The recording of the July 19, 2022 webinar on the Experiences of Women in Marine Mammal Science is now available for viewing on the Society for Marine Mammalogy YouTube channel. Please send any questions or comments to the SMM ad hoc Diversity and Inclusion Committee at diversity@marinemammalscience.org or WIMMS at:
Email: womeninmmsci@gmail.com
Website: https://wimms.weebly.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/womeninmmsci/
Twitter: @womeninmmsci
Hashtag: #womeninmmsci
Earlier this month the marine mammal scientific community said goodbye to Dr. Bill Perrin. For many of us on the SMM Board, past and present, Bill was a valued friend and colleague who gave so much to the Society. His contributions to the SMM were many and only outdone by his scientific contributions to the broader marine mammal field. The team at NMFS’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center wrote a beautiful remembrance for him. Rather than recreate it, we thought it best to share it here.
Thank you to Bill for everything he gave to the SMM. It was an honor to serve with him.
The SMM Board of Governors
Remembering Bill Perrin
It is with deep sadness that we report the passing of Dr. William F. Perrin on July 11, 2022 at the age of 83.
Starting in the late 1960’s, as a student of Ken Norris and Carl Hubbs, Bill began conducting what would become critical early research on dolphins killed in the eastern Tropical Pacific tuna purse-seine fishery. His work highlighted the growing problems in this fishery, which in turn was influential issues leading to the enactment of the US Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972. Additionally, the rigor and scope of his pioneering work on the taxonomy, life history, population ecology, and behavior of these species has raised the bar for all future studies. Bill can truly be considered the father of modern marine mammal taxonomy.
It is impossible to accurately convey the ways Bill has instrumentally changed and guided the field of marine mammal science. He has served as a president of the Society for Marine Mammalogy, chair of the SMM International Relations Committee, and founder of the SMM Taxonomy Committee. He has been an editor of Marine Mammal Science, associate editor of the Journal Mammalogy, editor of the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals along with Bernd Würsig and Hans Thewissen, and editor of the World Cetacean Database. Over several decades, he has been a leader of critical cetacean conservation work done with many national committees like of Committee of Scientific Advisors, Marine Mammal Commission and international organizations such as the IUCN Cetacean Specialist Group and their Red List and the Scientific Committee of the IWC and the Scientific Committee of the CMS. He is also known for his work with numerous regional organizations, particularly his studies and capacity building in southeast Asia and western Africa. He and his wife, Dr. Louella Dolar, extensively studied cetaceans around the Philippines, and lobbied for their continued conservation.
For almost 50 years, Bill had a celebrated career at the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center, where he served as a Senior Scientist for much of that time. He was also an adjunct Professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD and the University of Washington. Bill’s publication record is awe-inspiring. He not only wrote and co-authored hundreds of papers, but also edited many important books and special journal issues.
The students, coworkers, and colleagues around the world who have had the pleasure to be mentored by and work closely with Bill have all enjoyed not only his remarkable and organized mind, but also his passion for the work and unique sense of humor. Those who knew him well understood that his gruff exterior was only a thin cover for a man who was overly generous with his time and resources. He would regularly go out of his way to provide help to aspiring biologists, many of whom would later become friends. The field of marine mammalogy has lost one of its most influential and important scientists and leaders.
We offer our love and support to his family in these difficult times. We take some comfort in the knowledge that his legacy will live on in all of us whose lives he has touched. We will miss him terribly.
In remembrance of Bill, a memorial service was held for him in San Diego, CA on Sunday, August 7th. A video of Bill Perrin’s memorial is available at https://memoryafilms.com/Perrin/ and includes the short portion of the reception that followed. The film will be available online for one year.
Eric Archer, Lisa Ballance, Bob Brownell, Jr., Tom Jefferson, Sarah Mesnick
This series highlights the latest and most exciting marine mammal science published in the Marine Mammal Science Journal. The SMM created this series to give scientists and citizens around the world a chance to engage with marine mammal scientists, learn and ask questions. All are welcome!
Thursday, July 21st (4 pm PDT / 7 pm EDT / 11 pm GMT)
SMM Seminar Editors’ Select Series: Response of humpback whales to biopsy sampling
with Dr. Solène Derville
This event is free to attend and presented online via Zoom, but registration is required.
Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_lo_3OmCmQqK8Ka7_DIaJ3g
Space on Zoom is limited to the first 500 attendees. The talk will also be streamed live on the SMM Facebook page.
About this talk:
Tissue biopsy sampling from cetaceans is essential to address many biological, ecological, and behavioral questions that can ultimately inform conservation. However, these research activities are invasive and their effect deserves to be investigated, particularly when performed on young individuals (calves and juveniles). We assessed the short-term response of humpback whales to boat approach and remote biopsy sampling in a breeding ground according to age-class, sex, female reproductive status, social context, sampling system, habitat, and repeated sampling with more than 20 years of data collected in New Caledonia, South Pacific.
About the presenter:
Dr. Solène Derville conducts research in animal behavior and spatial ecology, including the way animals interact with their environment, move, and are distributed in geographical space. In general, Dr. Derville seeks to develop innovative and multidisciplinary methods to study the multi-scale space use patterns of marine megafauna species. She obtained her Master’s degree in biology from the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Lyon, France, and her PhD from Sorbonne Université studying humpback whales in the South Pacific. Dr. Derville is currently a postdoc at the Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna lab, in the Marine Mammal Institute (Oregon State University), although she is still based in New Caledonia where she has lived and conducted research for seven years.
Open access to this article is made temporarily available in the weeks around the presentation and can be found here. Current SMM members have access to all other Marine Mammal Science papers.
Missed a presentation or want to share this series with a friend? All previous Editors’ Select presentations are recorded and archived on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUc78IynQlubS2DVS1VZoplf_t42-yZOO
We invite you to participate in a webinar on the “Experiences of Women in Marine Mammal Science” taking place from Tuesday, July 19, 2022, from 4-6pm GMT+1.
Organized by the Women in Marine Mammal Science (WIMMS) Initiative, in association with the Society for Marine Mammalogy Ad-hoc Diversity and Inclusion Committee, this webinar will consist of presentations by speakers from a diversity of backgrounds, career stages and sectors, and family considerations followed by a Q&A discussion with the speakers.
Webinar registrants will also have access to a free virtual screening of the film “Picture a Scientist” for a 3-day period overlapping the webinar.
Register for the webinar here: http://tinyurl.com/2p8uw2b5
This series highlights the latest and most exciting marine mammal science published in the Marine Mammal Science Journal. The SMM created this series to give scientists and citizens around the world a chance to engage with marine mammal scientists, learn and ask questions. All are welcome!
Thursday, June 16th at 4 PM ADT (12 PM PDT / 3 PM EDT / 7 PM GMT )
SMM Seminar Editors’ Select Series: Examining the Eastern North Atlantic right whale: insights from genetic analysis
with Dr. Brenna Frasier
This event is free to attend and presented online via Zoom, but registration is required.
Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_hLrr4SKAQi-wLPXyakLgtA
Space on Zoom is limited to the first 500 attendees. The talk will also be streamed live on the SMM Facebook page.
About this talk:
The North Atlantic right whale was once present in both the Western and Eastern North Atlantic, but has been extirpated from the Eastern North Atlantic as a result of over a thousand years of whaling activities. It has not been identified whether the animals that were once present in the Eastern North Atlantic were a distinct population from the small group of animals remaining today in the Western North Atlantic. Whaling records suggest that animals in each of these regions may have had distinct habitats, and possibly distinct populations, but what does genetic data suggest? To address this question, we examined the genetic characteristics of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA from 24 whale bones that range in age from the 4th to the 20th century from around the North Atlantic. The interpretation of the results is challenging, especially in a species that has a long history of commercial whaling. However, all evidence combined suggests that there was some degree of isolation between whales in each of these two regions.
About the presenter:
Brenna Frasier is trained as a biologist and has studied marine mammals for almost 25 years. Her research has focused on DNA analysis (primarily ancient DNA) as a tool to address evolutionary, conservation and species management questions with a particular interest in examining human use of whales over the last millennia, whether for commercial or subsistence use. This has culminated in projects examining 20th century whaling in Antarctica, 16th century Basque whaling of right and bowhead whales along the coast of Canada, and Norse whale-use over the past 1000 years around the North Atlantic. While most of her work has focused on marine mammals such as the North Atlantic right whale, beluga whale and Maritimes walrus, she has also studied a variety of other animals, including the Sable Island horses and several bat species.
