2009-10 Canada-US Fulbright Chair, Rob Williams

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Dr Rob Williams is a researcher in UBC’s Marine Mammal Research Unit who conducts applied conservation research projects on a number of marine mammal populations around the world. He completed his Ph.D at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, with an emphasis on cost-effective cetacean research projects, such as small-boat or platform-of-opportunity surveys. His MSc work (on behavioural responses of killer whales to whalewatching boats) was conducted with MMRU in 1999. His main geographic areas of interest are the coastal waters of BC and the Southern Ocean.

Rob’s work addresses two broad themes: estimating wildlife abundance and distribution; and assessing impacts of human activities on behaviour and energetics of marine mammals. Prior to re-joining MMRU in 2007, Rob and his colleagues designed (Thomas, Williams and Sandilands 2007) and conducted (Williams and Thomas 2007) systematic surveys to estimate the number of cetaceans found in BC’s Inside Passage waters. Since then, he has initiated a number of studies to use these data to conduct quantitative assessments of the risk to marine mammal populations of anthropogenic activities, such as bycatch in commercial fisheries, ship strikes, and ingestion of and entanglement in floating marine debris. In 2008, he and his colleagues started a partnership with Cornell University to measure ambient (anthropogenic) noise in BC coastal waters.

He has been a member of the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission since 2001. Rob reviews for a number of scientific journals, and serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Zoology and Animal Conservation.

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News from Fulbright

Coming soon.

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Scholarly Activities at the UW

10 November 2009 - "Marine Conservation in the Pacific Northwest"
Williams discussed his work on transboundary issues and marine conservation including killer whales, wild salmon and shipping noise. The event brought together Jackson School alumni, Canadian Studies FLAS Fellows, and UW graduate students who engaged in discussion regarding transboundary environmental management from a variety of perspectives. Pub Club is designed to build community and discussion regarding current international issues.

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Contact Information for Rob Williams

Telephone: (206)685.7756
E-mail: r.williams@fisheries.ubc.ca
Website: www.marinemammal.org/MMRU/williams.html

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