Category Archives: Society News

Small Grants in Aid of Research 2023 Program Postponed

Dear Colleagues,

The Society has incurred significant financial losses due to COVID, the delayed biennial conference and additional costs. Therefore, we cannot launch the 2023 Small Grants-in-Aid of Research (SGIAR) program until financial issues are addressed.

We understand the importance of this program to our early career colleagues worldwide, and we are working very hard to make sure the program continues.

Sincerely,
Laura May-Collado
Chair of the Committee of Scientific Advisors
and
Simon Goldsworthy
President of the Society

SMM Seminar Editors’ Select Series: Are dolphins more affected by commercial fisheries than artisanal fisheries? with Tim Awbery

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.Join us on Thursday, 16 February 2023 at 4 pm GMT / 8 am PST / 11 am EST
for the next SMM Seminar Editors’ Select Series:
Are dolphins more affected by commercial fisheries than artisanal fisheries?: A case study from Montenegro
with Tim Awbery

This event is free to attend and presented online via Zoom, but registration is required.
Register here:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wIJwObUlS4WwS7lv5g2utA
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:
Since bottlenose dolphins often inhabit coastal waters and have a diet consisting mainly of fish, it is unsurprising that they often overlap with fisheries. While a number of previous studies have demonstrated that the presence of boats (particularly those associated with whale-watching) affect marine mammal behaviours, to our knowledge nobody has addressed whether different types of fishing vessels alter marine mammal behaviour. In this study, a combination of land-based and boat-based surveys were used to look at four different bottlenose dolphin behaviours, including diving, socialising, surface-feeding, and travelling. Dolphins were observed in both the presence of large commercial vessels and smaller artisanal fisheries, as well as in the absence of any marine vessel traffic. Both commercial fishing vessels and artisanal vessels were found to affect the behaviour of dolphins, but in different ways. Commercial fishing boats significantly altered the proportion of time that bottlenose dolphins spent performing three out of four of the recorded behaviours. While artisanal fishing boats only affected the proportion of time spent performing one behaviour, this behaviour was surface-feeding, important to dolphins for obvious reasons. If dolphin behaviours are interrupted for a long period, it is likely to have consequences on the health of the dolphin population. This work, alongside previous studies, demonstrates that vessel type is an important factor in how a dolphin might be disturbed and therefore must be taken into account when considering management strategies.

About the presenter:
Tim Awbery is a researcher in the Marine Mammal Research Team at the Scottish Association for Marine Science, currently investigating minke whales on the west coast of Scotland. Previously, Tim worked in the Mediterranean for DMAD – Marine Mammals Research Association, a non-government organization based in Turkey. While his work took him throughout the north-east Mediterranean, he was predominantly based in Montenegro, Turkey, and Albania, working on several marine mammal research projects. Tim has been involved in the publication of a range of studies providing some of the first data from overlooked regions in these countries. His research has two primary focuses: building a baseline of marine mammal data in understudied areas and using these data to understand where marine mammals and human threats overlap and how these threats affect marine mammals. He intends his work to inform conservation by providing concrete information, rather than leaving managers to rely on anecdotal evidence when making decisions.

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

Signing off as your President

Aloha SMM Community-

Welcome to 2023!  With the new year comes the transition to our new SMM Board. There is a lot of change to the Board this year which should bring fresh ideas and new energy.  Your new Board is as follows:

Simon Goldsworthy, President
Daniel Palacios, President-Elect (elected 2022)
Jeremy Kiszka, Secretary (elected 2022)
Dee Allen, Treasurer (elected 2022)
Cindy Peter, Senior Member-at-Large
Dipani Sutaria, Member-at-Large
Ayça Eleman, Student Member-at-Large
Theresa Tatom-Naecker, Student Member-at-Large
Sophia Volzke, Student Member-at-Large (elected 2022)
Clinton Factheu, Student Member-at-Large (elected 2022, starts staggered term in 1 year)

Your committee chairs:
Katharina Peters, Nominations and Elections (Started 2023)
Nico Ransome, Membership (Started 2023)
Eric Archer, Diversity and Inclusion (Full committee by vote in 2022)
Eduardo Secchi, Conservation
Laura May-Collado, Committee of Scientific Advisors
Lucy Keith-Diagne, International Relations
Mridula Srinivasan, Education Committee
Lindsay Porter,  Awards and Scholarships
Daryl Boness, Board of Editors
Karen Stockin, Ethics Advisory
Patty Rosel, Taxonomy
Doug Wartzok, Archives (ad hoc)

Congratulations to our newest board members and thank you in advance  to the entire board for all the great work you will do for our community.  Thank you to the officers and committee chairs who are stepping down from their Board service: Katie Moore (Treasurer), Tara Cox (Secretary),  Cecile Vincent (Member-at-Large), Eric Angel Ramos (Student Member-at-Large), Chris Parsons (Membership), and Emer Rogan (Nominations and Elections).  They have all served you incredibly well in their positions and deserve a thank you and maybe a glass of wine  or beer at the next conference.

