The South West Catchments Council (SWCC) will be hosting the 3rd Biennial “South West Marine Conference” on Thursday 9th May 2013.  SouWEST will be presenting the Geographe Bay project and some of the preliminary findings.

Held right on the shore of Geographe Bay, the SWCC marine conference aims to advance and integrate our understanding of the South West estuarine and marine environments. The conference will bring together those working at the cutting edge of marine and estuarine science, management and conservation and strive to integrate science, management and on-ground practices to build ecosystem’ resilience across the South West.

Sarah Marley and Angela Recalde Salas will be presenting oral talks.  The first of which will giving a general introduction to the SouWEST project and discussing preliminary findings and future directions.  The second will specifically focus on the acoustical component by describing social sounds produced by blue and humpback whales in Geographe Bay.

• Southwest Whale Ecology Study (SouWEST): An integrated collaborative project using multiple platforms to investigate the ecology and behaviour of baleen whales in southwestern Australia
• Social sounds of blue and humpback whales in Geographe Bay, Western Australia

Ron Glencross and Chris Burton will also be presenting a poster on behalf of D-CALC and Western Whale Research.  They will be discussing differences in whale sightings based on modern data and historic whaling records.

• Nineteenth century record of Geographe Bay whale species population compared with that of the early 21st century

To see the full conference program, please click here.

Will you be attending the SWCC South West Marine Conference?  If so, please come say hello!  If not, never fear – just check our Twitter account for regular conference updates!