Development of a Cetacean Tagging Best Practices Guidelines Document
Abstract
LONG-TERM GOALS: Despite the strong public interest in whales and dolphins, our understanding of their biology and our ability to manage their populations and mitigate our impacts upon them is constrained by the difficulty of observing animals that spend most of their time beneath the surface of the ocean. This challenge can be at least partly overcome by the application of telemetry tags to cetaceans. With an ever increasing need for the information that can only be provided by tagging studies, such research will become more and more common, and new scientists will likely adopt these tools, especially as advancements are made and the telemetry tags become more readily available through commercial vendors. These new adopters of cetacean tagging methods, as well as established tagging practitioners, must strive to apply knowledge and expertise that reflects the current state of the art in this field, or best practice. The main goal of this project is to develop a cetacean tagging best practices guidelines document through the coordination and collaboration of experienced cetacean tagging researchers and veterinarians and make it widely available to all interested parties. The published report will serve as an informational resource to assist researchers, veterinarians, animal care committee members and regulatory agency staff in the interpretation and implementation of current standards of practice and promote the training of specialists in this area.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 30, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA597823
Entities
People
- Russel D. Andrews
Organizations
- University of Alaska Fairbanks