Nov. 10 Webinar: Fishermen Helping to Save Whales
An MRC Lunch & Learn Webinar
November 10, 2020
12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Attendance is free.
Watch our Lunch & Learn Webinar, “How Fishermen are Helping to Save Whales,” with Kim Sawicki. See below for video from this event.
Ropeless fishing has been described as what will likely save North Atlantic Right Whales from extinction. Many whales and other marine species become entangled in vertical ropes that help fishermen locate their pots/traps for retrieval. Kim Sawicki has been researching ropeless fishing gear not only to help save whales, but to help commercial fishermen maintain their livelihoods in the face of regulatory measures by the federal government. Kim will discuss how fishermen are assisting with the research and how their involvement could help save a critically endangered whale species.
The seminar will end with a live Q&A session, but we also recommend that participants to please email any questions you might have that relate to this topic to the MRC’s Nicole Broquet at nicole@mrcirl.org by November 6.
This is a free virtual event, but you must register to receive the Zoom link and login information. If you are unable to register, we will be live streaming the event through the MRC’s Facebook page. Register today using the button below and be ready to wear your comfy pants, have your lunch, and learn from home.
About Our Presenter
Kim Sawicki is Fulbright scholar who worked in Scotland and Ireland teaching fishers how to fish effectively without harming marine mammals. Her nine-month independent research project in 2018–19 required travel along the coasts of both countries, working closely with entanglement experts, pathologists, engineers, policy makers, and fishing communities. Her past experience as a public health professional in emergency and disaster medicine cultivated in her a passion for epidemiology and pathobiology. After earning dual degrees in Pathobiology & Veterinary Science and Allied Health Sciences, she applied her knowledge and energy to studying cetacean epidemiology. Kim is currently focusing her work on trauma-induced mortalities, namely those involving fishing gear entanglement and how ropeless fishing gear can reduce mortality rates in marine life.
As the founder of Sustainable Seas Technology Inc., she is dedicated to working with innovative technology, fishers, and engineers to save marine mammals from unnecessary human-induced deaths, and to preserve coastal fishing communities as they are.
Contact Kim Sawicki at kim.sawicki@uconn.edu
Resources
View Kim’s paper on ropeless fishing technologies:
Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team Ropeless Subgroup Feasibility Matrix: Questions and Answers to be considered in rulemaking effort
This virtual event is free but you must register to receive the Zoom link and login information. If interested and able, we ask participants to donate toward our guest speaker series. MRC’s Lunch & Learn Webinar series is a long-standing and cherished social offered to the East Central Florida coast region, and is supported by volunteers and the community’s charitable giving. All donations are tax-deductible. For more information on the Marine Resources Council, please visit SaveTheIRL.org.