[MARMAM] Job opening: Marine Mammal Regulatory Biologist - Anchorage, Alaska

[Emma Dvorak]

 Marine Mammal Regulatory Biologist - Anchorage, Alaska

Integrated Statistics is looking for an Ecologist (marine Mammal 
Regulatory Biologist) to work with the US Fish and Wildlife Service 
Marine Mammals Management Office’s Regulatory program to implement 
portions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and Endangered 
Species Act for the conservation and management of polar bears, northern 
sea otters, and Pacific walruses in Alaska. This position will focus on 
identifying, evaluating, and analyzing data collected as part of MMPA 
incidental take authorizations.


*Duties*
The Marine Mammal Regulatory Biologist's responsibilities include:

 * Collecting, verifying, and analyzing data on species distribution
   and abundance as well as habitat quantity and quality of natural
   resources.
 * Conducting or participating in research and monitoring projects.
 * Entering data and conducting quality control reviews and querying
   databases to extract data or determine the status of actions.
 * Conducting biological analysis of proposed actions.
 * Evaluating the effect of proposed actions on species and habitats.
 * Implementing habitat conservation, restoration, and enhancement
   projects.
 * Evaluating the effectiveness of management decisions on species and
   habitats.
 * Preparing maps and other geographical displays and analysis.
 * Conducting literature reviews.
 * Drafting responses, letters, reports and reviews.
 * Conducting and documenting site visits.
 * Attending meetings and conferences.
 * Organizing and maintaining filing systems (including electronic
   filing); copying documents and compiling records (including
   responses to Freedom of Information Requests and Administrative
   records); and providing meeting support including organization,
   material preparations, participant assistance, facilitation, and
   debriefing.

*Qualifications*

 * A Master’s degree in biology, wildlife management, natural resource
   management, environmental science or a closely related field.
 * At least 2 years of related work experience, including:
 o Using statistics, quantitative biology, biometrics, and/or
   population modeling to develop and analyze data relevant to
   anthropogenic disturbance of wildlife.
 o Analyzing changes in distribution, abundance, density, age
   composition, annual survival, and sex ratios of wildlife.
 o Using one or more statistical and database management software
   packages, including R and ArcGIS, to assess potential changes in
   abundance, distribution, density, and trends in wildlife
   populations.
 * Experience participating in regulation and management pursuant to
   the Marine Mammal Protection Act:
 o Preparing issue papers, briefing documents, Federal Register
   notices, rulemaking documents, or other similar species issue
   papers.
 o Participating in teams with multiple State and Federal Agencies,
   Tribes, private industry, and non-government entities.
 o Working across multiple cultures.
 o Presenting complex or controversial issues to a variety or
   audiences.
 o Reviewing proposed resource development projects and developing
   recommendations.
 o Developing written analyses of complex or controversial
   regulatory proposals, including developing management strategies.
 * Willingness and desire to work in a fast paced, interdisciplinary
   environment.
 * Demonstrated ability to manage timelines and produce materials in a
   timely manner.
 * Proficiency with Microsoft Office. Proficiency in R and GIS.
 * Excellent writing and analytical skills; track record of success in
   writing technical reports and policy papers.
 * Strong oral communication skills.

The position is expected to last one year. The rate of pay is $32-35/hr, 
and the position is eligible for the benefits described on the 
Integrated Statistics website. To apply for this position, go to 
https://jobs.intstats.com/JobDetails.jsp?jobListingId=262 or visit 
www.integratedstatistics.com, click Employment Opportunities, click the 
job name and click the Apply Here link.


Integrated Statistics is an equal opportunity employer and will not 
discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of age, 
color, disability, gender, national origin, race, religion, gender 
identity, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any classification 
protected by federal, state, or local law. Consistent with its 
obligations under federal law, Integrated Statistics is committed to 
taking affirmative action to employ and advance in employment qualified 
women, minorities, disabled individuals, special disabled veterans, 
veterans of the Vietnam era, and other eligible veterans. For assistance 
with accessibility of applications, posters, forms, and/or documents, 
please email the Integrated Statistics office.


--
Integrated Statistics, Inc.
16 Sumner Street
Woods Hole, MA 02543
Cell: (508) 648-8308

[MARMAM] Unpaid positions in marine mammal science

[Paul Dayton]

Dear Lists people!I would like to join Phil Clapham with a counter argument to the recent posting about unpaid positions in marine mammal science, but also all conservation!  I am not sure how to write to the Marmam list, but am pasting my letter and attaching it.  Please let me know if this is acceptable.  And I suspect most of you are unpaid volunteers as well, and I hope you  know that your work is appreciated if unsung.Best regards and I wish you success avoiding this damned virus!  I have been stuck in this ancient house for 4 months going on 12 months I fear.Paul Dayton













