Thresher Shark Research and Conservation Expeditions - Volunteer Research Assistants

[Thalassamania]

Whilst this is an unusual way to fund science, and would not be not an acceptable way (in the US or GB) to qualify research divers (OSHA and Workplace safety rules and such), Simon Oliver is the real deal and has done some very interesting work.

 

[chip104]

Thank you for your questions and feedback Chip.

Fostering relationships with Philippine academic institutions is very important to us and we would relish the opportunity to disseminate our work through seminars and workshops at local universities. Simon Oliver will be in the Philippines March – August conducting fieldwork. During that time he will be very willing to accept any invitation to give a talk and/or hold a workshop. Please contact us directly should you wish to initiate such a process.

In the long term yes we certainly aspire to expand our research (with local academic collaborations) to other marine sites in the Philippines.

With regards to releasing the article which synthesizes our results from 2005, we have submitted the paper for publication in a high impact scientific journal. Presently we are waiting for a decision from the editors to determine if it will be reviewed. If and when it is accepted, we will be posting it for all to download on our website (crossing fingers this will be soon). However, because of submission restrictions, we do have to wait until the paper has been accepted for publication before we can release it to the general public.

Alternatively, we are willing to provide data for review upon private request. Please email us directly should this be of interest to you.

As I mentioned in my previous posting, we are in an ongoing process of applying for grants to subsidize our volunteers. We are expecting a decision on one of these applications on Monday. Hopefully the decision will be favourable and thereby enable us to reduce costs for all our volunteer research assistants including local divers.

I’ll hope to hear from you in person regarding possible academic collaborations and affiliations.

Best Wishes,

Alison Beckett
Project manager

Thanks Dr. Beckett,

I'll certainly let the faculty at the Marine Science Institute, University of the Philippines Diliman, know about your project and Simon's schedule. People have reported more and more thresher shark visitations in Puerto Galera as well (although not as frequent as Malapascua).

I understand about your article. Good luck with it and your grant applications.

 

[Shark Expeditions]

We are very pleased to announce that we have just won a small grant which will enable us to subsidize volunteer research assistants by 57.5%.

Please visit The Thresher Shark Project website for new reduced costs and details.

Best Wishes,

Alison Beckett
Project Manager

 

[divingdog5]

what 250 quid for 5 days of diving good luck mate