Brenna has a passion for facilitating science and natural history learning and communicating science in unique and natural environments which has led to an array of other outreach-based projects including the development of marine mammal and forensic science camps for teens, supporting a local Forest School, writing for an array of audiences and completing field guides to assist in Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) studies on marine mammals in the Canadian Arctic. She is currently the Curator of Zoology of the Nova Scotia Museum, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Open access to this article is made temporarily available in the weeks around the presentation and can be found here. Current SMM members have access to all other Marine Mammal Science papers.
Missed a presentation or want to share this series with a friend? All previous Editors’ Select presentations are recorded and archived on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUc78IynQlubS2DVS1VZoplf_t42-yZOO
The Society for Marine Mammalogy would like to inform eligible members (see below) that this year’s Small Grants in Aid of Research application window is now open. Applications will be accepted during the entire month of June. The Committee of Scientific Advisors will review applications and make recommendations on funding with decisions announced in early September 2022. The awards are up to US $2,000. Up to 25% of the budget may be used as stipend. All three of the following eligibility requirements must be met:
1. Be a member of the Society for Marine Mammalogy.
2. Be a national of any country not on this Excluded Country List: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and United States.
Preference is given to early career researchers such as students and researchers with less than 5 years post-doctoral experience.
3. Be conducting research in a country not on the above Excluded Country List.
The Small Grant web page provides full information, links to past successful applications, a list of recipients from prior years and their completed project reports, and a link to the application itself. Please be mindful of the word limits in the various sections of the application.
Last year 18 of 42 applicants from 12 counties received funding.
For technical questions regarding the online application, please email the Society webmaster at admin@marinemammalscience.org
For all other questions about the grants, please contact:
Laura J. May-Collado
Chair
Committee of Scientific Advisors
Society for Marine Mammalogy
science@marinemammalscience.org
This series highlights the latest and most exciting marine mammal science published in the Marine Mammal Science Journal. The SMM created this series to give scientists and citizens around the world a chance to engage with marine mammal scientists, learn and ask questions. All are welcome.
Thursday, May 19th at 4 pm PDT / 7 pm EDT / 11 pm GMT (Friday, May 20th at 11 am NZST)
SMM Seminar Editors’ Select Series: Feeding tactics of resident Bryde’s whales in New Zealand
This event is free to attend and presented online via Zoom, but registration is required.
Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_90MvXhciTZ61bj-3rNwA-g
Space on Zoom is limited to the first 500 attendees. The talk will also be streamed live on the SMM Facebook page.
About this talk:
Baleen whales are the largest mammals on earth, but many questions about their behaviour remain unanswered as they are submerged in the pelagic environment. Among baleen whales, Bryde’s whales are one of the least known. They are a non-migrating species of baleen whale with a wide distribution. There is a small (∼ 135) year-round population of Bryde’s whales in the Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand. We investigated their foraging behaviour using data collected by an archival tag (DTAG2), boat-based surveys, and drones. Our investigation not only revealed some interesting aspects of their foraging behaviour, but also helped us to understand other aspects of their lives such as rest.
About the presenter:
After receiving a Master’s in Marine Mammal Science from the University of St. Andrews, Sahar moved to New Zealand to do a PhD at the University of Auckland. She completed her PhD on behavioural ecology of Bryde’s whales and graduated in 2019. Since then, she has been doing something completely different from marine mammal science — she is a co-founder at a tech start-up in New Zealand. However, she hasn’t distanced herself from science; she continues to work on the papers from her PhD and plans to return to the marine science world full-time in the future.
Open access to all Marine Mammal Science papers is available to current SMM members. Open access to this article is made temporarily available to the public in the weeks around the presentation and can be found here.
Missed a presentation or want to share this series with a friend? All previous Editors’ Select presentations are recorded and archived on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUc78IynQlubS2DVS1VZoplf_t42-yZOO
In 2022, the Louis M. Herman Research Scholarship received 17 proposals from Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Hong Kong SAR, Madagascar, Mexico, Nicaragua, Scotland and the United States of America. The quality of submissions was extremely high, so much so that the Awards Committee is delighted to announce that this year there are two successful applicants; “Eavesdropping on Whales – Does Humpback Whale Song Convey Genetic Quality?” submitted by Franca Eichenberger of the University of St. Andrews, Scotland and “Exploring vocal development in humpback whales” submitted by Julia Zeh of Syracuse University, the United States of America
Click here to read the winning abstracts and find out more about Franca and Julia’s winning proposals. Congratulations to both our winners and we wish you success as your projects progress.
