water) further increasing its vulnerability to a range of impacts including continuing threats from gillnet entanglement, electric fishing, habitat degradation and acoustical disturbance caused by gold mining operations plus the threat of extensive dam building in the upper reaches of the river.
As President of the Society, I wrote to Myanmar policy makers in October 2012, concerning an article in the Myanmar Times that described a rapid increase in the use of electricity for catching fish in the Ayeyarwady River, despite the efforts of the Government of Myanmar to protect Irrawaddy dolphins and the human-dolphin cooperative fishery. In December 2005 the Department of Fisheries established the Ayeyarwady River Dolphin Protected Area in a 74-km segment of the Ayeyarwady River.
My letter offered technical assistance from the Society, perhaps along the lines of technical advice and support to the Cambodian Government and World Wildlife Fund – Cambodia who are addressing similar conservation challenges with the same species of dolphins. Society members have formed an ad hoc Mekong Dolphin Working Group that includes experts from the United Kingdom, United States, China, Japan, Spain, and Canada.
In November 2012, the then Director of Fisheries, invited me to Myanmar for further discussions on Ayeyarwady dolphin research and conservation. Unfortunately, I was unable to go at that time. I recently made a private visit to Myanmar facilitated by local NGOs. I visited the dolphin habitat in the Ayeyarwady River, talked with fishermen, local NGOs and Fisheries Division staff together with Myanmar dolphin expert Aung Myo Chit (who will be in Dunedin).
We learned that the illegal use of electricity to catch fish is increasing. Chinese-manufactured equipment for electro-fishing now supplements home-manufactured gear. Electric fishing is reportedly now practiced by fishers from most villages adjacent to the Ayeyarwady Dolphin Protected Area.
The electro-fishers are largely non-traditional fishers who have obtained sub-contracts to fish from the fisheries concession holders by using bullying tactics such a threatening to poison the fish inside village fish-fences using agricultural chemicals. The fishers have adapted the electro-technology to several fishing technologies including drift gill nets, cast nets and beach seines. They also exploit the mutualistic relationship between traditional fishers and dolphins by using the technique in association with some of the techniques practiced by the co-operative fishers such as banging on the water to attract the dolphins.
There are reportedly more than 10 gangs of illegal electro-fishers (80 – 100 boats) who range widely along the Dolphin Protected Area, without respecting any rules including the concession areas. The activities of the electro-fishers are acknowledged by local staff of the Fisheries Division and the Wildlife Conservation Society. Attempts by Fisheries Division staff to enforce the law against electro-fishing have been unsuccessful.
I have written to the Minister in a private capacity expressing my concerns about this situation. I promised to write to him separately as President of the Society for Marine Mammalogy reiterating the Society’s offer of technical support and suggesting technical areas in which such support might be useful. I shall be seeking the advice of the Conservation Committee on the wording of this letter.
The extirpation of the baiji in the early years of this century is a stark reminder of reality of the vulnerability of small isolated river dolphin populations. The Ayeyarwady River dolphin population is but one of several populations of river dolphins and porpoises in Asia that are listed as Critically Endangered by IUCN. The widespread practice of electro-fishing is only of many threats to these populations. I believe that as experts in marine mammalogy, we need to use our technical expertise to help save the other populations from the same fate. We also need to collaborate with experts in solutions to the root causes of these problems: poverty and limited enforcement capacity.
I look forward to talking to you further about these important matters in Dunedin.
Preparations Underway for the SMM Biennial in New Zealand
Preparations are well underway for the SMM biennial in New Zealand with a near record number of abstract submissions . All the abstracts have been reviewed and the results posted on the web. If you need letters of support to obtain an New Zealand visa or travel funds from your institution, I am in the process of organizing such letters to be downloadable from the website.
As marine mammal scientists, we are incredibly privileged to be allowed to observe and handle wild marine mammals in ways that are not open to members of the wider society. In 2009, the Society published Guidelines for Handling Marine Mammals (Gales et al. Marine Mammal Science 25:725-736). These guidelines represent the ethical standards of the international marine mammal scientific community and define the values that characterise the researchers that are the backbone of our Society. These guidelines are an invaluable resource for researchers and Animal Ethics Committees throughout the world.
Thanks to the hard work of Charles Littnan and his Ethics Committee, the Society has now gone one step further and produced a Code of Professional Ethics, which was accepted by the Society in the mid-year ballot this year and will be published in Marine Mammal Science in 2014. This Code states 13 guiding principles aimed at assisting the Society to fulfil its mission to promote the global advancement of marine mammal science and contribute to its relevance and impact in education, science, conservation and management. The code is comprehensive and covers professional conduct, human and animal ethics, information dissemination and authorship and the use of robust science in evidence based management. I commend it to you.
Two panels associated with the Biennial will provide the opportunity for members to learn about the science I hope will contribute to shaping views about two controversial, ethical matters:
- ‘Lethal Take of Marine Mammals’, which will be a feature of the plenary day, the first day of our meeting; and
- ‘Biology and Life History of Captive and Freed-Ranging Killer Whales’, which will be an evening ‘side event’.
The purpose of these panel discussions is NOT to reach a consensus or Society position but to educate members with regard to current scientific perspectives so that people can consider empirical data as they make up their own minds about these complex mixes of technical, ethical and cultural issues. There will be no outputs from the session or motions from the floor.
The workshops will have several structural features in common:
- an independent facilitator,
- introductory speaker(s) who will outline the relevant science, and
- an expert panel with the capacity to represent the diverse dimensions of the issue in their answers to questions provided by you, the members, in advance of the meeting.
Members of the Society will be invited to submit questions online one month prior to the meeting. The questions will be clearly visible to our membership for transparency’s sake. The working groups organising each session will select a set of the questions that encompass the aspects of the issue. The expert panel will then discuss the questions.
We are very fortunate to have two distinguished facilitators. Sir Geoffrey Palmer will facilitate the ‘Lethal Take’ workshop. Sir Geoffrey, a former Prime Minister of New Zealand was the New Zealand Commissioner to the IWC for several years, experience that makes him outstandingly well qualified for this role.
John Reynolds , a former Chair of the US Marine Mammal Commission and President of the Society from 2006-2008 will facilitate the ‘Captive Killer Whale Workshop’.
I hope that many of you will submit questions on-line and attend these workshops. Watch the SMM website or email smmethics@gmail.com.
There will clearly be much to talk about in Dunedin and I look forward to seeing you there. Remember, it is our very diversity on tough issues such as these that makes our Society so vital, effective and internationally relevant.
Helene Marsh