Past Workshops Archive — Northwest Atlantic Seal Research Consortium

Past Workshops

2015 Final Workshop Report- Seals and Ecosystem Health

The Northwest Atlantic Seal Research Consortium grew out of a series of workshops that included scientists, resource managers, and recreational fishermen to address issues and concerns related to increasing seal populations along the New England coast.

Recent increases in local seal abundance have led to concerns about fisheries and other interactions between human and seal populations. The urgency of documenting, understanding, and mitigating these interactions has become more apparent, as has the need to improve our understanding of the ecological role of seals in the northeast United States. This encompasses issues such as: how they live, where they go, what they eat, their health and illnesses, and interactions with the world—including humans—around them.

2015 Seals and Ecosystem Health at Salem State, MA

The Northwest Atlantic Seal Research Consortium (NASRC) held its 2015 meeting at Salem State (Salem, MA). The focus of this meeting was “Seals and Ecosystem Health.” This two day meeting incorporated formal scientific and informal/observational presentations as well as a second day workshop and synthesis component. T

MEETING LOCATION

Salem State MA
Ellison Campus Center, North Campus
ECC- Martin Luther King Room (Day 1) and the The Underground (Day 2)
1 Meier Drive, Salem, MA 01970

Ellison Campus Center: Metro and Underground

To learn more about NASRC, go to nasrc.whoi.edu,

contact sealresearch@whoi.edu or andreab@whoi.edu.

ARCHIVE of PROGRAM SCHEDULE

Day 1, May 1st 2015 - Ellis Campus Center, Martin Luther King Room

For those interested in presenting, please submit an abstract following this example on the registration page:

ABSTRACT EXAMPLE

Monitoring seal depredation in the Nantucket Sound weir fishery
Nichols, O.C 1, 2, E. Eldredge 3, and S.X. Cadrin 1

1 UMass School for Marine Science & Technology (SMAST) Dartmouth MA, USA

2 Center for Coastal Studies, Provincetown MA, USA.

3 Chatham Fisheries/Monomoy Trap Co., Chatham MA, USA

Gray seals (Halichoerus grypus) have been observed feeding on fish weir catches in Nantucket Sound (Massachusetts, northeast USA). Partially consumed longfin inshore squid (Loligo pealeii) and finfish in the nets recorded in logbooks are attributable to seal depredation. A Dual-frequency Identification Sonar (DIDSON) was deployed in a weir for six ~24-hour periods in May and June 2009 to monitor diel patterns of squid and fish catches, as well as seal presence and behavior. Seal occurrence in the weir was observed throughout 24-hour periods, most frequently at night. Observations of seal and target species behavior indicated that seal presence likely affected the efficiency of the weir, disrupting the passage of schooling squid and finfish into the catch chamber. The species composition of catch and prey remnants in the weirs will be analyzed to examine seal prey preference, and photo-identification studies are planned to determine if random individual seals raid the weirs or if there is individual specialization by a select few. The above data will be used to inform the design of gear modifications to reduce depredation by excluding seals while maintaining catches of squid and fish.

MEETING RATIONALE

Since 2009, a series of workshops and meetings supported by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s Marine Mammal Center (WHOI MMC) have successfully allowed for conversations between various stakeholders on pinniped issues. One of the primary objectives of the first meeting was to bring together representatives of key interest groups from the U.S. and Canada to facilitate sharing of information and perspectives that describe relevant issues and related complexities. This meeting focused discussion on the challenges presented by pinniped populations in the northeast and improved communication. In addition we also started the process of developing tools to address the most pressing issues related to pinnipeds.

The second smaller meeting held in 2011, supported by the WHOI MMC and hosted at the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies (PCCS), facilitated open discussion on seals among fishermen, scientists and managers. The forum format successfully encouraged discussion on stakeholder concerns as well integrative research that could address some of those concerns. From ideas presented at the first meeting and input from attendees at this second meeting, the Marine Animal Identification Network (MAIN) developed and collaborative research on fisheries and seals was initiated. Technical reports for these two meeting were peer reviewed. The reports can be found at nasrc.whoi.edu/about.

An important primary objective of both meetings was to establish an entity to aid in collaborations, discussion and long-term communication of seal research and priorities in the northeast region. Our primary objective has become a reality with the creation of the Northwest Atlantic Seal Research Consortium (NASRC) and the development of MAIN. Since the creation of the consortium, NASRC has participated in outreach and educational activities, including interviews in radio and various news media, as well as scientific conference and school presentations. NASRC has also provided expertise for a local grey seal symposium and enabled collaborative science with large scale participation in seal tagging studies. In addition to MAIN, direct projects of the consortium include a much referenced study on public health, water quality and the effect of seal haul locations. The consortium also organized a SeaSketch webinar to increase exposure of new technologies useful in ocean planning and collaborative research.

In April 2013 a small organizational meeting of 30 participants was held at Tufts Veterinary School of Veterinary Medicine in Grafton, MA. The primary focus of this meeting was on defining research priorities and forming committees for each of the defined research priority areas. The meeting was characterized by active participation of attendees and entailed further discussions on animal-human conflict. Significant discussions on the structure and function of NASRC as a consortium and as a community were also conducted. Following this meeting, a smaller meeting on public relations and media outreach was held at WHOI. This meeting consisted of participants interested in messaging “talking points” and producing outreach material. The half day workshop resulted in a “frequently asked questions” section vetted by consortium participants posted to the NASRC website and a better sense of how to address media given the various stakeholders represented in the consortium.

Our current meeting addresses a diversity of topics encompassing the relationship between seals and health in the context of both the relationship of seals to ecosystem health and the health of pinnipeds as sentinel species. This two day meeting and workshop will provide a day of scientific talks and a workshop component as well as synthesis of ideas and assessment of emerging priorities. We also would like to invite a non-traditional way of presenting observational information through video, images or other media that may shed light on new information as well as share anecdotal occurrences.

PAST MEETING REPORTS

2009 FINAL WORKSHOP REPORT- GULF OF MAINE SEALS: POPULATIONS, PROBLEMS AND PRIORITIES

2011 FINAL WORKSHOP REPORT- GULF OF MAINE SEALS: FISHERIES INTERACTIONS AND INTEGRATED RESEARCH

- See more at: http://nasrc.whoi.edu/about#sthash.sMXALkei.dpuf

2009 Final Workshop Report- Gulf of Maine Seals: populations, problems and priorities - See more at: http://nasrc.whoi.edu/about#sthash.sMXALkei.dpuf

MEETING SPONSORS

Last updated: March 8, 2019