Marine mammal training symposium and survey completed in India

Cruise report photo

NOAA affiliated trainer, Suzanne Yin discusses how to identify different species with Christopher Roy (L) and Chandru
Krishnamoorthy (R), while other trainees use the big eye binoculars to search for cetaceans.

 

In December 2017,  India hosted a two-part workshop and training course, aimed to build capacity for marine mammal research and conservation throughout the country.  The first part of the workshop involved marine mammal scientists from the US, India and beyond. The second component the Marine Mammal Research in India Symposium was hosted by the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru. A multispecies cetacean systematic survey training was conducted on the 70 m FORV Sagar Sampada from December 15 to 18th, 2017, off Kochi, India. This first-of-its-kind broad-scale, line-transect survey training provided 10 trainees from various institutions across India with the skills to systematically collect, record, and report cetacean visual data.

This initiative is an example of a successful Indo-US collaboration involving NOAA Fisheries, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology (CMLRE), Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Wildlife Conservation Society, and the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), India,  and the University of Washington, USA.

During the pre-survey classroom lectures on 14 December 2017, participants learned about the basics of species identification, data collection and abundance estimation, and the importance of conducting systematic marine mammal surveys for marine resources management and species conservation. During the nearly three days at sea, trainees received instructions on the methods used to detect and record marine mammal observations at sea, following methods that are widely used globally to determine abundance estimates of marine mammal populations.

Despite poor weather and visibility,  12 marine mammal observations were made during the cruise, including several dolphin species and one whale sighting (a Bryde’s whale).  The full report of the cruise can be accessed here.

This marks an important step forward in awareness raising and capacity building for marine mammal research and conservation in India.  It is hoped that similar capacity building be conducted throughout ASWN member countries.

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