Other Ballot Results
I alluded to it above but I am excited to report that there was incredibly strong support for transitioning our Diversity and Inclusion Committee from ad hoc status to a full committee.  The D&I Committee has done great work under the leadership of Eric Archer and Tara Cox. This work will no doubt continue but the committee chair will now have an important vote for broader Society business as well.
Even though we are only 5 months out from our great Palm Beach conference the Perth team is already deep into the planning for 2024.  And now we know where we will go in 2026!  By a quite considerable margin, Puerto Rico was chosen by the membership to host our 2026 meeting.  Venue and hotel selection has already launched for Puerto Rico 2026.

Aloha, a hui hou
With the coming of the new year comes the end of my role on the SMM Board as well.  The last 4.5 years as President-Elect and President have been incredibly challenging and rewarding.  Despite the challenges and disruptions presented by COVID we have advanced on so many fronts.  We continued our tradition of supporting marine mammal science around the globe with our Small Grants in Aid of Research and the inaugural round of Conservation Fund Grants. Through great work by our conservation fund manager and generous donations from members we were able to fund more conservation awards than we had planned.

We also continued to expand our scientific communication.  Our SMM podcast, guided by Chris Parsons and Ashley Scarlet continues to go strong and increase listenership around the world.  The Editors’ Select Series has turned into a popular showcase of some of the most interesting science from the journal and provides an opportunity for students to engage with leading scientists.  I thank Katherina Audley and Daryl Boness for helping establish the program and for our Student Members-at-Large for taking it over and sustaining it.

We also made important strides in terms of equity and inclusion.  There is still a long way to go but we were able to establish a program to assist authors for whom English is a second language to remove barriers to publication in Marine Mammal Science.  We proposed and you supported the establishment of equitable, income-based membership rates.  We held a series of important conversations on women in marine mammal science, inclusive spaces for queer scientists, research challenges in Asia, and equity in internships.  To increase global access to our biennial meeting we supported a hybrid conference and waived the cost of registration for anyone that needed support.

Despite seemingly insurmountable odds at times, our SMM conference team was able to pull off a great conference in West Palm Beach.  Thank you a thousand times over to everyone that was involved in planning SMM2021…then SMM2022!  You helped usher in a new future for our meetings.

All of the above was done on top of all of the other work our committees are doing on a variety of fronts – supporting students and international researchers, creating education materials, engaging in conservation challenges around the globe, and so much more. The SMM Board has my deepest gratitude for their creativity, thoughtfulness and tireless efforts to continue this hard work when each of them was facing their own struggles over the years.  MAHALO to Katherina Audley and Jarrett Corke, two wonderful partners in crime, who are heroes behind the scenes to make all of this stuff happen. And thanks to you, our SMM membership, for the work you do in marine mammal science and for your support and engagement in our Society.

A world dramatically turned on its head during a pandemic and social/political unrest was not what any of us had in mind when we took on these roles but I still leave proud of the work that this team did for our Society.  I wish the next Board the best of luck and as always, encourage each and every one of you to find a way to get involved to help shape the future of the SMM.  Thanks for trusting me with the responsibility for the past half-a-decade or so.  Time for a long nap!

Officially signing off! Be safe and well.

Charles

SMM Seminar Editors’ Select Series: Investigating how humpback whales work together while bubble-net feeding, with Ms. Natalie Mastick

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.

Join us on Thursday, 19 January 2023 at 3 PM PST / 6 PM EST / 11 PM GMT
for the next SMM Seminar Editors’ Select Series:
Investigating how humpback whales work together while bubble-net feeding
with Ms. Natalie Mastick

This event is free to attend and presented online via Zoom, but registration is required.
Register here:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_kNoCxVnBTFmrXO0uO_nBAg
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:
In this study, Natalie and her co-authors tagged 26 bubble-net feeding whales and assessed differences in dive patterns between groups of various sizes. They found that whales participating in bubble-net dives adopted one of six dive strategies. More complicated dives were usually used in small groups. One dive type, the upward spiral, was malleable (it could have different numbers of rotations,) and was used across all group sizes. The authors also looked at whether the dive strategies changed based on the number of whales in the group. There were no differences in the strategies based on group size except when whales used an upward spiral strategy. The upward spiral technique changed based on how many whales were feeding together, suggesting that whales needed to maneuver less, and potentially work less, to effectively herd the prey to the surface. This finding shows that working together may benefit the whales by decreasing the amount of energy they expend to feed.

