Dear all, Please join us for a half-day workshop on Sunday, October 29, 2017, 08:00-12:00 titled "Killer whales in western North Pacific and the Okhotsk Sea" at the Biennial conference in Halifax. Please register via the conference website: http://www.smmconference.org/WorkshopDescriptions Summary Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are distributed in all oceans of the world, and those in the Northwest US and western Canada have been well studied since 1970’s. Whereas on the opposite side of the Pacific, Russian Far East killer whales are studied since late 1990’s, and intensive studies have just started in the eastern Hokkaido, Japan since 2010. The studies in Japanese waters have revealed many killer whales are observed in Nemuro Strait in early summer, and off Kushiro in fall, and photo identification, acoustic and tracking studies are currently underway. Although their social structure and prey preferences are still unknown, this population seems to migrate along Kuril islands and share the same calls with Russian waters. The goal of this workshop is to begin discussion among people studying killer whales in the North Pacific and the Okhotsk Sea focusing on similarities and differences between locations. Date/Time: Sunday, October 29, 2017; 08:00-12:00 For additional information about the workshop, please visit https://sites.google.com/view/uni-horp/smm_workshop2017 We look forward to seeing participants at the conference. Yoko -- 三谷曜子 Yoko Mitani 北海道大学北方生物圏フィールド科学センター 水圏ステーション 函館臨海実験所 生態系変動解析分野 〒040-0051 北海道函館市弁天町20番5号 函館市国際水産・海洋総合研究センター内219号室 Tel: 0138-85-6558; Fax: 0138-85-6625 Email: yo_mitani@fsc.hokudai.ac.jp Yoko MITANI Laboratory of Marine Ecosystem Change Analysis Hakodate Marine Station, Field Science Center for Northern Biosphere, Hokkaido University Hakodate Research Center for Fisheries and Oceans 20-5 Benten-cho, Hakodate, Hokkaido 040-0051, JAPAN TEL: +81-138-85-6558; FAX: +81-138-85-6625 E-mail: yo_mitani@fsc.hokudai.ac.jp