A month of conferences!

The International Conference on Marine Mammal Protected Areas, November, Martinique

BMMRO and Friends of the Environment donated funds to Olivia Patterson to attend the conference on behalf of the Bahamas.

written by Olivia
The theme of the conference was "Endangered Species, Endangered Spaces". It was a great chance to learn more about global initiatives for marine mammal conservation and to bring those lessons home. Through presentations and informal conversations I was able to get a better idea of how The Bahamas fits into the bigger picture of marine mammal conservation for the Wider Caribbean Region. Around the world, there are so many threats to marine mammals; in The Bahamas the threats we face may not seem as critical at first, but they are no less important to our marine mammal populations. We may not have a high density of marine mammals in The Bahamas, but we do have a high diversity - 24 species have been recorded so far! Some of these species live in small, seemingly "isolated" populations, which means that conservation is even more important for them. Marine mammals in The Bahamas (and the world) are forced to live in a constantly changing environment. It is up to us, as citizens, to reduce our impact on the environment, and in turn, on them. Marine mammals and other top predators are at the pinnacle of the network of biodiversity that keeps our marine ecosystem in balance. A marine ecosystem that we rely on for so much.

Patterson, O. and Claridge, D. The Status of Marine Mammal Conservation in The Bahamas.

The Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals is a gathering of marine mammalogists and other scientists from around the world, held under the auspices of the Society for Marine Mammalogy, at which the results of recent research are presented and discussed. This conference occurs every two years in different locations.

BMMRO was an author on the following presentations:

Claridge, D., Durban, J. and Thomas, L. Abundance and density of beaked whales around Navy ranges in the Bahamas estimated using visual line transect surveys.
Dunn, C. and Moors, H. New sounds identified in two different species of beaked whale.
Fearnbach, H., Durban, J., Parsons, K. and Claridge, D. Tropical cyclones increase predation risk for bottlenose dolphins on Little Bahama Bank, leading to punctuated survival trends and seasonal calving.
Ferguson, K. and Claridge, D. Long-term fidelity of West Indian Manatees in The Bahamas.

Some other interesting presentations concerning the Bahamas:

Hazen, E. et al. Foraging habitat of Blainville's beaked whales (Mesoplodon densirostris) in the Tongue of the Ocean, Bahamas.
Malinowski, C. and Herzing, D. Nutrition and habitat driven foraging of wild dolphins in the Bahamas: A recipe for prey use.
Cusick, J. and Herzing, D. The dynamic of aggression between Atlantic spotted (Stenella frontalis) and bottlenose dolphins in the Bahamas.