[MARMAM] Job opportunity: Program Manager, Sarasota Bay Listening Network

[Katie McHugh]

*Job Opening: Program Manager, Sarasota Bay Listening Network*
The Sarasota Bay Listening Network monitors the soundscape of Sarasota 
Bay, recording the underwater sounds of the long-term resident dolphins 
as well as manatees, fish, and invertebrates. It also provides an index 
of human activity from boat noise. Passive acoustic listening stations 
(PALS) provide this acoustic window into the coastal ecosystem, 
providing a means of documenting and monitoring changes to the ecosystem 
and its inhabitants. The Program Manager of the Sarasota Bay Listening 
Network (“SBLN”) will have expertise in the operation, construction, 
repair, and maintenance of bioacoustics equipment and analysis ensuring 
high quality acoustic data can be collected, managed, shared and 
analyzed and will oversee the operations of the SBLN to continue this 
important work. https://sarasotadolphin.org/listening-stations/


The Program Manager, Sarasota Bay Listening Network contributes to the 
success of the Chicago Zoological Society by continuing research efforts 
of the SDRP, developing research proposals, managing funded research 
projects, training graduate students, undergraduate interns, and foreign 
colleagues to support the Society’s overall goal of innovations and 
excellence in animal welfare.


Primary duties and responsibilities:

Construct, install and maintain passive acoustic listening stations as 
part of the established Sarasota Bay Listening Network (SBLN) in 
consultation with the Sarasota-based listening station manufacturer, 
Loggerhead Instruments, Inc. Coordinate data processing, storage and 
sharing among SBLN partners (Chicago Zoological Society’s Sarasota 
Dolphin Research Program, New College of Florida, Eckerd College, Woods 
Hole Oceanographic Institution) and other collaborators.


Coordinate/facilitate opportunities for community engagement/citizen 
science and expanding stakeholder participation with the SBLN. 
Coordinate meetings of SBLN partners and produce semi-annual newsletter 
for stakeholders (e.g., partners, collaborators, site-owners).


Prepare research grant proposals and implement and manage funded 
research projects including supervising teams of research assistants, 
graduate students, undergraduate interns and foreign trainees. Analyze 
data and prepare scientific manuscripts and presentations and present 
findings to further the long-term research of the program.


Remain current with technological and analytical advances in marine 
bioacoustics, including recordings and analyses and dolphin, fish, and 
manatee acoustics. Curate/prepare SBLN data for education, training, 
community engagement and outreach. Assist with training staff and 
students for conducting acoustic analyses.


Assist with field and laboratory research activities of the SDRP as 
requested, including photographic identification, abundance estimations, 
tagging and tracking, behavioral observations, biopsy darting, dolphin 
health assessments, and purse-seining. Other related duties as assigned.


The requirements for this position include:

 * M.Sc. or Ph.D. degree in biology, animal behavior, marine
   bioacoustics, or related field required.
 * Three years of experience with marine bioacoustics monitoring and
   analyses required, including ability to build, troubleshoot, and
   repair electronic equipment associated with acoustic monitoring.
 * Experience with signal processing and programming using MATLAB,
   Python, and/or R required.
 * Experience or ability to learn machine learning applications for
   detection and classification of dolphin signature whistles using
   TensorFlow or other ML framework required.
 * Experience or ability to learn cloud computing for data storage and
   analysis of large datasets required.
 * Computer skills in Excel, Word, Access, PowerPoint, ArcView/ArcGIS,
   R, statistical software required.
 * Proficient swimmer required.
 * Full professional proficiency in English required.
 * Cultural proficiency; experience and/or ability to work and interact
   effectively with a diverse, multicultural audience.
 * A valid driver’s license is required at time of hire. Florida
   residents must possess a valid Florida driver’s license at the time
   of hire or must obtain one within 30 days of hire. A valid
   out-of-state driver’s license required at time of hire for
   out-of-state residents.

Preferred qualifications:

 * Three years of experience operating and maintaining boats (up to 28
   ft) and associated equipment, including trailering desired.
 * USCGA Safe Boating certificate or equivalent desired.
 * Wildlife photographic experience desired.
 * Ability to lead photographic identification surveys desired.
 * Experience with DTAG deployment, tracking, and analyses desired.
 * Experience with managing teams of research assistants desired.
 * Current certifications in CPR and First Aid preferred.
 * Multilingual ability, Spanish fluency a plus, but not required.

Additional 

[MARMAM] Webinar: Advancing Marine Species Density Surface Modelling - Invitation to register

[Dr Robert Schick, Ph.D.]

