Category Archives: Conference News

Grants available for Latin American students to attend 2019 Biennial Conference

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YAQU PACHA, an organization that promotes aquatic mammal protection, conservation, and research in South America and sponsors LAJAM (Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals), has generously offered SOLAMAC (the Latin American Society of Specialists in Aquatic Mammals) two travel grants to assist students attending the 2nd World Marine Mammal Science Conference/23rd Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals.

The conference will take place at the International Convention Centre of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain, on December 9-12th, 2019.

This meeting will be hosted jointly by the Society for Marine Mammalogy and the European Cetacean Society, together with the active involvement of SOLAMAC, effectively bringing together experts in the field from every continent. The gathering of interdisciplinary scientists will enable discussion amongst the marine mammal research community and policy makers, and will facilitate collaboration and training of the next generation of scientists and practitioners.

Travel grant eligibility

To be eligible for one of the grants, an applicant must:

– Submit a manuscript as first author to LAJAM by March 31, 2019. Late applications will not be accepted. The manuscript will have to be accepted to be considered for one of the grants.

– Attach a certificate showing that he/she is enrolled as a student (graduate or undergraduate level) at the time of submission.

– Indicate in the cover letter of the manuscript that he/she meet the above criteria and would like to be considered for the scholarship.

What does the travel grant cover?

Each grant will cover airfare, accommodation, and registration to the upcoming World Marine Mammal Conference for the student author of the best two manuscripts accepted for publication in LAJAM´s first issue of 2019.

Evaluation

An independent panel of experts will be appointed by LAJAM’s Editor-in-Chief to evaluate all manuscripts submitted by eligible students to LAJAM, and will deliver their results by the end of June 2019. The decision of the panel will be unappealable.

Manuscripts will be judged by the originality of the research, the quality of manuscript, and the potential impact of the study on the conservation of aquatic mammals in Latin America.

Questions regarding this travel grants should be directed to lajam.editors@gmail.com

The Conservation Committee seeks nominations for the 3rd Conservation Merit Prize

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The Conservation Committee seeks nominations for the 3rd Conservation Merit Prize. The prize is public recognition given to a person or team that has done extraordinary work towards solving a pressing conservation problem for marine mammals. The person or representative of the team receiving the Prize receives travel to the presentation at the biennial conference including two night’s lodging. Choice of the person or team will be by the Conservation Committee and approved by the Board. Any SMM member may propose recipients. The Prize is only given when the Conservation Committee finds a case of exceptional merit and may not be awarded at every biennial. Please send nomination inquiries (self nominations welcome) to: subspecies.def@gmail.com.

Barbara Taylor
Chair, Conservation Committee

Conservation Committee seeking nominations for the 3rd Conservation Merit Prize

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The Conservation Committee seeks nominations for the 3rd Conservation Merit Prize. The prize is public recognition given to a person or team that has done extraordinary work towards solving a pressing conservation problem for marine mammals. The person or representative of the team receiving the Prize receives travel to the presentation at the biennial conference including two night’s lodging. Choice of the person or team will be by the Conservation Committee and approved by the Board. Any SMM member may propose recipients. The Prize is only given when the Conservation Committee finds a case of exceptional merit and may not be awarded at every biennial. Please send nomination inquiries (self nominations welcome) to: Barbara.Taylor@noaa.gov.

In Memoriam – Remembering Colleagues Lost 2015-2017

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At each Biennial Conference, we honor those colleagues whom we have lost over the last two years. It is one of the most important things we do as a Society and a community. We wish to thank the family members, friends and colleagues who contributed their photos and memories of the 21 individuals included in this Biennial’s In Memoriam. We also thank Mr. Jarrett Corke for its production, and the artists who permitted us to use their music for this tribute.

We have made the In Memoriam available here to be shared with colleagues, family and loved ones.

Dr. Randy Reeves – 2017 Norris Award Winner

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Randy Reeves, 2017 Norris Award Winner

The Board of Governors and Board of Associate Editors have selected Randy Reeves as the winner of the Kenneth S. Norris Lifetime Achievement Award. This award was established in honor of the Society’s founding president as an acknowledgement of exemplary lifetime contributions to science and society through research, teaching, and service in marine mammal science. The award is granted every second year, in association with the Society’s Biennial Conference.

