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Brian D. Smith Brian D. Smith is an Associate Conservation Zoologist for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). He also serves as Asia Coordinator for the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) Cetacean Specialist Group and as a consultant to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) He has conducted research and training courses on marine and freshwater cetaceans in Asia since 1990 and has published papers on his work in Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, and Myanmar.He co-edited the Special Volume on Cetaceans of South and Southeast Asia for the journal Asian Marine Biology, the Biology and Conservation of Freshwater Cetaceans in Asia for the IUCN SSC Occasional Papers Series, the Supplement on the Facultative Freshwater Cetaceans of Asia: Their Ecology and Conservation for The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, and Dolphins, Whales, and Porpoises: 2002-2010 Conservation Action Plan for the World's Cetaceans for the IUCN SSC Action Plan Series. Together with a team of local scientists, he recently conducted surveys of Ganges River and Irrawaddy dolphins in the Sundarbans Delta, Bangladesh, and Irrawaddy dolphins in the Ayeyarwady River, Myanmar. A key component of these surveys was to assess the distribution and intensity of fisheries known to result in cetacean bycatches. Brian is particularly interested in developing bycatch assessment methods appropriate for the small-scale fisheries that operate in the coastal and riverine waters of Asia - environments that probably support the greatest number of cetaceans at risk. He looks forward to testing some of these approaches as coordinator for a series of local-scientist-led bycatch assessments being conducted as part of a larger project funded by WDCS, WCS, and the Convention on Migratory Species to investigate the status of coastal cetaceans in the Bay of Bengal. Close Window |