25th ICCB: Marine Think Tank
Third
Day of the Conference – Dec. 4th
Start
Not going into it. Did a bit of volunteering and moving onto the
session.
Session
Got started at 9 AM with a round
robin of introductions – lots of marine mammal big names. Kind of humbling to meet the faces behind the
names of the papers I have been referencing and studying for the past few
years. Like being in Hollywood and see
all the big stars for me. So I am
totally star-struck right now. Our hosts
are Liz Slooten and Steve Dawson – resident experts on Hector’s dolphins and
various other marine mammals. The goal
of the session is to get conservation science listed under conservation
management. Yeah, I have no idea either
but apparently it is a big issue. Going
to learn lots about it in the coming hours.
Aside: pet peeve = soft-spoken
speakers.
While the session began with a background
on by-catch and Hector’s dolphins serving as case studies, it quickly
degenerated to discussion on enforcement, political complaints, and funding
issues. Those first two are common
topics of conservation at the conference and have arisen in every discussion I
have participated in or listened to without fail so far and I doubt very much
that will change. Like the USA, the New
Zealand government is scaling back funding, especially on the conservation
side. In the USA, I am not surprised as
science and education are always the first things to go right after social
welfare, but as New Zealand’s prime money-maker is eco-tourism I am kind of
surprised. The whale watching business
alone makes millions of dollars, much more than the fishing industry. Apparently one of the prime ministers of New
Zealand simply does not have an environmental bent, and as I have been told,
well, the next election is in three years and you can bet that without major turnaround
someone is more than likely going to be out of office. Conservation means you have an ecosystem to
show tourists and the major money-spender right now in the travel business is
the self-styled eco-tourist, so no conservation means no ecosystem and you can
do the rest from there.
Back to the session however, the
background information on Hector’s dolphins was good to hear for my research
paper due in oh two days. My population
ecology class asks for a 2500 word paper which I have chosen to write on the
Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins of New Zealand.
Have an abiding love for this country and its dolphins. The discussion however just served to demonstrate
just how out of touch some scientists are with social science, psychology, and
social networking. I don’t claim to be
an expert by any means but some of the conclusions reached during the session
are things I was taught in leadership training throughout high school and
college. A plan of action, goal,
follow-though, and then revisiting your work to judge your success are all
basics for project planning.
Communication is essential between all group members and those involved
in the decision-making process, however if you have power to enforce your
decision and you cannot get certain parties to compromise then don’t, just tell
them the plan and that this is it. I do
recognize however that theoretical training and planning is much harder to put
into practice. And yet, this session seemed
to still be grasping just the theoretical concepts and not discussing issues
that had been run into while implementing them.
Social networking is vital to any
scientist. If you want to be reaching
out to the non-scientific community then you should be summarizing your
findings in a blog, have a twitter account, and be running a facebook group
among other things. The man behind
WhySharksMatter offered some great advice and free help on all of this. I really hope session members take advantage
of his offer; I know I will be in terms of creating a website and posting an
article or two on Southern Fried Science.
Aside: running between buildings in
the pouring rain (thank-you 4 seasons NZ) for every lunch break, tea session,
etc. is not fun. Feel bad for whoever
wore white – looking at you my fellow volunteers.
The session ended on a good note
with summarization of how to properly implement a plan of action for a
critically endangered species and how to approach government officials to get
your voice heard. Simple stuff such as publishing in articles
read by the government and making sure to voice a rebuttle to those with an
un-informed opinion or voicing data you know to be wrong are all steps to be
taken. Also, a good reputation is nice
to have, but almost all of the conservationists you can name which got any
protection for her or his cause were not respected at large by the scientific
community and were extremists, but you know what? They usually got significant protection and
work done for their species. Not saying
it is necessarily the right way to go about it, but you should step up and say
something to defend what you know is right instead of backing down at
times. Everything in moderation, right?
Evening Activity
Enough with the dreary talk, at the end of the session we had a bit of downtime before heading over to Kelley Tarlton’s marine aquarium built in the sewer. Very awesome place which served as the inspiration for my group’s section of the Ugly Zoo class project this semester in Endangered Species – coolest project ever! Dr. Parsons rocks! Went over to the session via cab, not too bad in cost, and manned the door for a bit before checking out the penguin ride.
The ride takes you through the Antarctic section of the building and specifically through the penguin enclosure where they have two species of penguin. Coolest thing was the baby penguin chicks J Glad I wasn’t able to smell them though.
The main reception area with food and drink was next to the miniature pool housing fish and giant rays. Those things are massive! A comment on the food – sea food at a marine conservation lecture, really?
Headed down to the sewer section of the building to grab some video for my group project, and it was as cool as ever! I have been to the KT aquarium several times and always enjoy my visits. Got to see a sea turtle and numerous native fish, also about 7 species of shark.
Spent the rest of the session
geeking out, talking, and then catching a cab back to O’Rourke Hall to
sleep. Thanks the gods I have a NZ cell,
quite a few people were left without a way to get back because no arrangements
were made for transportation. Our cab
driver called in a request to have more cabs sent over thankfully for everyone
still there. Unfortunately, the photo
card I took the photos on has been lost and I am not sure I will find it before
the end of the trip.
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