American Cetacean Society
11th International Conference - Whales in a Changing World
November 13-16, 2008 - Monterey, California

The 11th International ACS Conference was held November 13-16, 2008, in Monterey, California. The pages in this section have been retained for reference.

American Cetacean Society conferences have a long tradition of presenting the latest findings and news about whales and other marine life. We also work to promote discussion and thought about the role and conservation of whales in an ever-changing world, and leave attendees motivated to work together for the good of the whales.

Whales in a Changing World’s program is designed to look at how whales, dolphins, and porpoises are currently handling and will be prepared to deal with an environment, and an ecosystem, that is changing at a rapid rate.  Human uses of the ocean have irrevocably changed the ecosystem that whales live in during the last century, by over-fishing both the whales themselves and many other marine species.  Now we are looking to the ocean for increased levels of transport of both people and goods as roads become more crowded; as energy gets scarcer we are looking to the ocean as a source of power (from such things as wind energy and the potentially disastrous return to offshore oil drilling); and to build shipping terminals that had previously been associated with ports of call (e.g. offshore LNG terminals).  Further, the changes that we have brought to the global climate will also likely affect oceans and their ecosystem, potentially in serious ways.