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)

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:

1. ‘Lethal Take of Marine Mammals’, which will be a feature of the plenary day, the first day of our meeting; and
2. ‘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:

1. an independent facilitator,
2. introductory speaker(s) who will outline the relevant science, and
3. 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