Scott Landry is the Director of the Whale Rescue Team at Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies (PCCS). Mr. Landry has been working at PCCS as part of the Rescue Team for the past seven years. In addition to being a part of disentangling efforts, his primary role has been to carefully document the details of each large whale entanglement event on the PCCS website.
Dr. John Mandelman is presently a Research Scientist at the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium, where he has resided in various capacities since 2001.
Dr. Alexia Morgan has been working in the field of fisheries for over twenty years. Alexia began her career as a fisheries observer, obtaining her masters in marine biology and doctorate in fisheries and aquatic sciences. Alexia’s doctorate focused on a modeling project looking at ways to protect the dusky shark in the northwest Atlantic Ocean. Alexia’s work interests focus on large pelagic species, namely sharks and tunas, the fisheries that target them and the bycatch associated with these fisheries.
Local lobster fishermen and large whale and fisheries scientists met in Woods Hole to discuss large whale entanglements in fishing gear.
Presentations from the workshop can be viewed here.
Organizers
Michael Simpkins, Chief, Protected Species Branch, Northeast Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries Service
Tim Werner, Director, Consortium for Wildlife Bycatch Reduction, New England Aquarium
Background
Fisheries bycatch is the principal threat to many marine mammals.
We will be at the Northeast Consortium's conference in Portsmouth, NH to learn about the sucess of collaborative research projects in the region. The Maine Lobstermen's Association (MLA) will be presenting a talk entitled, Documenting lobster gear configurations in the Gulf of Maine to help large whales, a project done in collaboration with the Bycatch Consortium.
We will be participating in the Annual Meeting of the North Atlantic Right Whale Research Consortium at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. The Consortium's mission is to "hold annual meetings at which research, new techniques, management strategies, and other facets of right whale conservation are shared and discussed".
See the agenda.
Addressing Bycatch in Artisanal Gillnet Fisheries
The Bycatch Consortium is co-hosting a workshop at the Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals.
Description:
The Consortium for Wildlife Bycatch Reduction will be joining the Maine Lobstermen's Association to man a booth at the Massachusetts Lobstermen's Association's 2012 Annual Weekend at the Cape Cod Resort and Conference Center at Hyannis from January 20th to the 22nd.
The 37th Annual Maine Fishermen's Forum
The Fishermen's Forum provides an opportunity for fishermen and others in the seafood industry to meet with fisheries managers and state and federal representatives in a neutral setting. There are over 30 free seminars on subjects ranging from fishing gear to fishing regulations.
Lobstermen invited to give their thoughts on whales and lobster gear
The Maine Lobstermen's Association (MLA) has scheduled a series of meetings, one in each of the state's seven lobster zones, to discuss current research on interactions between lobster gear and endangered whales. The purpose of the meetings is to get feedback from lobstermen about future research projects that they think would add knowledge about this topic.
Lobstermen invited to give their thoughts on whale and lobster gear
The Maine Lobstermen's Association (MLA) has scheduled a series of meetings, one in each of the state's seven lobster zones, to discuss current research on interactions between lobster gear and endangered whales. The purpose of the meetings is to get feedback from lobstermen about future research projects that they think would add knowledge about this topic.
Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia, Puerto Madryn, Argentina
9 am - 5 pm
Conveners: Tim Werner, Consortium for Wildlife Bycatch Reduction, New England Aquarium, USA; Kike Crespo, CENPAT, Argentina
Mortality from longline bycatch threatens marine mammal species and populations such as the false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens) in the insular Hawaiian Islands, and Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus) and pilot whales (Globicephala spp.) in the Northwest Atlantic. Fishermen also lose valuable target catch due to marine mammal depredation, and as a result, may face fishing restrictions that affect their bottom line.
A seminar on North Atlantic right whale entanglements will be held at the Maine Fishermen's Forum (TBD). Research on right whale vision sponsored by the Consortium and BREP will be presented as well as Consoritum sponsored research on computer simulations of entanglements.
More information about the Maine Fishermen's Forum can be found here.
Mortality from longline bycatch threatens marine mammal species and populations such as the false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens) in the insular Hawaiian Islands, and Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus) and pilot whales (Globicephala spp.) in the Northwest Atlantic. Fishermen also lose valuable target catch due to marine mammal depredation, and as a result, may face fishing restrictions that affect their bottom line.
We will be at the Annual meeting of the NARW Consortium, presenting results on the development of offshore rope-less fishing gear, with colleagues from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institiution. Our abstract is attached.