About the presenter:
Natalie is a marine ecologist with a research focus on marine mammal behavior, foraging ecology, and parasite ecology. She is a PhD Candidate in the Wood Lab in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington, and a Graduate Research Fellow with Oceans Initiative. For her PhD, she is studying the change in risk of parasite infections in marine mammals. Natalie is also a founding member and Research Associate with Sound Science Research Collective, where she researches humpback whale behavior in Southeast Alaska. Natalie received her B.S. in Marine Biology and B.A. in Environmental Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and her M.Sc. in Wildlife Science at Oregon State University.

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

SMM Seminar Editors’ Select Series: What tiny molecules can tell us about the giants of the sea, with Dr. Valentina Melica

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.

Join us on Thursday, 15 December 2022 at 4 PM PST / 7 PM EST (Friday, 16 December at 12 am GMT)
for the next SMM Seminar Editors’ Select Series
Hormones and whales: what tiny molecules can tell us about the giants of the sea
with Dr. Valentina Melica

This event is free to attend and presented online via Zoom, but registration is required.
Register here:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_bZI5tOxLSNy_s8xXOt1TUQ
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:
Hormones are tiny molecules that regulate critical functions in the bodies of mammals, including the important job of maintaining an animal’s energy levels when facing challenging situations. We researched how the hormones cortisol and corticosterone, which are associated with regulating stress response and metabolism, were impacted by different aspects of the lives of blue and gray whales, including age, sex, reproductive status, season, and geographic location. We found that pregnant blue whales and nursing gray whales experienced higher energy demands and elevated hormone levels. This information is essential for understanding how whales cope with stressors caused by human activities.

About the presenter:
Dr. Valentina Melica is a research biologist specializing in endocrine analysis. She grew up in Italy, where she worked as an aquarist and snorkel guide in northeast Italy and earned a master’s degree from the University of Trieste, with a research project on moon jellyfish. She completed her PhD at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where her research focused on reproductive and stress-related endocrinology in the eastern North Pacific populations of blue and gray whales. She now lives in North Vancouver, Canada, where she is research scientist with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, in the Marine Mammal Conservation Physiology program. In that position, she is studying biomarkers in killer whales and humpback whales.

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

SMM Seminar Editors’ Select Series: Time and behavioral adjustments to lactation in Antarctic fur seals with Dr. Renato Borras-Chavez

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!

Join us on Thursday, 17 November 2022 at 6 PM GMT (10 AM PST / 1 PM EST)
for the next SMM Seminar Editors’ Select Series
Life in the fast lane: differences in behavior between lactating and non-lactating Antarctic fur seals at high latitudes
with Dr. Renato Borras-Chavez

This event is free to attend and presented online via Zoom, but registration is required.
Register here:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_VJY7H6WBQA-aa4fNaV6Nvw
Space on Zoom is limited to the first 500 attendees. The talk will also be streamed live on the SMM Facebook page.

About the talk:
Mammals spend more energy when lactating (i.e., feeding their young) than at any other time in their lives. Antarctic fur seal mothers perform trips to sea to find food and then return to feed their pups, repeating this cycle for four consecutive months. By comparing at-sea behavior between lactating and non-lactating females carrying microprocessor instruments, we better understand the challenges of being a mother: they take shorter trips to get food (to return to their pups as quickly as possible), spend less time ashore (to start the cycle again as soon as possible), and modify their diving behavior to collect more food. Now that is a GREAT mom!

About the presenter:
Dr. Renato Borras-Chavez is a scientist from Chile. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in Marine Biology at Andres Bello University, Chile, and his master’s degree at San Diego State University, USA, working in kelp forest ecology. He started working with marine mammals while pursuing his Ph.D. at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. Since his first trip to Antarctica 10 years ago, he has been there seven times, including three long deployments for the project he is presenting here. After completing his Ph.D., he worked for three years with the Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH), continuing his work on Antarctic pinnipeds. Today, he is a research associate at the Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability (CAPES) and preparing to start a postdoctoral research project on leopard seal ecology at Baylor University. He was also the president and national representative of APECS Chile (the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists) until this year.

