PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS

Workshop Summary:

This 2-part/2-day workshop (registrations separate) introduces integrated conservation planning for small cetaceans (ICP) and the resources within the IUCN that facilitate this work. About 30 participants are expected.

Day 1 reviews the principles of ICP and the progress made on a set of priority projects addressing information gaps for threatened dolphin and porpoise species. This background will be useful to all who want to learn how ICP can be incorporated into their research and conservation work. Two discussions on day 1 will consider: 1) the different roles that ex situ measures can play in integrated conservation planning for small cetaceans, and how those roles can meaningfully contribute to in situ species conservation, and 2) specific recommendations to enhance on-going priority projects arising from the presentations and discussions.

Day 2 focuses on visioning future ICP projects. One session will develop a process to rank threatened small cetacean species, subspecies and subpopulations according to need for ICP and discuss strengths and weaknesses of the process. Another session will design and discuss research projects (chosen from participant’s suggestions) that could fill knowledge gaps critical to success in translocation or use of ex situ measures, and identify commonalities with in situ research. Because community engagement is a necessary component for creating an integrated conservation plan, this may include suggestions for working with and for communities to preserve livelihoods while also improving our collective efforts to protect wildlife and habitat.

ICP and this workshop are intended to encourage formation of new partnerships, to increase levels of trust and understanding among conservation practitioners and stakeholders across multiple management contexts, and to expand and enhance the quality of the tools available for science-based conservation action.

Results of the workshop will be posted on the IUCN SSC Cetacean Specialist Group’s website under the ICPC’s “Planning” pages.

Virtual Attendance: YES

For more information on virtual attendance, please contact Barbara L. Taylor (Barbara.Taylor@noaa.gov).

Workshop Summary:

In this workshop we will demonstrate how effective conservation tools can be developed by researchers without formal computer science training using accessible, open source tools (R and RStudio). We will highlight applications we have built using the ‘shiny’ R package that are currently used for determining dynamic protection zones for the endangered North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) (https://github.com/NEFSC/READ-PSB-LWT-narwss_rwsas_apps), and for collating and displaying large whale survey results in near real-time (https://github.com/hansenjohnson/WhaleMap). These examples will be used to demonstrate how building these kinds of tools have helped streamline the processing of survey data, dissemination of results, and the implementation of management rules. We will offer a customizable template for users to create tools to summarize their own data with the goal of each participant gaining the understanding of how to build an effective tool that advances their specific conservation goals.

Requirements: Participants will need to have R and RStudio installed on their computers and a working knowledge of the R language. Familiarity with git and GitHub is helpful. Participants can bring their own survey or tag data, although we will have sample datasets available.

Virtual Attendance: YES

For more information on virtual attendance, please contact Leah M Crowe (leah.crowe@noaa.gov).

Workshop Summary: 

The 2nd Marine Mammal eDNA workshop will bring together early-career and established researchers interested in applying emerging techniques in environmental DNA (eDNA) to marine mammal species. Environmental DNA approaches to characterize organismal DNA from marine and freshwater have shown promise for accelerating marine conservation, especially for cryptic, rare and logistically challenging species. Researchers exploring these new approaches to surveying marine mammal distribution and diversity will be invited to share lessons learned from past successes and failures in a series of talks. Participants will then engage in small-group discussion via breakout groups on relevant topics such as challenges in eDNA field sampling, setting up an eDNA lab, eDNA beyond species detection, and others based on a pre-survey of participant interests. Throughout the workshop, we aim to broadly address both the challenges and opportunities that eDNA affords for marine mammal science.

Virtual Attendance: YES

For more information on virtual attendance, please contact Margaret Hunter (mhunter@usgs.gov).

Workshop Summary:

The Cachalote Consortium was created in 2005 with the goal of bringing together researchers from multiple disciplines to promote understanding of global patterns of sperm whale biology, ecology and conservation.  The gatherings provide a forum for presenting progress, trading ideas, exchanging and standardizing methodologies, identifying knowledge gaps, inspiring new collaborations and fostering the next generation scientists dedicated to studying sperm whales. In parallel with the goals of SMM 2021, we seek contributions that promote interdisciplinary dialogue on the science and conservation of sperm whales and their societies and that discuss techniques (traditional and novel) that promote understanding at multiple scales: social, regional and global. We invite scientists, conservationists, students, and policy makers alike, providing a special opportunity to explore these topics as they relate to conserving socially and culturally complex nomadic ocean species. The program will involve a series of short presentations, with ample opportunity for discussion.

Virtual Attendance: YES

For more information on virtual attendance, please contact Sarah Mesnick (sarah.mesnick@noaa.gov).