Advancing Marine Species Density Surface Modelling.
Webinar – 1st June 1100-1330 EST
Following on from two successful workshops held at the Society for Marine 
Mammalogy Conferences in Halifax and Barcelona, this 2.5 hour webinar will 
provide a final summary of advancements made by the LMR-funded DenMod project 
team over the last four years on analytical methods for density surface 
modelling.
To register for the webinar please follow this link*: 
https://forms.office.com/r/2Th931Pa9n
A link to join the webinar will be sent out to all registrants one week in 
advance of the event.
Further information:
Density surface models attempt to describe animal distribution as a function of 
spatially referenced variables. Data typically come from visual line transect 
surveys, though other effort-indexed methods (i.e., passive acoustics) are 
emerging. Outputs include modelled relationships between density and 
explanatory variables, maps of population density, and stratified estimates of 
population size with uncertainty. These are of practical use for marine spatial 
planning and impact assessment.
Many statistical approaches are available for density surface modeling. This 
seminar is being hosted by those involved with the LMR-funded research project, 
DenMod, that has compared different density surface modelling approaches, 
identified common ground and outstanding issues over the last four years. This 
will be the final public dissemination event of the DenMod project and will 
follow workshops held in Halifax (2017) and Barcelona (2019).
This webinar is relevant to researchers who build density surface models and 
those who use DSM-predicted abundance and uncertainty estimates in their work.
Format:
The webinar will be a MS Teams Live event with a series of presentations and 
time for a moderated Q session.
*Participant information will not be held beyond the date of the webinar other 
than summary statistics on categories of participant affiliations (e.g. 
academic, NGO, government).  All information will be held securely and not 
shared with other parties.


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[MARMAM] Marine Mammal Biology/Conservation Ecology Semester with Undergraduate Internship Opportunity

[K Frost]

Marine Mammal Biology (Fall) /Conservation Ecology (Spring) Program and
Undergraduate Internships (http://semesterbythebay.org/internships/)
available this Spring and/or Fall Semesters at the University of Alaska
Anchorage-KPC-KBC in Homer, Alaska. Semester by the Bay is accepting
applications from students interested in hands-on placed-based study of
conservation ecology (Spring Semester) and/or Marine Mammal Biology (Fall
Semester) in the beautiful seaside town of Homer, Alaska that may result in
the receipt of an occupational endorsement certificate. Our fall courses
offer students numerous unique experiential learning opportunities in the
lab and field, such as the behavioral ecology of beluga, humpback and
killer whales, sea otters, Steller sea lions and harbor seals; acoustics of
harbor porpoises and belugas; marine mammal skeletal articulation; seining,
identification and articulation of estuarine and marine fishes; behavior of
marine mammals in estuarine and nearshore environments. Spring courses
center around individual conservation ecology research. Through Exploration
Ecology students identify their own burning conservation questions and
receive assistance designing, conducting and reporting real projects.
Additionally, students in both semesters participate in community-based
*internships*and/or service-learning volunteer opportunities with
governmental or non-governmental researchers while studying with us at the
Kachemak Bay Campus of Kenai Peninsula College. KPC offers *in-state
tuition* for all US students, and many internships include free or
significantly reduced housing with our community-partner agencies (USFWS,
NOAA, KBNERR, AMNWR, Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies, Alaska Dept. of
Fish & Game, Kachemak Bay Land Trust).



Internships still available for Fall 22. Please see www.semesterbythebay.org
or email semesterbythe...@alaska.edu for more details.

-- 

Kim Frost
907-235-1658
Student and Enrollment Services Manager
Kachemak Bay Campus/KPC/UAA
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[MARMAM] Ship-strike encounter rate simulator: new publication

[Eric Keen]

Dear colleagues,

My coauthors and I are pleased to share the following article recently
published in *Ocean & Coastal Management*:

Keen, Eric M; Hendricks, Ben; Shine, Chenoah; Wray, Janie; Picard, Chris
R;  Alidina, Hussein M. (2022). A simulation-based tool for predicting
whale-vessel encounter rates. In Ocean & Coastal Management (Vol. 224, p.
106183). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2022.106183

Abstract ==
To understand the threat of ship strikes for marine predators such as
whales, quantitative tools are needed that measure specific impacts without
ignoring the many uncertain and stochastic elements of whale-vessel
interactions. We developed a tool that focuses on one particularly complex
aspect of the ship-strike problem: the encounter rate, the fraction of
co-occurrences (i.e., times that whales and vessels occur within the same
1-km2) that result in an imminent collision. This tool uses iterative
simulations, based in R, and basic inputs regarding marine traffic and
whale biology to predict the rate at which the precise courses of the whale
and the vessel intersect in space and time. The result of this simulator is
a spatially explicit probability distribution of encounter rates, which can
be summarized for reports as well as integrated into subsequent stages of a
ship-strike impact analysis. We explain the design of this tool, provide
its source code, and demonstrate its utility with four case applications.
First, we estimate encounter rates for fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus)
in Gitga'at First Nation waters (British Columbia, BC, Canada) and quantify
the differences in encounter rate between vessel classes. Second, we
predict encounter rates for the same area in 2030, by which time a new
shipping lane is slated to be established in Gitga'at territory,
highlighting the impact of shifting traffic composition vs. traffic volume.
Third, we assess the sensitivity of these estimates to changes in vessel
and whale characteristics, finding that vessel length is the most important
determinant of the encounter rate, followed by whale speed. Fourth, we
integrate the encounter rate estimator into a shipping impact assessment
for Gitga'at fin whales. Our predictions indicate that this decade's
traffic increase in Gitga'at waters alone could match Potential Biological
Removal for coastal BC fin whales. However, the assumptions underlying our
prediction require validation and further study. The encounter rate
simulator is available in the R package, “shipstrike”.

The article may be accessed at the link below, or by contacting me.
https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1ex4q3RKK-uDAk

A demo for the corresponding R package 'shipstrike' (available on GitHub)
can be found here:
https://ericmkeen.github.io/shipstrike/

Our special thanks to the Gitga'at First Nation for their collaboration and
support in this work.

Best wishes,
Eric Keen
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