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 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

Marine Mammal Science Journal Pilot Program to Offer ESL Assistance for Likely to be Accepted Manuscripts

The Society for Marine Mammalogy has created a Marine Mammal Science pilot program to cover the cost of editing for the quality of English for authors for which English is not their primary language (ESL – English as a second language). For an author who meets this condition, and whose paper is likely to become acceptable for publication, as determined by the Editor-in-Chief, he/she will be notified of the opportunity to request that their paper be edited for the quality of English and clarity. If requested and approved, once the paper is at the stage of minor revision, the Editor-in-Chief will have an editor proofread the paper for English and clarity within 6 days, and provide a file within 6 days of receiving the paper. In editing the paper, if any editing inadvertently changes the meaning of something, the author can correct the edit and let the EIC know. The cost for this editing will be covered by the Society for Marine Mammalogy and will be managed by the EIC. This pilot program has been funded for up to $20,000 for an initial year.

It is possible that papers for which the English is sufficiently poor to understand content upon initial submission might be returned to the author for improvement to a level where content is sufficiently clear for reviewers to follow. Reviewers will be instructed to ignore the quality of English in their review as long as it does not impede their ability to understand the substance of the paper. If you have any questions about the program, contact the Editor-in-Chief.

SMM Seminar Editors’ Select Series: Behavior related vocalizations of the Florida manatee with Dr. Beth Brady

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, October 20th 2022 at 1 pm EDT (10 am PDT / 5 pm GMT) 
SMM Seminar Editors’ Select Series: Behavior related vocalizations of the Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris)
with Dr. Beth Brady

This event is free to attend and presented online via Zoom, but registration is required.
Register here:
 https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_WnhO3mH4R8q3Y_euN-VTmQ
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:
Florida manatees produce a variety of vocalizations, but their function is unclear. The goal of this study was to investigate if manatee vocalizations could be correlated with behavior. Multiple underwater microphones were used to record manatee vocalizations in four different environments and behaviors. Vocalizations recorded from resting, playing, stressed and feeding wild animals were statistically tested to determine whether vocalizations varied with behavior and calf presence. The length, amount of noise, and changes in pitch (frequency modulation) from vocalizations were also measured to investigate if they differed between behaviors. Results suggest manatees use few call types to vocalize and vary the structure of the call based on behavior. One call type was correlated with calf presence, and noisier calls were more frequently observed during play. The most common call manatees produced are called “squeaks”. Squeaks were longer in length and higher in frequency modulation when animals were stressed. This research provides a foundation for comparative studies on vocal behavior for the Florida manatee as well as studies on related species.

About the presenter:
Beth was born and raised in rural Pennsylvania and first found her interest in marine life on a family vacation.  She initially became a registered nurse, but after a few years of nursing realized her true passion was marine biology. She returned to school and got her undergraduate degree at Kutztown University, Pennsylvania. After graduation, she volunteered with multiple marine mammal and wildlife organizations and found her love of manatees through an extended internship at Florida Fish and Wildlife (FWC). After the internship, she completed her Master’s at Nova Southeastern University where she first became involved in studying underwater sound (acoustics) and manatee vocalizations. She completed her doctorate at Florida Atlantic University in 2020. She is currently a post doctoral research fellow at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, FL.
Dr. Brady’s primary research investigates vocal communication in manatee species. In addition, she is studying manatee behavior and ecotourism impacts, and recently started flying drones to assess Florida manatee body condition.

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

Cast your vote on SMM Board Leadership, 2026 Conference Venues and Diversity and Inclusion Committee

Dear Members,

Our September 2022 ballot is now live on our website. All current members should log in and vote on several important pieces of Society business. This is your time to help select the SMM Leadership for the next several years, determine where the 2026 Biennial conference will take place and whether to make the Ad hoc Diversity and Inclusion Committee a formal standing committee.

The ballot will be open for 3 weeks. We hope that all members will take part in shaping the future of the Society.

Here is the link to the ballot: https://marinemammalscience.org/for-members/september-2022-members-ballot/

The ballot will close at 3:00 PM EST on Thursday, 13 October 2022.

Best wishes,
Emer Rogan
Nominations and Elections Committee Chair

SMM 2026 Conference Location Options

Greetings SMM Members!

We are just past a very successful SMM 2022 in West Palm Beach, USA and in the process for gearing up for SMM 2024 in Perth, Australia.

