Workshop

We are organizing a workshop on killer whales in western North Pacific and the Okhotsk Sea at the Biennial conference in Halifax.

If you are attending the conference please consider participating in this workshop:

Title: Killer whales in western North Pacific and the Okhotsk Sea

Summary

Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are distributed in all oceans of the world, and those in the Northwest US and western Canada have been well studied since 1970’s. Whereas on the opposite side of the Pacific, Russian Far East killer whales are studied since late 1990’s, and intensive studies have just started in the eastern Hokkaido, Japan since 2010. The studies in Japanese waters have revealed many killer whales are observed in Nemuro Strait in early summer, and off Kushiro in fall, and photo identification, acoustic and tracking studies are currently underway. Although their social structure and prey preferences are still unknown, this population seems to migrate along Kuril islands and share the same calls with Russian waters. The goal of this workshop is to begin discussion among people studying killer whales in the North Pacific and the Okhotsk Sea focusing on similarities and differences between locations.

Date/Time

Sunday, October 29, 2017; 08:30-12:30

Cost

$50 (Early Bird); $60 (After September 15, 2015)

Program

8:30-8:45 Meet & Greet

8:45-9:15 Hiroshi Ohizumi (Tokai University)

"Research activities for killer whales off Hokkaido, Japan"

9:15-9:45 Olga Filatova (Moscow State University)

"Killer whale research in the Russian Pacific"

9:45-10:15 Paul R. Wade (Marine Mammal Laboratory, Alaska Fisheries

Science Center, NOAA Fisheries)

"Movements, diving behavior, and apparent prey preferences of Bigg's

and Resident-type killer whales in the western Aleutian Islands"

10:15-10:45 Coffee break

10:45-11:05 Hiroshi Ohizumi (Tokai University)

"Groups and associations of killer whales off Hokkaido, Japan"

11:05-11:25 Fumio Nakahara (Tokiwa University)

"Call repertoire and acoustic behavior of killer whales off Hokkaido, Japan"

11:25-11:45 Yoko Mitani (Hokkaido University)

"Movements and diving behavior of killer whales off Hokkaido, Japan"

11:45-12:30 Discussion

We look forward to seeing participants at the conference.