Biology of Marine Mammals Conference, San Fransico

EPI’s Environmental Manager, Heidi Cocca, recently attended the Society of Marine Mammalogy Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals in December located in San Francisco, California.

During the week-long conference, she attended workshops on “Incorporating new mitigation technologies into guidelines for seismic surveys and other underwater acoustic activities
: Producing performance standards” and “Science and Decision Making in an Uncertain World: Building Bridges between Science and Impact Assessments”.

While in attendance, she listened to presentations on acoustics and marine mammals in relation to vessel noise, wind farm construction and seismic surveys, the use of unmanned aerial systems for surveys, low light observation technologies, and take estimates for permitting. She also met with stakeholders, scientists, regulatory agencies, and colleagues in attendance discussing the direction marine mammal science is taking and how this impacts our seismic industry.

After the conference was complete, Heidi went on board a whale watching tour sponsored by the SMM to get a glimpse at some of the animals known to occur in California waters. While in California, she was able to see California sea lions, grey whales, common dolphins, humpback whales, harbour seals, elephant seals, and sea otters.