We must now cast our gaze to 2026 and decide where our community will meet to discuss all things marine mammals. We will decide our 2026 venue in the upcoming SMM ballot, and this page is intended to provide additional information to help inform your vote. Our four proposed venues are San Juan (Puerto Rico), Portland (Oregon, USA), Vancouver and Montréal (Canada).  All four are great destinations with facilities to match, for a great conference. So please check out the information below and then vote for the venue that both entices you and offers up the opportunity for the most inclusive conference for our SMM community. And keep checking back as information will be updated regularly in the coming weeks!

SMM 2026 Biennial Conference San Juan (Puerto Rico) Portland (Oregon, USA) Vancouver (Canada) Montréal (Canada)
Relative Estimated Registration Cost¹ Similar or possibly less than previous conferences Similar or possibly less than previous conferences Similar or possibly more than previous conferences Similar or possibly more than previous conferences
Accommodation Range $USD² $189-249 $152-239 $218-334 $155-171
Average Cost³ Meals Per Day $USD $28 $37 $27 $32
Average flight costs ($USD) from4:

  • LA
  • Dallas
  • Chicago
  • Washington DC
  • London
  • Frankfurt
  • Tokyo
  • Cape Town
  • Sydney
  • Singapore
  • Hong Kong
  • Sao Paulo
 

 

$516

$501

$438

$400

$1,635

$1,380

$2,117

$2,344

$3,045

$1,546

$2,083

$798

 

 

$241

$328

$322

$330

$1,080

$568

$1,444

$1,447

$1,801

$1,535

$1,769

 

$1,622

 

 

$371

$598

$409

$426

$1,184

$701

$1,631

$1,930

$1,631

$811

$1,203

$1,446

 

 

$494

$483

$312

$304

$659

$553

$1,673

$1,314

$2,227

$1,549

$1,866

$1,250

Convention rental and F& B cost5 $243,956 $211,111 $307,148 $261,731
Proposed Conference Dates 2-10 October 4-12, 11-19 December 30 Oct – 7 Nov 4-12 December

 

¹ This estimate is based on projected venue and other conference associated costs (see 5 below) from 2022 conferences.

² Accommodation costs are based on double occupancy rates provided by the hotels that will most likely be supporting the conference venue. These don’t include any hostels, vacation rentals, or other options available to conference participants. Estimates in $USD.

³ These rates are the average of multiple travel sites and based on simple meals and not medium-higher end restaurants so should be considered a MINIMUM likely cost.

4 This was calculated in $USD using Google Flights on September 14, 2022 and searching fares between city pairs for proposed conference months and days and averaging the best 4-8 departing flights per Google.

5 Based on 800 people attending and similar menus to 2022 and average comparable food and beverage pricing

San Juan, Puerto Rico

San Juan, Puerto Rico’s capital and largest city, sits on the island’s Atlantic coast. Its widest beach fronts the Isla Verde resort strip, known for its bars, nightclubs and casinos. Cobblestoned Old San Juan features colorful Spanish colonial buildings and 16th-century landmarksWith modern conference facilities a turquoise ocean, rainforests to hike, explore and zip­line, it offers many choices for the potential conference attendee. No passports required for U.S. citizens.

 

Portland (Oregon, USA)

Portland, Oregon’s largest city, sits on the Columbia and Willamette rivers, in the shadow of snow-capped Mount Hood. It’s known for its parks, bridges and bicycle paths, as well as for its eco-friendliness and its microbreweries and coffeehouses. The convention center has a focus on sustainability (platinum rating in the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED certification program) and had been recently renovated.

Vancouver (Canada)

Vancouver is a west coast seaport in British Columbia, is among Canada’s densest, most ethnically diverse cities. A popular filming location, it’s surrounded by mountains, and also has thriving art, theatre and music scenes. Vancouver Art Gallery is known for its works by regional artists, while the Museum of Anthropology houses preeminent First Nations collections. The award-winning Vancouver Convention Centre is located on Vancouver’s waterfront with a dramatic mountain backdrop, and convenient access to all the major visitor amenities in the downtown core.

Montréal (Canada)

Montréal is the largest city in Canada’s Québec province. It’s set on an island in the Saint Lawrence River and named after Mt. Royal, the triple-peaked hill at its heart. Its boroughs, many of which were once independent cities, include neighbourhoods ranging from cobblestoned, French colonial Vieux-Montréal – with the Gothic Revival Notre-Dame Basilica at its centre – to bohemian Plateau. The Montréal Convention Centre (Palais des congrès de Montréal) is located in the heart of a city known for its energy, joie de vivre and forward-thinking spirit. The Palais is described as a carbon-neutral architectural masterpiece that houses multipurpose facilities suitable for events of all sizes.