Unpaid positions in
marine mammal science Dear Friends, I saw Phil Clapham’s note and
learned that Eiren Jacobson was still pushing this issue. I write to offer
another objection to this position and to urge the co-signers to reevaluate
their support.  Phil offered the fact
that much marine mammal work is done by relatively impoverished but highly
idealistic organizations that would be severely impacted by the loss of
volunteers. He also addressed the need to get people involved with marine
mammals.  Here I hope to broaden his
message about the use of volunteers to actually increase diversity in the
field, and I hope to persuade you to consider this in the broader context of
helping lower income and non-white people move into the field, rather than
being excluded as Eiren erroneously argues. I urge those of you who signed the
letter to reconsider your signatures to what I feel strongly is a misguided
appeal to your sense of fair treatment of other people. In my case I am sure that over my
40+ year career I was responsible for well over 100 volunteers and I strongly
reject the argument that they were exploited or that impoverished or minority
people were unfairly excluded.  Very much
to the contrary, in fact.  I believe that
I received well over 15 requests a year over my 40 years of professorship and
there were always volunteers in our lab, usually very well mentored by graduate
students but always with me in the background supervising the situation. And as
Phil mentioned, we started early as many of them started working for us when
they were in high school.  They were
never exploited, rather they were mentored and brought into marine ecology. Most
of the interns in my lab were involved in general ecological research rather
than marine mammals, but I was co-advisor or committee member to many marine
mammal graduate students and most of them either came into the field via
internships or used interns that came to me that I directed to the students.
Many of these students have had successful careers in the marine mammal
community, and they were damned good mentors. Some may see this letter and
offer their own thoughts. Let me address the issue of
diversity and class barriers.  Eiren’s
assertion that this plays to the wealth and excludes those who cannot afford to
be a volunteer.  Like Phil, I refer back
to my own very impoverished undergraduate career working up to 35 hours a week
to go to school.  I had no ecological
direction and actually found low-paying jobs to be able to volunteer with ecology
students in Chuck Lowe’s lab at Arizona. The only reason I have had this great
career is thanks to the mentoring I received as an unpaid volunteer.  I subsequently took this experience to heart
and accepted as many of the applicants as I could and made sure that they were
well mentored. In many cases it was obvious from our interactions that they had
no or very little family financial support, and as I got to know them I can
attest that the vast majority were, like I had been, struggling to get through
school and find a satisfying career.  I
can say that in the last several decades most of the students were themselves
minorities: African-Americans, Native Americans, Latinos, Asians, and first
generation Americans or foreign students. But where Eiren really misses the
boat is that most of these interns were so stimulated and well mentored that
they switched majors and went into ecology. 
Over my career I must have written hundreds of letters supporting these
student’s graduate school or job applications, and dozens of them went on to
advanced degrees and are now working in ecologically related fields. I suspect
that almost all of these people now active in our general conservation field
were not wealthy and many are minorities. Almost all of these have significant
jobs in conservation efforts. And again, referring back to Phil’s letter, many
of these interns were encouraged to interact with grade school kids and many
are educating young people in their current jobs.  I have no words to describe my pride in the
success of these unpaid volunteers. 
Indeed, in the last 2 years, five of them have retired and have made an
effort to track me down and thank me for taking them on in the 1970s!  Imagine your own pride if you too could receive
such messages in your old age. Had Eiren’s position been in place, none of this
would have 

[MARMAM] International Save the Vaquita Day 2020

[Thomas Jefferson]

This year, International Save the Vaquita Day will be on Saturday, 18 July, 
from 0900-1600 Pacific time.


International Save the Vaquita Day is intended to be an annual event similar to 
Earth Day, but with a specific focus on raising awareness and appreciation of 
the world’s most endangered marine mammal, the vaquita (Phocoena sinus). Events 
around the globe direct the attention of people to the plight of this tiny 
porpoise species, and what needs to be done to save it from extinction. The 
main purpose is to draw attention to and appreciation of the vaquita, Mexico’s 
“Panda of the Sea”. 
 In 2020, due to the unique challenges arising from the COVID-19 epidemic, the 
event will take place entirely online, with a day-long live stream on YouTube, 
Facebook and Twitch.   Find out more on the official event page: 
https://vaquita.mx/ or go to 
https://vivavaquita.org/international-save-the-vaquita-day/.  Please tune in 
and participate to help in efforts to save the vaquita from extinction!
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[MARMAM] New Publication on Moving towards a sustainable cetacean-based tourism industry – A case study from Mozambique.

[Dolphin Encountours Research Center]

Dear Marman Subscribers

My co-authors and I are please to announce the publication of our article 
Moving towards a sustainable cetacean-based tourism industry – A case study 
from Mozambique. Diana Rocha, Benjamin Drakeford, Sarah A. Marley, Jonathan 
Potts, Michelle Hale, Angie Gullan. 


