2011 EEA Scientific Conference in Berlin

written by Akira Biondo (Pangaea Mongolia Expedition YEP and Pangaea Borneo Project Ambassador)

Despite academic work piling up on my study desk, nothing would have been able to keep me from the 15th annual conference of the European Elasmobranch Association in Berlin, held Nov 28 through 30th, 2011.

It had been a since I had last seen Michael and I was looking forward to catching up with him and meeting his shark-researcher-peers.

I would claim that I did have a sound idea of what the shark-conservation arena for NGOs and the like looked like but was very much aware that the scientific realm would be nothing alike.

Following a keynote speech by Shelley Clarke (a fisheries scientist based out of Japan) on how there is an urgent need to keep the science in shark conservation - as opposed to simplifying or, as she put it, "cuddlifying"  the shark - numerous presentations by field-researchers kept our ears perked up during the two conference days.

The scientific work presented covered a wide range of topics from Elasmobranch Conservation & Fisheries Management over Fisheries, Taxonomy, Anatomy & Morphology and Behavior to Biology, Ecology & Population Dynamics.

For myself, it was very interesting to get a glimpse into the world of shark-researchers and to learn about the relevance of certain areas of research that had not necessarily been part of my scope.

Last but not least, Michael's collaborative work, with Benjamin Hughes and Tilo Burghardt from the University of Bristol, 'Towards fully Automated Biometric Identification of Individual White Sharks using Computer Vision on Dorsal Fin Images'. It was stunning to see what state-of-the-art computer technology can create and how the outcome of such applications could potentially contribute to scientific research and conservation efforts for our friends with fins.

I very much hope that they will soon be able to launch a platform open to the public, onto which shark-dive-aficionados as well can upload their images of white shark fins and propel the identification process of individual sharks, while personally having the possibility to follow "your shark" to its next destination somewhere in the great deep blue.

Fins up, folks!

2011 EEA Scientific Conference in Berlin

Saturday October 29, 2011, an auction took place at the conference function to raise funding for student bursaries. Mike Horn and Pangaea donated ten Anti-Finning t-shirts from the Pangaea Shark Project range, and Michael donated five autographed copies of his book 'South Africa's Great White Shark'.