Randall Reeves was born, raised, and partially educated in Nebraska. He received degrees from the University of Nebraska, Princeton, and McGill. After becoming hooked on whales in the mid-1970s, he began a 40+-year engagement with marine mammal research and conservation, initially as a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution, later based at the Arctic Biological Station near Montreal, and most recently out of his home in Hudson, Quebec. Besides participating in field projects on bowheads and narwhals in Alaska, the Canadian Arctic, and Greenland, on right whales and other cetaceans in the North Atlantic, and on river dolphins and coastal cetaceans in Asia and South America, he has spent a great deal of time in archives investigating the history of marine mammal exploitation. As chair of the IUCN/SSC Cetacean Specialist Group since 1996, he has been responsible for preparing and evaluating Red List assessments, drafting conservation action plans, and advising government agencies, intergovernmental bodies, and non-governmental organizations. He has published numerous journal articles, book chapters, and books on marine mammal conservation and science and is a long-time member of the IWC Scientific Committee and of Mexico’s vaquita recovery committee. Reeves also chairs the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission’s Committee of Scientific Advisers.

As this year’s honoree, Randy will deliver a plenary lecture at the Biennial Conference in Halifax and will write an associated paper for Marine Mammal Science. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Reeves on this award.

SMM 2017 EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT: POSTER PODS

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Poster Pods are a fun, free special event taking place during the 2017 SMM conference poster sessions

WE ARE LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEER POSTER POD LEADERS. Leaders should have considerable knowledge in their research area so they can help lead an informed discussion with poster presenters (e.g., post-docs, research scientists, profs).  Sign up here if you want to volunteer.   Leader sign-up closes on 15 October 2017.

Poster Pods are a great way to engage with poster presenters at the 2017 SMM conference! Pods consist of a group of up to 10 participants led by a fearless poster pod leader around a series of posters of a particular theme (e.g., Acoustics) that the leader is an expert in. Pods give poster presenters the opportunity to showcase their work to a large group of people, and pod participants have the fun of touring the poster session with an expert and meeting new people.  Right now we are looking for volunteers interested in leading a poster pod during one or more of the 4 poster sessions. In the sign-up sheet, you will be asked which theme you would like to lead.

Space is limited and spots will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis, so sign up now!

Learn more about poster pods at the poster pod information page on the conference website.  If you have any questions, please send an email to posters@marinemammalscience.org.

Looking forward to seeing you in Halifax,

Kimberley Davies, SMM 2017 Poster Chair

Workshop: Development and implementation of low-cost methods to reduce cetacean bycatch in small scale gillnet fisheries (29 Oct 2017)

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Dear Colleagues,

If you are attending the 22st Biennal Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals in Halifax, Nova Scotia and working on bycatch issues we hope you will consider attending the following Workshop:

Development and implementation of low-cost methods to reduce cetacean bycatch in small scale gillnet fisheries

Description of Workshop:

Bycatch in gillnet fisheries is considered the most significant threat to cetaceans globally. In most cases cetacean bycatch rates are relatively low from a fishery perspective but high, and often unsustainable, from a cetacean population perspective. These are significant challenges to overcome when developing, testing and implementing potential bycatch mitigation measures. This Workshop focusses on low-cost cetacean bycatch solutions for small scale gillnet fisheries and is a follow-up to a similar Workshop organized at the SMM 2015. The Workshop will review available new bycatch reduction methodologies/gear modifications, and results from recent and ongoing bycatch mitigation trials. The Workshop will also identify areas and fisheries with relative high bycatch rates where bycatch mitigation trials may be conducted with high statistical power. This would be facilitated through development of collaborative international research proposals with participation of researchers from areas where trials are logistically difficult but where the results would be applicable. The Workshop will further review how to move from successful trial to implementation, particularly in locations and fisheries where legislation and enforcement may be absent. The Workshop will primarily address drift-and set gillnet fisheries and identify the most promising low-cost mitigation methods for both echo- and non-echolocating species. Workshop discussions will be introduced and stimulated by case study presentations.

We are looking for relevant case study presentations: please contact us if you plan to attend the Workshop and have a suggested presentation.

This will be a half day workshop with a maximum 50 participants.

Date/time: Sunday 29 October 2017. 08:00-12:00.

Organizers: Per Berggren (Newcastle University, UK) and Jeremy Kiszka (Florida International University)

For more information, please email: per.berggren@ncl.ac.uk

For more information about this and other SMM Workshops: https://www.smmconference.org/WorkshopDescriptions

 

Many thanks for considering this and we hope to see you at the Workshop.

Per Berggren & Jeremy Kiszka