Wow! What a weekend! I spent 5 days in the Monterey Bay area of California for the American Cetacean Society’s conference. For anyone who doesn’t know what a cetacean is, it is any whale, dolphin or porpoise species. While many things revolved around cetaceans, there was a strong message of hope and conservation throughout the weekend, in a time when many of us needed it most. Simply being able to spend time in Santa Cruz was great, but being able to attend this conference helped confirm my path in marine biology.
To start off, I was taken around Santa Cruz to see surfers, great beaches and, of course, marine mammals! We saw California Sea Lions off the pier, then en route to the conference, we saw Sea Otters feeding in Elkhorn Slough. For me, this was enough to make the trip, but the fun had only just begun! I went on a tour Moss Landing Marine Labs and found in the right place, a continuation of my education might be for me after all. With such a large interest in Sea Otters, it is only natural that a place with otters swimming outside the window renewed my motivation. I would have loved to spend a full day here, but we continued on to the conference opening festivities. The opening speaker, Nancy Black, presented an incredible photo history of the changes in cetacean distribution and abundances in Monterey Bay. She talked about the changes that she has observed in the last 30 years as a whale watch tour operator in the Bay. The entire time I was captivated by the beauty in her photos and in the creatures they represented. Seeing how much one small area has changed in a short time of 30 years was a really great way to help put worldwide changes into perspective. As the night ended, we had a rather interesting performance, intended for children, about conservation and ocean awareness. After all that, I was exhausted!
Day 2 of the conference started with a sobering presentation on the Vaquita, the most endangered marine mammal in the world. I knew the story of the Vaquita was a sad one, but I never understood all of the factors in their decline until then. Unfortunately, the small geographic range of these animals combined with the fishing pressures and lack of enforcement spelled disaster for the tiniest porpoise until just recently. But at this point, a recovery is unlikely. The things we can learn from the decline in the Vaquita populations will be important in addressing other populations in threat, such as coastal humpback dolphins. Thankfully we were able to end the session on a positive, with some things that everyone can do to get involved. Being proactive about your seafood choices are one of the biggest ways to vote with your dollars to help these animals. Ecotourism and marketing will also play a key role in the survival of endangered species in our changing world, but there is hope! New species are delisted from the endangered species list every year and we can help increase these occurrences by spreading the word! The second part of the day was a session filled with presentations on technology advances and their implications in cetacean research. One of the highlights was the history and uses of acoustic monitoring. This is a complex field, but there is so much we can learn about cetaceans, their prey and their habitats. I never knew that all of this could be possible from obtaining sounds from the ocean, but it is so cool! Other technologies being utilized in marine mammal research is drones!! In the past year or so there has been a huge drone craze, but it is so great seeing how this technology has found a place in science. Drones can be used to survey a variety of marine mammals, but works exceptionally well on seals because they are often found resting on beach and rock areas out of the water. It was also reassuring to learn that the risk for humans is cut drastically by using drones instead of helicopters and planes. This technology session really helped those who are less involved in research understand what is currently being done. After another long day, we were ready for some food! We went to explore Monterey and Cannery Row and found a cool restaurant for dinner. On the way there I pulled my calf, but thankfully that was my only not so great experience of the conference! After dinner, we were ready for bed so we made the drive back up to Santa Cruz and got ready for the next day.
The third and final day of the conference started EARLY!!! We had a student workshop at 7:30 am, but it was well worth the early morning to get one on one advice from different professionals in all fields of cetacean research and conservation. I even got to talk to someone who was involved in sea otter stranding work in Alaska! Seems that the otter connection followed me throughout the trip. After the workshop, we had 2 sessions for the day: Humpback whale conservation and marine mammal entanglements. Learning how humpback’s have expanded and rebounded despite facing endangerment was truly inspirational, but there are costs in a success story that many people don’t understand. The questions we are faced with after recovery are complex and unknown: what is carrying capacity of that animal, what range should it be in, how many animals constitute a sustainable stock, is it okay to have any permitted catch of that animal? These are just some of the questions we explored and man did we learn a lot! Even if an animal is not under threat of endangerment or extinction, we should continue to protect and preserve its habitat because that is the humane and ethical thing to do, but what if that interferes with our fishing efforts? In Alaska, this has been quite an issue for fisheries because as the stock of humpbacks have expanded the food sources they rely on have also expanded. Salmon raised in hatcheries are facing death by humpback through a gauntlet of specialized feeders after they are released to the oceans. There are many reasons to celebrate the comeback of endangered animals, but greater risks and impacts to humans come with that success. We also learned about a rising threat to marine mammals around the world; entanglement. The issues involved with entanglements are complicated and involve many parts; fisheries, marine debris, and human lives. Some areas are more prone to entanglements due to the type of fishing practices in the area, currents and the specific marine mammals in the area. While most any marine mammal can become entangled, the entanglement session talks focused primarily on humpback and right whales. One thing that was specifically interesting was the different types of entanglements different whales are prone to. Right whales have higher instances of mouth wraps, but humpbacks often have body, fin or fluke wraps. Right whales have a top jaw so narrow 1 meter of rope is enough to threaten the animal. Humpbacks have a wider top jaw and are often susceptible to a wider range of entanglements. These can be simple loose entanglements or can be complex and involve multiple body parts. The unique nature of individual entanglements poses a specific challenge to management. It was so interesting to learn how much planning and practice goes into each individual entanglement report. While entanglements are on the rise, the training and effort invested in combating the issue is also on the rise. There is hope for a safer ocean, but without community support, it can’t happen fast enough. We need to put pressures on the fishermen to clean up the lines and engage in mass clean-up efforts to help prevent and reverse this problem. This was the call to action ACS 2016 ended on, an inspiring message rooted in a devastating and growing problem.
All in all, the trip was amazing, the conference was an important networking opportunity, and I was able to renew my passion for studying marine biology. Just a few weeks from graduation, this was a much-needed break! Taking 5 days away from my studies might have put me behind, but I found a new source of inspiration to get through the next month and beyond. I’m incredibly thankful to have had this opportunity, and I know it will continue to impact me for years to come.
Biology Breakdown 