Setubal - Tuesday

Here Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho talks about the critically endangered vaquita

Erich Hoyt makes his key-note presentation on Marine Protected Areas

And Erich makes a plea for the New Zealand dolphin along the way.

Today we heard about a rich range of things including how gray whale calves return to their birthing grounds; about the small remaining blue whale population in the northeast Atlantic (only about 1000 animals are known over a very wide area); and we connected live (thanks to Michel Andre) to sperm whales clicking in the Ligurian Sea part of the Mediterranean. Per Berrgren talked about his work in Zanzibar where dolphin killing has given way to dolphin watching. Then we heard about the population statuses and genetics of various species including the criticially endangered monk seals, NE Atlantic pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins (where genetics support separate inshore and offshore populations).

Later we heard about allocare in pilot whales (allocare is the care of offspring other than your own) and the formal presentations for the day finished with Andrew Wright telling us of his quest to find sleep in porpoises. All mammals are believed to sleep and Andrew's PhD looked into this by examining diving patterns.