2018National Biodiversity Teach In
Speakers:
The Ugly Truth about Canada’s open-net Atlantic salmon farms9am CST | 7 am PST
Alexandra Morton, a biologist, has spent nearly 30 years in coastal B.C., raising her children, studying killer whales and doing her utmost to protect the area from salmon farming. Atlantic net-pen salmon farms arrived in British Columbia in the 1970s but began to proliferate by the late 1980s. By 2000, 90% of salmon farms in the province were Norwegian owned, and contain Atlantic salmon. Since then, the salmon farming industry has grown, notably in the Broughton Archipelago. Morton began to study the effects salmon farming brings to the coast of British Columbia, particularly to wild salmon populations, which experienced major declines since in the introduction of salmon farms in the area.Detailed BIO:
https://kickasscanadians.ca/dr-alexandra-morton/
Killer Whales:Why Endangered Killer Whales Need Help and What We Can Do10 am CST | 8 am PST
Dr. David Bain has been studying killer whales since 1978. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and did post-doctoral fellowships at UC Davis and the National Marine Mammal Lab. His work has addressed many aspects of their biology and behavior. In recent years he has focused on the effects of disturbance. In addition to research, Dr. Bain works tirelessly on policy issues regarding the effects of noise and other threats including aiding salmon recovery through stewardship, education, and restoration to increase prey availability. On April 28, 2017, Governor Jay Inslee named Dr. Bain -- “Washingtonian of the Day” -- for his work with Friends of the North Creek Forest.Dr. Bain is a co-author of Canada’s Resident Killer Whale Recovery Strategy under SARA. In addition to his research, he is active in protecting and restoring habitat for killer whales and their prey.
Water for Rivers, Dam Removal & Citizen Engagement11 am CST | 9 am PST
Konrad Fisher has fifteen years of advocacy, research, and communications experience focusing on water, economic, and climate policy. Before joining the staff of Klamath Riverkeeper in 2011, Konrad worked for nonprofit organizations and tribal governments promoting the needs of river-dependent communities. In addition to publishing reports and articles, he successfully fostered campaigns that secured tribal representation within California’s water management planning process, advanced policies allowing the dedication of water rights for environmental needs, prevented groundwater export from Siskiyou County, and helped to stop destructive forms of industrial fish farming in U.S. federal waters. Four generations of Konrad’s family have resided in the Klamath Basin, including paternal grandparents who logged throughout the basin and a maternal grandfather who helped dam the Trinity River. Konrad lives on the lower Klamath River and holds a BA from the University of Oregon.
Wildlife Poaching12 NOON CST | 10 am PST
Rick Wood -- Six years of documentary film work introduced Rick to broken turtles, onerous otters, peculiar pinnipeds and woeful whales. Finding out what issues face endangered and threatened marine animals – and what we can do to help them – drives his work.Rough Cuts is a webinar aimed at connecting the dots of ecology, conservation and activism. See, Learn, Plan and Act, as Rick says.This years' presentation will touch on sea turtles, manatees, killer whales, seals, sea lions, and sea otters. And, viewers can expect to learn about pelagic plastics, legacy toxins, keystone species, ecosystem health, as well as outlooks for the future in a rapidly changing world. Through anecdotes from filming, hanging out with researchers and Rick's own observations, he'll convey the urgent (yet inspiring) messages of conservation and hope.
Tales of Wild Killer Whales2 PM CST | 12 NOON PST
Gary and Tasli have 17 years combined experience whale watching in the Salish Sea. During this time, they have been fortunate enough to spend a lot of time with the endangered Southern Resident killer whales and getting to know their individual personalities. Tasli and Gary also volunteer time researching the other type of killer whale in the Salish Sea known as Biggs killer whales. During the Canadian winters, the whales have drawn these two self proclaimed “whale nerds” elsewhere, including Hawaii and New Zealand. Their passion for the whales is shared with the world through their photography and illustration of these amazing animals. Gary and Tasli share their images and stories with the world to help people understand the unique and fragile cultures of killer whales in British Columbia and the environmental challenges they face.
OneLessStraw and Pangolin Awareness3 PM CST |1PM PST
Carter and Olivia always wanted to create an organization that would educate their peers on various issues which is why they started
One More Generation (OMG) back in 2009. As they learned about animals around the world that need help, they would go to their friends and they quickly realized that most of them were also unaware of the issues. As they started looking at ways they could make a positive impact, it became apparent that education was the missing link. They found that when they educated others on various issues, they would always find people interested in helping. The only thing holding them back up until that point was a lack of education about that particular subject.Now OMG creates various educational outreach programs for all the initiatives they get involved in. Since starting OMG they created three main divisions within their organization.
Animal Conservation,
Environmental Conservation and
Youth Empowerment. Each division’s goal is to provide the necessary education and tools the audience needs to be able to make informed decisions on the subject and to help them find easy to implement ways to get involved.The success of OMG can directly be contributed to the outreach programs Olivia and Carter have created and to the inspirational message they share with everyone “
Anybody can make a difference… if we can, you can too”.For more information on the Division of One More Generation, check out our various
Programs.
www.onemoregeneration.org
2016 Webinar Presentation: https://youtu.be/IlaAzCgg6Sc
Southern Resident Killer Whale Research Topics and Techniques4 PM CST | 2 PM PST
Deborah Giles (she goes by her last name) received her PhD from the University of California Davis in 2014. Her master’s thesis and PhD dissertation both focused on the federally listed southern resident killer whales. Formerly the research director at the Center for Whale Research, she is currently a lecturerand research associate at the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Labs. Since 2009 Giles has been the vessel captain for Dr. Samuel Wasser’s project - University of Washington’s Center for Conservation Biology - utilizing a scat detection dog to locate floating killer whale scat to monitor the physiological health of southern resident killer whales. Starting in 2010, Giles also began work with an ongoing collaborative project with Cascadia Research Collective and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service deploying acoustic suction-cup recording tags on killer whales to measure received noise levels by whales. Giles is the killer whale scientific adviser and has acted as coordinator for the Orca Salmon Alliance, a program advisor for Killer Whale Tales, and is on the Steering Committee for the Salish Sea Ecosystem Advocates (SalishSEA).
Hooray for Humpbacks!5 PM CST |3 PM PST
Lindsay Hirt, M.S., a Plymouth, Massachusetts native, spreads the word about the unique coastal New England environment and has a whale of a time while doing it. She has enjoyed presenting for the National Biodiversity Teach-In since its inception.As a marine biologist and 8
th grade science teacher, Lindsay spends one half of her time in a classroom and the other half on the water, working with whale watch companies, conservation organizations, and other ocean-minded folks. She monitors whales, seals, birds, and an assortment of other salty sea life. Her mission is to offer an unforgettable experience with nature while inspiring young people to realize their importance in environmental stewardship.In this webinar, you’ll meet the fabulously famous humpback whales of Stellwagen Bank. Dive in to learn about their life history and the role they play in keeping our oceans healthy.