Hello All, We are pleased to announce that we will be holding a full-day workshop entitled "Lose the Loop: Pinniped Disentanglement and Prevention" at the Biennial Conference in San Francisco on Sunday, December 13th. We encourage anyone working with pinniped entanglement issues to attend. We will start the workshop with individual presentations from a select group of geographically diverse experts. Panelists will present the problem and provide some background, but will focus on attempted disentanglement methods and discuss success/failures/lessons learned. In the afternoon, we will have open group discussions for attendees to share experiences. The primary goal of this workshop will be to discuss methods of pinniped prevention and disentanglement, and to develop strategies to coordinate efforts as we move forward. Please see an overview of the workshop below or on the <https://www.marinemammalscience.org/conference/workshops/> SMM conference website. Registration: You can register for the workshop through the conference website: <https://www.marinemammalscience.org/conference/conference-registration/> https://www.marinemammalscience.org/conference/conference-registration/. The registration fee is US $80.00 prior to September 15th and US $90.00 thereafter. If you have any questions about the workshop, please contact Elizabeth Hogan <mailto:ehogan@worldanimalprotection.org> ehogan@worldanimalprotection.org or Kim Raum-Suryan <mailto:kraumsuryan@charter.net> kraumsuryan@charter.net. Thank you for your consideration and we hope to see you in December! Kim Raum-Suryan and Elizabeth Hogan Lose the Loop: Pinniped Disentanglement and Prevention Subject: Pinniped disentanglement: identifying the problem, methods of prevention, and pinniped rescue/removal of entanglement Date/Time: Sunday, December 13, 2015; 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM Organizer and contact email: Elizabeth Hogan ( <mailto:ehogan@worldanimalprotection.org> ehogan@worldanimalprotection.org) Description of Proposed Workshop The entanglement of marine mammals in all forms of marine litter, particularly fixed and passive fishing gear, is increasingly recognized as a serious source of human-caused mortality for marine mammal populations. Recent estimates have determined that over 300,000 marine mammals die entangled in fishing gear annually. Recognizing this, the 88 member countries of the International Whaling Commission recently recommended the development of global capacity for understanding, responding to, and ultimately preventing these events, for species conservation and animal welfare as well as human safety and economics. However, there is no comparable global body to organize such response protocols for pinnipeds. Pinniped entanglements take many forms and impact many different species. This workshop will assemble a global group of experts to discuss this issue in order to gain a broad understanding of pinniped entanglement issues around the world, discuss methods of prevention and disentanglement, and develop a strategy to coordinate efforts moving forward. Proposed Panel (depending on availability): Michael Williams (Alaska; fur seals), Marty Haulena/Wendy Szaniszlo (BC Canada; Steller & California sea lions), Kate Savage/Lauri Jemison (Alaska; Steller sea lions), Kim Raum-Suryan (Oregon; California & Steller sea lions), Shawn Johnson (California; Marine Mammal Center), Sue Sayer (Cornwall, United Kingdom; Grey seals), Michelle Barbieri (Hawaii; Hawaiian monk seals), TBA (Australia; Australian fur seals), TBA (South Africa), Elizabeth Hogan (Packing bands). Elizabeth Hogan Campaign Manager for Oceans & Wildlife World Animal Protection Direct: 202-374-7068 Skype: hogan.elizabeth Email: ehogan@worldanimalprotection.org <mailto:ehogan@worldanimalprotection.org> Twitter: https://twitter.com/EHHogan