Making a splash at annual Porcupine conference
Those with an interest in marine biology are gearing up for an engaging weekend as the annual Porcupine Marine Natural History Society conference comes to Argyll.
Confirmed speakers for the two-day event being held at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), at Dunstaffnage near Oban, include students, professional marine biologists and interested amateurs who are covering an enticing variety of topics.
Everything from the latest research, conservation stories, taxonomy, and citizen science.
A flavour of the presentations that will be on offer are:
❚Education manager of the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust Pippa Garrad will be speaking as the trust celebrate 25 years of marine mammal conservation on the west coast of Scotland.
❚A talk about the east coast population of bottlenose dolphins will be given by Jack Lucas from St Andrews University Marine Mammal Unit.
❚Texa Sim, a PhD student at SAMS, will present information about the behaviour of harbour porpoises around fish farms.
❚The GRAB Trust’s Kerry MacKay from the Beaches and Marine Litter Project will speak about its work across Argyll, on community engagement and education to tackle marine litter.
❚Open Seas will talk about their case study from Gairloch around seabed protection.
❚Shane Wasik from Basking Shark Scotland will be talking about its work studying feeding patterns and movements of basking sharks.
Other subjects being covered will highlight some of the work being carried out at SAMS by staff and students. They will present topics ranging from studies on copepods, marine worms, kelp and the responses of different rocky shore species to climate change.
Speakers from further afield will present studies carried out on the interactions between juvenile fish and jellyfish, on limpet behaviour in Orkney, green turtles, strandings of non-native molluscs on UK shores and a variety of other conservation related topics.
The conference will be held over March 14 and 15, with a field trip taking place on Friday March 13 at Clachan Seil. Bookings for the conference and field trip can be made on the Porcupine website: pmnhs.co.uk/meetings/ pmnhs-annual-conference