Cetaceans of the Upper Gulf of Thailand

Dramatic 24-hour Gray Whale Disentanglement off Laguna Beach, CA

Golden Gate Cetacean Research Organization presents:

When: View in Calendar » September 27, 2012 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Where: View Map » Bay Model Visitor Center, 2100 Bridgeway, Sausalito,CA 94965, USA
Cost: Free
Categories: Presentations

“They’re Back! — The Harbor Porpoises of San Francisco Bay”

This is a good news story about our local cetaceans, and you will hear from members of the research team about harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena), which have returned to San Francisco Bay after an absence of 65 years. This presentation will bring us up-to-date with their newest research since their last presentation in January 2011. The fact that porpoises are back foraging in the Bay may say something positive about the health of the ecosystem, so the team has begun a multi-year project to document this population. Normally shy, harbor porpoises are difficult to approach and photograph. Yet, the team has compiled a catalog of over 125 individual animals, observing them from shore and from their boat. The research will assess the porpoises’ abundance, habitat use, social behavior, calving interval, and whether they interact with the other cetacean found in the Bay, the bottlenose dolphin. You will also learn how you can help this project by reporting your own porpoise sightings. ↓ Read the rest of this entry…

Chris Pincetich, Ph.D. presents

When: View in Calendar » August 30, 2012 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Where: View Map » Saylor's Restaurant and Bar (upstairs room), 2009 Bridgeway, Sausalito,CA 94965, USA
Cost: Free
Categories: Presentations

“Recent & Historic Impacts of the CA Drift Gillnet Fishery on Marine Mammals & Sea Turtles”

 

Chris Pincetich from the Turtle Island Restoration Network’s international headquarters in Marin County discusses the harmful and often deadly impacts of the California Drift Gillnet fishery on marine mammals and sea turtles and recent efforts by the Pacific Fisheries Management Council to investigate the possibility of its expansion. This fishery has undergone significant changes over the last three decades to mitigate its deadly impacts on target species such as shark and swordfish, and on non-target species such as sea turtles which are captured and killed as bycatch in this indiscriminant fishery. Drift gillnets have been banned on the high seas, and are banned in Oregon and Washington, but remain legal offshore of California, which is home to one of the most diverse and abundant marine communities in the world. Dr. Pincetich will discuss Turtle Island’s recent efforts to thwart expansion of these “walls of death” in California’s wild ocean. ↓ Read the rest of this entry…

Dr. Jonathan Stern presents

When: View in Calendar » July 26, 2012 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Where: View Map » Bay Model Visitor Center, 2100 Bridgeway, Sausalito,CA 94965, USA
Cost: Free
Categories: Presentations

“Climate Change and Gray Whales”

Climate change can occur naturally as well as driven by human activities. The impacts of climate change on large mobile organisms are often difficult to asses or predict. In this presentation, Dr. Jonathan Stern will discuss implications of climate change on the Eastern Pacific Gray Whales. These whales are seasonal migrants along the California Coast and can be seen very close to shore. Research on these whales and their feeding grounds suggest a few scenarios that gray whales may face in the very near future. These scenarios will be the focus of this talk. ↓ Read the rest of this entry…

Coastal Marine Mammals along the eastern Gulf coast of Thailand

When: View in Calendar » June 28, 2012 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Where: View Map » Saylor’s Restaurant (upstairs room) , 2009 Bridgeway, Sausalito,CA 94965, USA
Categories: Presentations

Ellen Hines, PhD, presents

A group of international scientists has been documenting relative abundance and distribution of coastal marine mammals in Trat province in the coastal islands along the eastern Gulf coast of Thailand since 2003. This multi-year project is truly interdisciplinary, and combines boat based line transect surveys, photo-id, towed acoustic arrays, and spatially explicit modeling of physical and biological environmental habitat criteria in a geographic information science format, community interviews that address the cultural/traditional knowledge of villagers and assess conservation values, and collaboration with villages and local schools for conservation education. We believe that this approach is needed to contribute effectively to local/regional conservation and possible protected area management schemes for coastal cetaceans, especially in a rapidly developing area with few protected areas.
↓ Read the rest of this entry…