Every other year, the Society for Marine Mammalogy hosts a conference on the biology of marine mammals. In late 2019, they partnered with the European Cetacean Society to host the World Marine Mammal Conference. This conference brought together leaders from all over the world in the field of mammalogy to enhance collaboration, share ideas, and improve the quality of research on marine mammals in the scientific community.
We had the pleasure of being a guest at the conference this past December, and lucky for us it was hosted in beautiful Barcelona! The conference, lasting four days, had over 2,700 attendees from around the world. The days consisted of plenary talks, concurrent sessions, and exhibits focused on marine mammals. Some of the main topics included ecology, habitat, feeding, distribution, and conservation.
The purpose of our journey into Spain was not just to learn and see amazing new things in the world of marine mammalogy, but to also spread the word on our innovations with the Year of the Right Whale project!
There are currently an estimated 400 North Atlantic right whales left, making them the world’s most endangered whale species. The need for their protection and advocacy is what sparked our executive director Jennifer Kennedy, along with Cynde McInnis of The Whalemobile to start Year of the Right Whale; a platform to protect the North Atlantic right whale through celebration, action, and education.
At the conference, we presented information at the sole education and outreach sessions on the “Booth in a Box;” a box of tools that anyone can use to set up a booth/table to educate the public about right whales and engage them in protection efforts. Hundreds of people learned about the Booth in a Box and how they could have one at their own institution. Hundreds more visited us in the Exhibit Hall, where they had the Booth in a Box set up at a table run by The Calvin Project, who graciously allowed us to take up some space during the conference. We team also attended talks about right whale research, biology, and behavior, and gained ideas and insight that will prove to be useful during the Year of the Right Whale.
Even though we only got to spend 3 days in Barcelona, it was well worth the trip. We met scientists and educators from all over the world who are concerned about right whales and want to help. We look forward to working with them to get our Booth in a Box distributed throughout the US and around the world. One teacher we met from Germany is interested in using our Booth in a Box in her classroom, and then having her students take it to other schools to educate their peers about right whales. This gives us hope that this year, during the Year of the Right Whale, we can all have a huge cumulative impact on saving this species from extinction!
Learn more about Year of the Right Whale and their Booth in a Box by visiting yearoftherightwhale.org!
