Category: conservation
-
What dwells in these muddy waters: The quest for dolphins and porpoises in the Gulf of Mottama, Myanmar
About our journey – from an unexpected revelation in India, to poking around fishing villages, to finally seeing the animals with our own eyes – to start a research program on the marine mammals in the Gulf of Mottama. Originally posted on Medium. Rainy season in this part of southeastern Myanmar is miserable. It brings…
-
A tangled net: Bycatch, dolphin conservation, and human well-being
Bycatch is a serious threat to marine megafauna around the world; reducing it requires changes in how people fish, posing a highly challenging situation where conservation might threaten human well-being.
-
Cute, Generally Irritating, and Endangered: Lessons from studying Irrawaddy dolphins & their conservation systems
In the waters of South and Southeast Asia dwells an elusive and funny-looking species of dolphin. It lacks the long snout of the well-known bottlenose dolphin, its back is oddly lumpy, and its mouth is turned up in a smile that is simultaneously adorable, cheeky, and mysterious. I say “cheeky” in part because they are…
-
Research Highlight: Misguided attempts to revive Vaquita Conservation
You may have heard about the vaquita, a hapless little porpoise species in the Upper Gulf of California, Mexico. It’s been one of the most high-profile marine conservation cases in recent months – its numbers had plummeted to the point where world experts in marine mammal conservation decided that the only hope for the species…
-
Some tips for aspiring conservation researchers
I wrote this back in 2016 or so, but most of it should still hold true! I often receive emails from aspiring students and researchers. Some want to work with me, others are more generally interested in advice about finding field jobs or grad school. It’s wonderful to get these messages and to see this…
-
In Deep Sea News: Beyond drug lords and conservationists…
…who is missing in the coverage of the vaquita’s demise? Vaquita conservation has been a hot topic (well, as far as endangered species go) in the news recently. But I’ve been troubled by the coverage, which rarely discusses the local communities. So, based on my team’s research in the Upper Gulf of California last year,…
Tara Sayuri Whitty 