Simposios y Seminarios

The Venezuelan non-governmental organizations Sociedad Ecologica Venezolana Vida Marina (SEA VIDA)and the Centro de Investigacion de Cetaceos (CIC) are pleased to announce the:

** INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON BIOLOGY AND CONSERVATION OF AQUATIC MAMMALS AND RESEARCH TECHNIQUES.
** INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF AQUATIC MAMMALS.
to be held next 21-26 February, 2005, in the city of Puerto la Cruz, stat= e of Anzoategui, Northeastern Venezuela. Invited instructors and lecturers
include:
Maria Claudia Diazgranados, Earth Island Institute Latin America, Lilian Florez-Gonzalez Fundaci=F3n Yubarta, Colombia,=20 Toni Frohoff, Marine Mammal Consultant, the Humane Society of the United States=20 Nathalie Ward, Eastern Caribbean Cetacean Network Gerardo Huertas, The World Society for the Protection of Animals Tony Mignucci, Caribbean Stranding Network (to be confirmed),=20 Juan Carlos Murillo, The World Society for the Protection of Animals Fernando Trujillo, Fundaci=F3n Omacha, Colombia Erin Vos, U.S. Marine Mammal Commission (to be confirmed)
Selected speeches will be presented at the Symposium by more than a dozen Venezuelan researchers and government officers including:
Luis Bermudez
Jaime Bola=F1os
Alvin Delgado (to be confirmed)
Carlos Gimenez (to be confirmed)
Tatiana Leon
Adda Manzanilla
Keyla Matos
Lenin Oviedo
Sonsiree Ramirez
Alejandro Sayegh
Noemi Silva


SEMINAR PROGRAM (21-23 February, 2005)
Legal aspects
Identification of cetaceans in the field
Strandings
Planning a survey
Studying behavior
Cetacean clinic
Release protocols for rehabilitated animals
Populational studies: the Distance program and mark-recapture methods Bioacoustics Management of Whalewatching. Including a case study: humpback whales in the Colombian Pacific

FIELD TRIP to the Mochima National Park: 24 February, 2005 (encounter rat= e with long snouted common dolphin groups over 90%)
SYMPOSIUM PROGRAM (Selected speeches, 25-26 February, 2005)
* Conservation and management of sirenians
* Conservation and management of south American mustelids
* Conservation and management of freshwater dolphins
* International Agreement for Conservation of Dolphins
* The public display industry
* Dolphin Assisted Therapy (DAT)
* Whalewatching in Colombia=20
* Whalewatching in Venezuela=20
* Conservation and management in the Venezuelan Atlantic
* Conservation and management in western Venezuela
* Conservation and management in the the State of Nueva Esparta
* Environmental Education in the Caribbean Sea
* Environmental Impact Assesments
* Conservation and management Priorities for Venezuela

For additional information do not hit the reply button, please contact us
at:
Prof. Luis Bermudez,=20
Centro de Investigacion de Cetaceos (CIC)
e-mail: cicvenezuela@yahoo.com
www.cicvenezuela.com
Lic. Jaime Bolanos,=20
SEA VIDA
e-mail: sea_vida@yahoo.es
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VOLUNTEER HAWKWATCH COUNTERS, for the Migratory Raptor Conservation
Project in Talamanca, Costa Rica. SPRING Migration season goes from 15
Feb to 15 May 2005. Duties Include: assisting and working with official
counters in identifying and counting raptors, data entry, and flight
interpretation to visitors. Location: South Caribbean Costa Rica,
Talamanca Region, between Puerto Viejo and Cahuita, Limón Province. The
Hawkwatch is located in the Kéköldi Indigenous Reserve, a 3500 ha
reserve of Primary and Secondary forests and some cocoa plantations. The
Kéköldi Hawkwatch started in 2000, and it’s the second best place in the
world to witness raptor migration (after Veracruz, México) and the only
tropical active Hawkwatch, with more than 1 million birds per season.
Observations are made from a 10m tower built at Kéköldi Indigenous
Reserve, 210 m a.s.l., with 360º view over the flyway area. Duration:
Minimum 1 month participation. Volunteers that stay for the whole season
are preferred. Housing: available at nearest town, 30 minute hike to the
tower, or at lodge built in the Indigenous Reserve. Low cost.
Qualifications: Bird observation experience or previous ornithology
field work experience preferred. Physically fit and willing to work long
hours under hot and humid conditions; being able to work in a team and,
most of all, enthusiastic. Some Spanish knowledge is important but not
obligatory. The volunteers will receive training in hawkwatching and
estimating large numbers of migrating birds. If interested contact PABLO
PORRAS (EM: pporras@mac.com).