SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT : REGISTRATION AND CALL FOR PRESENTATION
*Symposium on Monitoring Strategies for Marine Mammal Populations,
La Rochelle, France, November 21-23, 2008*
Hosted by the *University of La Rochelle *(LIENSs / CRMM)
http://marinemammal.univ-lr.fr/colloque2008En.html
Online abstract submission (September 30th) and online registration
(October 30th) are open on the symposium website at:
http://marinemammal.univ-lr.fr/colloque2008En.html
Please, read the notice on the registration/submission home web page.
For more information do not hesitate to contact us at:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*Theme:*
Marine mammals are important actors in marine ecosystems. Their position
of top predators confers them a general value of indicators of marine
ecosystem conservation state and exposes them to several types of
pressures related to human activities at sea, including accumulation of
contaminants along food webs and interactions with fisheries. Other
sources of pressures and threats, independent of their role of top
predators, include /inter alia/ disturbance, collisions with ships and
acoustic pollution. In most European countries, marine mammals are
protected by national, EU and international texts, which clarify the
responsibility of governments in monitoring and conservation of these
populations (Marine Protected Areas, national regulation on protected
species, Habitat Directive, Common Fishery Policy, regional agreements
ASCOBANS and ACCOBAMS, …). However indicators proposed to estimate the
status of marine mammal populations are only defined in very general
terms, with mainly two criteria that are fairly easy to express but
difficult to document: abundance and distribution. Other approaches are
empirically used but their value as monitoring tools has not been really
assessed; they notably include acoustic monitoring, stranding schemes,
coastal watch and at-sea sightings from platforms of opportunity. As a
consequence, to elaborate properly a strategy for monitoring the
conservation status of marine mammal populations in Europe, it is
necessary to compare available methods and estimate the performance of
potential indicators, in terms of their capacity to detect changes in
wild populations and of their cost-effectiveness.
The objectives of the meeting will thus encompass the following topics:
**1. Expressing the societal demand in monitoring marine mammal populations
*2. Converting the societal demand into measurable parameters
*3. Existing practices of monitoring
*4. Marine mammal population indicators and their performance
*5. Examples of integrated monitoring strategies*
Expected participants would include people in charge of public
environmental policies, in particular as to the monitoring and
conservation of marine mammal populations and habitats at national, EU
and international levels, research groups in marine mammal biology and
conservation and field correspondents or operators who collect and
synthesize data relative to the state of conservation of marine mammal
populations. It will thus be a unique opportunity to gather actors
involved at all levels in monitoring marine mammal populations, from
policy makers to data collectors.
*The organizing committee:*
The Ecology and Conservation of Marine Mammal research group of the
University of La Rochelle (constituted of /Centre de Recherche sur les
Mammifères Marins/ CRMM and /Littoral Environnement et Sociétés/ LIENSs,
Joint Research Unit 6250 CNRS/ULR) will host an international symposium
on strategies for monitoring marine mammal populations, from 21-23
November 2008 in La Rochelle, France.
The symposium is
hosted by: University of La Rochelle, France
sponsored by: French Agency of the Marine Protected Areas, French
Ministry of Environment, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
(CNRS), Regional Council of Poitou-Charentes
and supported by: ACCOBAMS, ASCOBANS
For the organizing committee,
Pr Vincent Ridoux, University of La Rochelle.
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