ABSTRACT

Cetacean-Based Tourism (CBT) is often confused with sustainable tourism. 
However, not every CBT operator has an environmental education component 
attached to its programme. In reality, CBT has the potential to negatively 
impact the animals it is targeting; thus management is required to mitigate any 
harmful effects from tourism activities. This paper analyses the attitudes and 
perceptions of the marine operators and tourists that partake in dolphin-swim 
activities in the Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve (PPMR) in Mozambique. 
Hand-out ques- tionnaire surveys with closed and Likert scale type questions 
revealed that the tours are an effective means to promote pro-environmental 
behaviour and consequently increase compliance with the code of conduct. Non 
the less, in the PPMR, both tourists and operators presented only basic 
knowledge of the regulations of the reserve and of the dolphin, whale and whale 
shark code of conduct, indicating that there is a need for improvement. We 
provide recommendations for improving local management, which are also 
applicable at the national and international level. Overall, this paper 
provides knowledge and guidance for moving towards a sustainable based CBT 
industry in the PPMR. 

The article can be found here: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1bNnt,714Mcsed 


Pdf requests can be made here: an...@dolphincare.org


For the Love of Dolphins

Dolphin Encountours Research Center , 
Main Beach, Ponta do Ouro  Mozambique 
Behind beach front chalets on the way to the boat launch site! 
www.dolphinencountours.org  | Facebook 
  |  DERC Report 


Angie Gullan:   +258 84 330-3859   
Director & Citizen Scientist


ABOUT: DolphinCareAfrica t/a Dolphin Encountours Research Center is an 
Association that was established in 1998 to fund the long term monitoring of 
cetaceans through educational and ethical marine mammal edu-tourism within the 
Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve. Dolphin Center [Research]™ is the legal 
entity in Mozambique that trades under Dolphin Encountours Research Center. We 
celebrate two decades of working with the wild Dolphins of Ponta™. 


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[MARMAM] New publication on digestion process in the dolphin stomach

[Hiroshi OHIZUMI]

My co-authors and I are pleased to announce the publication of our new paper on 
the digestion process of ingested prey in the dolphin stomach.

Digestion Process of Ingesta in Forestomach of Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin 
(Tursiops aduncus).
Hiroshi Ohizumi, Makiko Koide, Hiroko Kusakabe, Keiichi Ueda, Makio Yanagisawa 
and Haruka Koga.

Journal of the School of Marine Science and Technology, Tokai University. 17, 
pp 1-9. (2019)

http://sdb01.scc.u-tokai.ac.jp/laec-s/mst/kiyou/bull/index.html
(You can see the English menu on the page top right. Full text PDF in English 
is available.)

Abstract
We investigated the relationship between elapsed time and the process of food 
digestion in the forestomach and the estimated time for stomach evacuation in 
an Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin. The digestion process was observed with a 
gastroscope to reveal the characteristic progress of digestion of different 
prey species. Single flying fish (approximately 100 g) and mackerel 
(approximately 200 g) were similarly digested, despite the difference in their 
size. Single squid (approximately 100 g) was digested faster than similar sized 
flying fish. The weight of stomach contents and the digestion time to 
evacuation showed an apparent positive relationship, and a full stomach content 
of flying fish was digested to the point of evacuation within approximately 10 
hours of ingestion. Since it is an experimental result using only one dolphin, 
it cannot be immediately applied to the stomach content analysis of wild 
individuals, but it is considered that the difference in digestion time!
  among prey species can be compared.


Best regards,
Hiroshi Ohizumi
ohiz...@scc.u-tokai.ac.jp
Ph.D. Tokai University, Japan.


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[MARMAM] JNCC MMO (UK) eLearning Course

[Alison Gill]

Intelligent Ocean Ltd is pleased to announce the launch of our JNCC MMO
eLearning Training Course pricedat £150 per person.

This Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) registered course is
required for you to work as a Marine Mammal Observer (MMO) in UK
Continental Shelf waters during offshore projects such as seismic
surveys, pile-driving and projects involving the use of explosives.

This course has been created in response to the coronavirus crisis and
has been approved by the JNCC as a valid alternative to the usual
classroom taught course.

To complete the eLearning course you simply log in, read, learn and then
pass assessments based on the course content. You set the pace of your
learning. You will have access to the course for 12 months.

Full details of how to purchase this course is available on our website
at the following link where you can also find details of the course
contents  https://www.intelligentocean.com/JNCCMMOeLearning.htm

Companies wishing to sign up members of their staff please email
i...@intelligentocan.com

Intelligent Ocean’s staff have extensive experience of working offshore
as MMOs and PAM operators in addition to marine mammal survey work and
nature guiding. Our training experience and client list can be viewed
here https://www.intelligentocean.com/clientlist.htm


Intelligent Ocean Ltd
www.intelligentocean.com




Virus-free. www.avg.com


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