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Marc Webber is a marine mammal specialist with an undergraduate and graduate degree from San Francisco State University. He has worked as a biologist and refuge manager for non-profit organizations and the US government for his entire career in places all over the country. Among other accomplishments, Marc has worked with stranded marine mammals, conducted marine mammal and seabird studies by ship and aircraft for NMFS and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in the North and South Pacific, and Arctic, conducted extensive research on harbor porpoises, studied monk seals in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, northern fur seals at San Miguel and the Pribilof Islands, walrus in the Bering and Chukchi Seas, harp seals in Russia, and dusky dolphins in New Zealand. He has done extensive work with stranded marine mammals, co-authored many journal articles and book chapters, conducted marine mammal and seabird ship surveys over most oceans of the world, and lectured on many voyages to the Arctic, Antarctic, Mexico, Alaska, and California. Dr. Thomas Jefferson's main interests are the development of marine mammal identification aids and the systematics and population ecology of the more poorly known species of dolphins and porpoises. His work since receiving his PhD in 1995 has been related to conservation and management of marine mammals threatened by human activities. His current primary research focuses on the conservation biology of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin (Sousa chinensis) and finless porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides) populations in Hong Kong and surrounding waters. He is also working on other projects looking at the systematics and ecology of these species throughout their ranges. In addition, he is involved in many other projects, including those on the conservation of the critically endangered vaquita (Phocoena sinus) and on the taxonomy and population ecology of common dolphins (Delphinus spp.). He has published over 200 books and papers on these animals. Robert worked as a marine ecologist for NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service in La Jolla, California from 1976-2019 . He participated in over 170 marine bird and mammal research cruises in all the oceans of the world, including more than 30 trips to Antarctica. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed papers and popular articles, and co-authored the two previous editions of a Marine Mammals of the World field guide. His main research interest has been the ecology of killer whales; he is an expert on beaked whales; was a member of the expedition that chronicled the extinction of the Yangtze River dolphin, and has continued to be closely involved in efforts to prevent extinction of the vaquita porpoise. Currently, Robert lives in Newport, Oregon, and is affiliated to the Marine Mammal Institute. |