Dear MARMAMers, I am circulating an online questionnaire to vessel crews and managers, to gauge their experience and opinions of ship strikes and potential mitigation measures. Responses will be analysed and used as part of my PhD at the University of Portsmouth, UK, which focusses on ship strike risk modelling. I would appreciate any help that you can offer by circulating the questionnaire to your networks in the shipping industry. If there are any questions, please get in contact via james.robbins@port.ac.uk. Further details are provided for potential participants before the questionnaire which can be accessed at this address: https://forms.gle/gYhMkUnF9RUpPexK6. Further details and a blurb are also given below this email. Very best wishes, James Robbins --------------------------------- Do you spend time at sea, or manage ship operations from land? Scientists are interested in your experience and opinions on the frequency of encounters with marine mammals, and potential collisions. Please share your thoughts via the the following link: https://forms.gle/gYhMkUnF9RUpPexK6. Researchers at the University of Portsmouth are looking into the issue of collisions between ships and marine wildlife. So far this has included extensive risk modelling, and simulating potential solutions. However, the researchers would like to understand the wealth of experience and knowledge that vessel crews and managers have on this subject, and invite you to complete an online questionnaire so that this knowledge can be incorporated into recommendations to ensure that they reflect the practicalities and challenges faced by those working at sea. Invitation letter EC Ref No: SHFEC 2021-088 Dear Potential Participant, I am a PhD student at the University of Portsmouth, interested in shipping activity and how it co-exists with whales, dolphins and porpoise. I am investigating the experience, knowledge, and opinions of people employed in the shipping industry (who may work on vessels, or manage them from shore) to whale conservation, and how vessels may affect their conservation. This research contributes towards the fulfilment of my PhD, and results of the anonymous responses will be published in a peer-reviewed journal. This questionnaire is completely anonymous and voluntary, and you can choose to participate or not. We are seeking people who are 18 or over, and either work at sea or manage sea-going activities. If you do participate, thank you very much! You can leave blank any questions that you do not feel comfortable answering. If at any point you decide you no longer wish to participate, you can simply close the questionnaire. By submitting a response on the Google questionnaire, you give your consent for myself to use the anonymous data for analysis. If you decide not to participate, that is okay - thank you for your time in considering our project. More information is available on the participant information sheet below. If you have any queries regarding the questionnaire, please contact James Robbins (james.robbins@port.ac.uk). The questionnaire can be accessed at the following link: https://forms.gle/gYhMkUnF9RUpPexK6 All the best, James Robbins