The BC Marine Mammal Symposium came about after a discussion between two marine mammal scientists on an old school bus in Chicago 19 years ago.  Drs Andrew Trites and Jim Darling wanted a way to bring researchers and other interested folk  of the BC region together to talk about issues related to marine mammals.  These ideas formed into an annual meeting and this has has expanded over the years into a symposium that is specifically not that sciencey in nature.  This symposium is in many ways unique in that it enables people to come together to network, catch up on research occurring off the coast and also, to learn about other research that is occurring.  The format is very informal, presentations are short and allow  students, non-profit groups and industry folk to introduce their work and tell the story behind their research.  But the meeting also provides a great opportunity to seek help from others that are interested, especially for sightings data and stranding responses.

The audience of these meetings is comprised of mostly students, non-profit research groups, DFO cetacean researchers, whale watch vessel owners, captains and naturalist and volunteers.  The meeting is hosted by the Marine Mammal Research Unit of UBC and is supported by Broken Island Adventures Inc and the Pacific Whale Watch Association.
This year there were a variety of talks ranging from cetacean energetics and foraging behaviour, to the hybridization of cetaceans and acoustic monitoring for fin whales.  From the "coolness" of Hawaiian monk seals to the fine scale data acquired from tags on the foraging behaviour of northern fur seals in the Bering Sea.  The conflicts between marine mammals and fisheries were also covered.  The meeting also allows for research groups at the DFO, BC Marine Mammal Sightings network and Cetus (a non-profit group that run both the Straitwatch boater education program and the Robson Bight Killer Whale Reserve warden program) to give updates on the summer season's work.   These presentations allow the members of the audience to see firsthand how their own efforts are  contributing to research, education and conversation of marine mammals both in BC and on occasion further afield. 

At this year's meeting the hot topic of the Enbridge Gateway Project was also presented with some opportunity for discussion.   Biologist from Stantec, the environmental consulting  company working on the Environmental Impact Assessment of the project, presented the work that they have carried out pertinent to marine mammals, and specifically what kind of mitigation measures Enbridge will put in place to try and reduce the impacts of shipping (particularly ship-strike risk) and the effects of an oil spill.  This was a great forum with which to present this work as the project is particularly contentious and there are many concerns surrounding it. 

Meetings such as this provide a great opportunity to meet, network, learn and discuss issues pertinent to the local marine mammal interest community.  And last but not least, the friendly atmosphere provides a really good opportunity to practice your presentation skills!! 

So today I wrote a good sized blog post on a journal's journey into the history of marine mammal science through the eyes of eminent and leading marine mammal scientists, some of whom have since passed away.  But, as Monday mornings prove all to often, there was a malfunction in my abilities to actually post the piece.  It is lost to cyber space... for now.  But I will rewrite this week so stand by, it might be interesting, at least to few of us marine mammal nerds!

Cheers F.

Since 2008 ship-strike related research has been conducted off the coast of California, specifically in response to concerns regarding the impact of shipping on feeding blue whales.  This research has been a collaborative effort, carried out by non-profit groups such as Cascadia Research Collective, academic institutes, government agencies and the office of Navel Research.  The data derived from tagging and observational studies has allowed scientists to better understand the interaction between feeding whales and ships, however, I won't go into the details here, rather I encourage you to check out the links I have posted at the end of this post.. 

The really cool thing that I want to highlight is the recent announcement that the US Coastguard has recommended shifting the shipping lanes in the Santa Barbara Channel.  By shifting the shipping lanes cargo ships will be moved away from feeding whales and therefore reduce the risk of ship-stike. To see the fruits of one's research culminate in a change of management strategy is perhaps what every scientist involved in a study such as this strives for.  It must certainly be gratifying to know that your findings have directly helped to reduce the risks that our activities have on other creatures in the ocean, and also elsewhere.  I know that this is certainly something that I strive for with my own work.

Further information on this research can be found in this nice summary document posted by Cascadia Research:
Summary of ship-strike related research on blue whales in 2011

The Coastguard recommendation can be found at:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/files/la-lb-pars-notice-11-1-11.pdf

And some media articles related to this issues include:
The LA Times
San Francisco Chronicle
ACS Online Journal

In 2011 an eminent fisheries scientist at the University of Washington, Ray Hilborn, published an op-ed piece in the New York times on the status of global fish stocks, entitled "Let Us Eat Fish".  In this piece Hilborn argued that the previous claims of serious declines in fish stocks were exaggerated and that instead many commercial fish stocks were indeed stable and not in decline.  If you have noticed any of the debates in the media over the state of the world's marine environment and in particular the impacts of fishing you might perhaps be raising an eyebrow at these claims.... and one might argue that you would be right in doing so.  In fact in publishing this editorial piece, Hilborn sparked off an avid on line debate in which fellow fisheries scientists, conservationists and others participated in.  The debate over the statements published by Hilborn initially took place over email. As a graduate student who's research area is not directly linked to global fisheries I may not have had the opportunity to follow the debate through the email string had the director of the UBC Fisheries Centre, Dr. Rashid Sumali not copied in the Fisheries Centre mailing list address into the email stream.  Suddenly everyone in the Fisheries Centre was able to follow this intriguing debate, between some of the top fisheries scientists around.  The debate itself has since led to a paper being written, perhaps bringing things full circle in the sense that harnessing the power of social media has allowed for the issue of overfishing to be furthered in the scientific literature.

So you may be wondering why I am rabbiting on about how great it was to be allowed to follow the debate, so what right? What is the point if a debate as important as this is just conducted over email? And here is the neat part.... this debate is now available on line for all to see and even participate in themselves!  This is perhaps a really good example of where a scientific debate that is so pertinent to everyone, (or at least those of us that like sea food and the marine environment) can be removed from the "ivory tower" of academia and brought into the wider world.

Should such migration of scientific debate from the constrains of the ivory tower be encouraged?  I think so. 

Let us eat fish, R. Hilborn, New York Times
Sea Monster - forum on fish, food and people where you can read and participate in the debate that took place in response to Ray Hilborn's New York piece.

Paper on over-fishingRebuilding Global Fisheries, Worm et al. 2009. Science. 325 (578-585)
Paper written as a result of the Sea Monster fisheries debate:
The overfishing debate: an eco-evolutionary perspective, Palkovacs (in press). TREE.

This week I am taking a workshop on social media and science.  I am, admittedly, a little nervous about how to go about using a blog to talk about science, the marine environment and anything else that I find interesting and want to share.  However, I am slowly being convinced that there are definitely benefits with social media and science.  So, to that end I think I am going to face my fears and try to post more.  Perhaps I will even be convinced to sign up to Twitter...... 

Bare with me and I will do my best to find you cool stuff!!

To learn more about what I am currently learning about check out this website.
http://socialmediaforscience.wordpress.com/