Workshop Summary:

As the pace of new methods used to study marine mammals accelerates, there is an impetus for scientists working with animals in the wild and in facilities to collaborate. Scientists working in many fields—physiology, cognition, communication, and conservation—benefit from breakthroughs made in both settings. In zoological facilities, confounding variables can be controlled for and access to animals with known health status is guaranteed, allowing the development of technologies and methodologies including biologging tags, drones (UAVs), hormone analysis techniques, and behavioral assays. These advancements aid our understanding of energetics, body condition, cognition, communication, welfare, physiology, and medicine. Likewise, studies in the wild contribute greatly to our understanding of behavior, biology, and ecology in natural settings. The wild is also the venue for applying conservation applications, where insights gained from basic research with animals under human care can be tested with animals experiencing the pressure of evolutionary forces. The workshop will include multiple panels of eminent scientists who have published both zoo-based and wild animal research. Panelists include Kathleen Dudzinski, Heather Hill, Kelly Jaakkola, Frants Jensen, Stephanie King, Chloe Malinka, Chris McKnight, Tracy Romano, Adam Smith, Peter Tyack, Fabien Vivier, Magnus Walberg, and Terrie Williams. The workshop will include 15-minute presentations by panelists on current research, followed by panel discussions focusing on the future of their field and how work in managed-care setting supports their progress. Panels will include live questions from both in-person and virtual participants. Panel topics will include conservation technology and innovation, bioacoustics and cognition, research training, the logistics/specifics of working with facilities, etc.

Virtual Attendance: YES

For more information on virtual attendance, please contact Jason Bruck (Jason.Bruck@sfasu.edu).

Workshop Summary:

Individual-based models (IBMs) are increasingly used to understand and predict the impacts of human disturbance on wildlife. Simulation models can provide insights and solutions to problems facing marine mammals and be used to guide conservation. In IBMs, individuals are modelled explicitly and interact with each other and the environment. Processes and interactions occurring on this individual level then determine the resulting population dynamics. IBMs are, however, frequently criticized for being developed using ad hoc approaches tailored to specific systems, which makes wider reimplementation and testing challenging. In marine mammal IBMs, the inclusion and implementation of processes relevant to disturbance can differ wildly between models. Processes can include, but are not limited to, energetics, movement, behavior, evolution, physiology, and individual trait variation. The goals of this interactive workshop are to identify key processes currently used in marine mammal IBMs and those which should be considered in future models, define alternative approaches, and outline best practices for going forward. Prior to the workshop, the organizers will produce a mini-review covering the current state of IBM use in marine mammal disturbance modelling. The mini-review findings will be presented at the workshop and invited experts in the fields of Individual-based modelling, disturbance modelling, and marine mammal disturbance impacts will give presentations which will complement the workshop goals. For the main portion of the workshop, attendees will work in groups to discuss processes and approaches which are or could be employed in marine mammal IBMs, identify key data gaps, and outline best practices. We hope that both modellers and empiricists, e.g. physiologists and behaviorists, will attend to provide varying perspectives on the relevance and practicality of the different approaches. The workshop findings will be combined with the mini-review to produce a peer-reviewed article intended to progress modelling of disturbance effects in marine mammal science.

Virtual Attendance: YES

For more information on virtual attendance, please contact Cara Gallagher (Gallagher@uni-potsdam.de).

Workshop Summary:

The senses are the interfaces between an organism and its environment: they provide information about the external world necessary for critical tasks such as foraging, orientation, navigation, predator detection, and reproduction. The senses of marine mammals need to operate either in aquatic or in both aquatic and aerial media, thus requiring specific sensory adaptations that account for the properties of water or water/air. After decades of intensive research, our understanding of abilities mediated by/adaptations of single sensory systems has generally increased in marine mammals, albeit mostly in a few model species. In contrast, very little is known about how the sensory systems work together. Detailed knowledge about (multimodal) sensory perception and integration is crucial for understanding and predicting marine mammal behaviors in the wild. This is interesting from the point of view of basic science, and at the same time important to assess the impact of human activity on wild populations in the ocean. For example, this information can inform decisions that affect species management/conservation plans, as well as serve as the basis for developing deterrents to reduce negative human interaction (e.g., bycatch, ship strike).

This workshop explores both specific and integrated marine mammal sensory systems with a focus on recent advances in this field of research as well as emerging technologies that can advance our understanding of (multimodal) sensory perception. We cordially invite all participants from all career stages to give a presentation (speed talk) on any aspect of their past, current, or future research thus welcoming presentations devoted to hypotheses, methodological aspects, research findings including discoveries as well as controversial findings. Additionally, we hope to provoke vivid and constructive discussions between participants about informally shared “Work-In-Progress” reports in the sessions following the presentations.

This workshop will be supported by funding through a Scientific Meeting Grant, funded by The Company of Biologists.  We will be using these funds to reimburse the workshop fee for a limited number of participants, with preference given to students on a first-come-first-served basis.

Virtual Attendance: YES

For more information on virtual attendance, please contact Frederike Diana Hanke (frederike.hanke@uni-rostock.de).

