Marine Mammals

The Danish Marine Mammal Symposium is an annual event convened by the Danish Marine Mammal Society. Marine mammal research inDenmark exhibits growing activity and great diversity with groups working within disciplinessuch as behaviour, acoustics, communication, morphology, population biology, ecology,genetics, evolution, systematics and nomenclature. As such, the symposium comprises anideal setting for learning more about marine mammal research, meeting researchers,educators, students and managers, and getting inspiration and contacts for e.g. thesisprojects. The symposium will be held in English for a broader outreach in general and in particular toembrace the increasing number of international students and researchers in Denmark.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requests public comment on a draft revised marine mammal stock assessment report for the northern sea otter stock in the State of Washington. NMFS will accept comment that are received or postmarked on or before April 17, 2017.  Click here for more details and relevant links.

The U.S.Marine Mammal Commission received a grant award from the North Pacific Research Board to identify essential components and key impediments to effective co-management of marine mammals in Alaska. The overall goal of this project is to strengthen relationships and support co-management to improve the conservation of marine mammals in a region where they provide food security for Alaska Natives and are also of critical ecological, social, and economic importance. Click here for more detail and relevant links.

Cosmos magazine posted an article entitled “Why do whales strand themselves?”  This article explained that strandings have occurred for as long as man can remember, and opined that there might not be pone specific cause.  The article makes a plea for “empiricism, to think these things through carefully,…. We need to look at things with proper, evidence-based science.” Click here to read the entire article.