Marine Mammals and Public Policy - Two Meetings

I received notice through the MARMAM listserve of two upcoming meetings open to the public on marine mammals and public policy. I will append the announcements.

The U.S. Marine Mammal Commission will host a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Acoustic Impacts on Marine Mammals, to be held April 28-30, 2004, in Arlington, VA. See this page for the meeting agenda and instructions for public comment.

The U.S. Marine Mammal Commission will host a workshop on the vulnerability of beaked whales to anthropogenic sound, to be held April 13-16, 2004, in Baltimore, MD. The public may attend as observers to this technical meeting. An agenda and information page will be posted for the meeting.

The schedule of upcoming meetings of the Marine Mammal Commission.

The announcements as I received them follow.

From: MARMAM Editors
Subject: MMC Advisory Committee on Acoustic Impacts on Marine Mammals, 2nd plenary meeting (fwd)

The Marine Mammal Commission is pleased to announce the second meeting of the Advisory Committee on Acoustic Impacts on Marine Mammals:

Wednesday, 28 April - Friday, 30 April 2004 Sheraton Crystal City Hotel, 1800 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, VA 22202 phone 703-486-1111 or 800-862-7666, fax 703-769-3955 (reservations under Marine Mammal Commission group, please reserve by April 7) http://www.starwood.com/sheraton/search/hotel_detail.html?propertyID=741

This meeting will focus on techniques for risk assessment of acoustic impacts on marine mammals. It will include presentations on past and current risk analysis approaches, and on the Noise Exposure Criteria being developed by NOAA Fisheries.

The meeting is open to the public and will be announced in the Federal Register. A draft meeting agenda and any background documents will be available on the Commission's website at http://mmc.gov/sound/welcome.html. Guidelines for making public comment to the Advisory Committee are also available on the website.

We hope you will be able to attend this important meeting. Please note that the Advisory Committee's third meeting is tentatively scheduled for July 27-29, 2004 in California.

Please feel free to distribute this announcement. If you prefer not to receive email updates about the Commission's policy dialogue on sound and marine mammals, please email evos@mmc.gov and ask to be removed from the list. If you did not receive this original email and wish to receive future updates, please email evos@mmc.gov and ask to be added to the distribution list.

Erin Vos, MEM
Sound Project Manager
Marine Mammal Commission
4340 East-West Highway, Rm. 905
Bethesda, MD 20814
main office: 301-504-0087
direct line: 301-504-0300
fax: 301-504-0099
email: evos@mmc.gov
web: www.mmc.gov

Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 10:49:01 -0800
From: MARMAM Editors
Subject: MMC beaked whale technical workshop (fwd)

--Apologies for cross-postings--

The Marine Mammal Commission is planning a workshop to discuss the vulnerability of beaked whales to anthropogenic sound. The workshop will be held at the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland from 13 April to 16 April 2004.

The workshop will be technical in nature and will inform the larger policy dialogue sponsored by the Marine Mammal Commission on the effects of anthropogenic sound in the marine environment (see www.mmc.gov/sound for more information). Specifically, the workshop's goals are to (1) assess current knowledge of recent stranding events involving beaked whales and their biology and ecology; (2) identify and characterize factors that may have caused those strandings; (3) identify data needed to investigate possible cause-and-effect relationships; and (4) recommend research, management, and mitigation strategies specific to beaked whales and acoustic impacts.

To guide preparation for the workshop, the Commission appointed a steering committee consisting of Jay Barlow, Lee Benner, Bob Gisiner, Lloyd Lowry, Jim Mead, Teri Rowles, and Doug Wartzok. The steering committee felt that to facilitate discussion, we needed to limit the number of participants at the table. The Commission has invited 30 individuals who will be involved in this discussion. However, the workshop will be open to observers, and the general public are welcome to attend.

An agenda and additional information will be posted when available on the Marine Mammal Commission's web site (http://mmc.gov/sound/beakedwhalewrkshp.html). Please feel free to forward this to anyone who may find this workshop useful and may be interested in attending. Questions can be addressed to Dr. Tara Cox, Assistant Scientific Program Director, Marine Mammal Commission, phone 301-504-0087, email tcox@mmc.gov.

--------------------------------
Erin Vos, MEM
Sound Project Manager
Marine Mammal Commission
4340 East-West Highway, Rm. 905
Bethesda, MD 20814
main office: 301-504-0087
direct line: 301-504-0300
fax: 301-504-0099
email: evos@mmc.gov
web: www.mmc.gov