Workshop Summary: 

Managers tasked with understanding, quantifying and mitigating marine mammal–fishery interactions will often be starting with little or no data and with no system in place to collect data. The aims of this workshop are to increase the number of marine mammal populations for which abundance and bycatch can be estimated and to help identify which fisheries are most urgently in need of mitigation. We will provide a series of tutorials to aid in assessing marine mammals subject to bycatch, for example around estimating marine mammal population abundance and bycatch; assessing bycatch impacts relative to management or conservation references points; and a ShinyApp tool for conducting population projections under different bycatch mortality levels and calculating the parameters for Potential Biological Removal (PBR).

Virtual Attendance: YES

For more information on virtual attendance, please contact Tessa Francis (tessa@uw.edu).

Workshop Summary: 

This multi-disciplinary workshop explores current applications and future expansions of cognitive approaches to marine mammal conservation. Cognition (perceiving, deciding, responding, learning, problem-solving, remembering), often overlooked in our conservation efforts, is central to real-time adaptation. Animals perceive environmental change, determine/coordinate motor responses, evaluate outcomes, and remember information for future use. A conservation framework integrating animal minds promotes understanding and support of animals’ adaptive responses to environmental change. Here we hope to create a generative atmosphere for unexpected discoveries, new collaborative teams, and creative ways of thinking about cognition-related solutions. The results may be presented in a co-authored journal article highlighting information from experts in different disciplines focusing on specific conservation problems. For example, one portion of the article might be written by a field biologist, a cognitive scientist, and a conservationist, each contributing to a section on cognitively oriented approaches to manage post-release manatees. The workshop day includes 4 segments: In Segment 1, multidisciplinary teams present fleshed out models similar to those we hope new teams will generate. In Segment 2, workshop participants share their expertise, research and conservation approaches/interests, how cognition might be related to their work, and challenges a marine mammal species they study faces. In Segment 3, species experts form small multidisciplinary groups to address a conservation challenge faced by their species, map cognitive analyses onto species’ behaviors and responses to challenges, explore potential cognition-related solutions, and share their discoveries. In Segment 4, a scientist in each discipline writes orienting paragraphs on their species’ strengths/constraints, the group outlines their species’ identified conservation challenge (e.g., a species experiencing new environments, adapting to post-release life, or responding to human-animal interactions) and considers potential cognitively oriented solutions. Summaries/outlines become a jointly-written manuscript. (Participants who choose to continue writing/editing post-conference are authors; others are acknowledged.)

Virtual Attendance: NOT AVAILABLE

Workshop Summary:

Science is the cornerstone of stewardship and conservation. Collaboration, creativity and communication are also necessary components for developing effective policy and influencing human behavior. These elements involve rational/cognitive processes as well as emotion. Insight into how people approach problem solving as well as everyday tasks aids collaboration and communication.

This interactive session uses FourSight, a research-based framework that is both universal and instinctive, to explore how people approach communication and problem solving. Four basic thinking styles comprise the universal process and they are rarely compatible without a common language and approach. When working through a situation or solving a problem, each of us gravitates naturally to at least one of the four styles. Understanding the framework lays the foundation for gaining awareness, tools and skills to achieve effective results more efficiently alone and with less conflict when working with others.

Successful communication is two-way and is facilitated by understanding your audience’s perspective and needs. The FourSight framework provides a guide for strategic communication with any audience – policy makers, stakeholders, resource managers, collaborators, etc. Specific techniques to help address both rational and emotional needs will be offered.

Takeaways:

• An understanding of the universal thinking process
• The ability to appreciate and leverage diversity in cognitive approaches
• Tools for augmenting your natural approach
• Communication techniques for developing effective messages and communication approaches

Virtual Attendance: NOT AVAILABLE

Workshop Summary: 

Underwater sound is an important characteristic of ocean health.

Tourism vessels are a frequently used platform of opportunity to gather data on marine species. This workshop will look at current best practices for collecting and analyzing acoustic data from tourism vessel platforms of opportunity (whale-watching vessels, cruise ships and other vessels) as well as best practices for incorporating citizen scientists in the collection, categorization and analysis of acoustic data.

The workshop will look at the benefits, barriers and untapped potential for utilizing platforms of opportunity, and citizen scientists, for gathering and analyzing acoustic marine mammal and environmental data.

Virtual Attendance: YES

For more information on virtual attendance, please contact ecm-parsons@earthlink.net.

Workshop Summary: 

There are 21 offshore wind projects proposed on the US East Coast. Regional organizations, developers, agencies, and independent academics are engaging in or planning research, and funding is increasing. We propose to gather developers and scientists together to present ongoing and upcoming research, discuss collaborative and funding opportunities, and develop a more coordinated effort that minimizes redundancy, improves regional communication, and makes researchers aware of current and future funding and priority questions identified by agencies and stakeholder processes. Coordination of this nature was valuable in the Arctic when significant research was undertaken around the oil and gas industry. We are focused on coordination and networking rather than planning, mitigation, or policy, which have been the subject of other workshops. We seek to connect folks doing and funding the science and share information and opportunities. Strong collaboration and communication will be key to optimal long-term monitoring outcomes.

Virtual Attendance: YES

For more information on virtual attendance, please contact Sarah Courbis (sarahcourbis@gmail.com)