Thank you,
Lindsay Porter
Chair, Awards and Scholarships Committee
Society for Marine Mammalogy
Find out more about Louis M. Herman’s work and his legacy at the Dolphin Institute:
https://www.facebook.com/TheDolphinInstitute/
https://www.instagram.com/thedolphininstitute/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCodRoeOsT70S-AS5RV17NAA
The SMM Seminar Editor’s Select Series highlights the latest and most exciting marine mammal science published in the Marine Mammal Science Journal. The SMM created this series to give scientists and citizens around the world a chance to engage with marine mammal scientists, learn and ask questions. All are welcome.
Thursday, 21 April 2022 at 3 pm EDT (12 pm PDT / 7 pm GMT)
SMM Seminar Editors’ Select Series: Tagging, Ranging Patterns, and Behavior of Franciscana Dolphins off Argentina and Brazil
This event is free to attend and presented online via Zoom, but registration is required.
Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_dTGrhyElS5iYsRTejxMSVQ
Space on Zoom is limited to the first 500 attendees. The talk will also be streamed live on the SMM Facebook page.
About this talk:
Franciscanas are the most endangered cetaceans in the Southwestern Atlantic, where they are exposed to human activities such as artisanal gillnet fishing and coastal development. A need for information on ranging patterns and behavior led to efforts to attach satellite-linked tags to franciscanas in three bays in Argentina and Brazil during 2005-2013. Residency, with small home ranges, occurred at each site. Movements were influenced by tides. The dolphins used the entire water column, exposing them to gillnets regardless of net depth. Definable ranges facilitate relating specific geographically based threats to appropriate population units, increasing the potential for effective conservation.
About the presenter:
Randall Wells is a co-founder and directs the Chicago Zoological Society’s Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, which conducts the world’s longest-running study of a wild dolphin population. He began studying bottlenose dolphins in Sarasota Bay, Florida, as a high school volunteer at Mote Marine Laboratory in 1970. Wells received his Bachelor’s degree in Zoology from the University of South Florida in 1975, his Masters in Zoology from the University of Florida in 1978, his PhD in Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1986, and he was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 1987. Wells joined the Chicago Zoological Society staff in 1989. Wells’ current research program uses a collaborative approach to examine the behavior, social structure, life history, ecology, health, and population biology of bottlenose dolphins along the central west coast of Florida, with studies focusing on up to five concurrent generations of a locally resident ~170-member dolphin community. Recent research topics include the effects of human activities on coastal dolphins, such as boat traffic, fishing activities, human feeding of wild dolphins, and environmental contaminants, and the impacts of other environmental disturbances such as red tides. He has also conducted research on a variety of marine mammals including Hawaiian spinner, Atlantic spotted, franciscana and other dolphin species, vaquita porpoises, bowhead, humpback, blue, and gray whales, and manatees. Wells is past-President of the international Society for Marine Mammalogy, and received the society’s Kenneth S. Norris Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021.
Dr. Wells will be joined by his co-authors, Drs. Marta Cremer, Leonardo Berninsone, and Krystan Wilkinson, for a Q&A session following his presentation.
Open access to all Marine Mammal Science papers is available to current SMM members. Open access to this article is made temporarily available to the public in the weeks around the presentation and can be found here.
Missed a presentation or want to share this series with a friend? All previous Editors’ Select presentations are recorded and archived on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUc78IynQlubS2DVS1VZoplf_t42-yZOO
Dear Members,
This is your final reminder to vote on several important pieces of Society business. There are many changes to our governing documents, including term limits, changing membership types, approving a stipend for our journal editor and more. It is also time to vote for or against a change in our membership dues structure and rates. We have been discussing this as a community since December but for a refresher, you can read about these changes in this news item on our website. The ballot will be open for 1 more week. We hope that all members will take part in shaping the future of the Society.
Here is the link to the ballot: https://www.marinemammalscience.org/for-members/2022-members-ballot/
The ballot will close at 3:00 PM EST on Monday, 11 April 2022.
Best wishes,
Emer Rogan
Nominations and Elections Committee Chair