Author: David Shiffman

Tweets from the American Elasmobranch Society: Biology and Conservation of Rays Symposium

Posted on By David Shiffman

AESlogoThe American Elasmobranch SocietyAmerican Elasmobranch Society is a non-profit professional organization of shark, ray, skate, and chimaera scientists. Each year, AES holds an annual conference in a different North American city where members meet and present their research. The 2013 meeting took place in Albuquerque, New Mexico from July 10-15th. The full schedule of talks (including other societies participating in the Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists) can be found here.

Presented here are selected tweets from the Biology, Ecology, and Management of Durophagous Stingrays Symposium at the 2013 American Elasmobranch Society meeting.

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5 reasons you should attend ScienceOnline Oceans

Posted on By David Shiffman 1 Comment on 5 reasons you should attend ScienceOnline Oceans

This October, I’ll be hosting ScienceOnline Oceans at the University of Miami. Registration is now open (register here), and we still have a few spots available. Here are 5 reasons why you should join us. 1) The people. The list of ScienceOnline Oceans attendees includes scientists, students, conservationists, journalists, and science communicators from all over … Read More “5 reasons you should attend ScienceOnline Oceans” »

World’s leading experts say there’s a problem with false balance in conservation journalism; Steve disagrees

Posted on By David Shiffman 20 Comments on World’s leading experts say there’s a problem with false balance in conservation journalism; Steve disagrees
Science

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False balance in the media occurs when a journalist  gives equal coverage, and therefore the perception of equal validity, to both sides of a story. While this sounds preferable to today’s hyper-politicized media, sometimes both sides of a story aren’t equally valid. For example, when the overwhelming consensus of the expert medical community says that vaccines do not cause autism but a famous former actress says they do,  giving both sides equal coverage can be not only frustrating, but harmful to public health. The same is true of early reporting on whether cigarettes are bad for you. Giving equal coverage of the global community of expert climate scientists and spokespeople  for the oil and gas industry who claim that climate science isn’t “settled” can also be problematic, as can coverage of other scientific topics.

Image via http://undsci.berkeley.edu/article/sciencetoolkit_04
Image via http://undsci.berkeley.edu/article/sciencetoolkit_04

Though it is discussed less frequently in this context,  overfishing and marine conservation issues can also feature some fairly egregious examples of false balance. Coverage of a proposal to list great hammerhead sharks under the Endangered Species Act in yesterday’s South Florida Sun-Sentinel provides a useful case study.

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Should scientists avoid publishing shark migration data because it helps fishermen? Spoiler: No

Posted on By David Shiffman 15 Comments on Should scientists avoid publishing shark migration data because it helps fishermen? Spoiler: No
Conservation, Science

In recent weeks, some conservation activists have been promoting an idea that I would like to respond to as a member of the scientific community. They claim that scientists shouldn’t publish data about shark migrations, movement, or population dynamics because such data helps fishermen to find areas where there are lots of sharks and kill … Read More “Should scientists avoid publishing shark migration data because it helps fishermen? Spoiler: No” »

New “Exploration Science” program is open for applications, looks pretty freakin’ awesome.

Posted on By David Shiffman 1 Comment on New “Exploration Science” program is open for applications, looks pretty freakin’ awesome.

The University of Miami has started a new Master of Professional Science program called “Exploration Science“. The program will teach students both the theory and skills behind field-based research, and graduates will be well equipped to lead field research expeditions in a variety of environments around the world. Classes include “Exploration Technology”, a course on … Read More “New “Exploration Science” program is open for applications, looks pretty freakin’ awesome.” »

#RaysTheRoof : Research symposium will focus on the biology and conservation of stingrays

Posted on By David Shiffman
Science

The upcoming Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists will include a research symposium focusing on the biology and conservation of durophagous (shell-eating) stingrays. Organized by Dr.’s Matt Ajemian (Texas A&M University Corpus Christi) and Julie Neer (Southeast Data Assessment and Review), this symposium aims to gather together the world’s experts on these ecologically important and poorly … Read More “#RaysTheRoof : Research symposium will focus on the biology and conservation of stingrays” »

The great #Mermaids Storify

Posted on By David Shiffman 4 Comments on The great #Mermaids Storify
Popular Culture, Science

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This week, Animal Planet aired “Mermaids: The New Evidence”  the second fake documentary in their series about mermaids.  After complaining about the ridiculous show and the associated devastating effects on science literacy*, we decided to watch the re-air together and live-tweet it. The goal was to get real scientific information into the twitter conversation associated with the show. The Storify of our contributions to the discussion is below.

* Lots of people think that the admittedly fake documentary is real. Search the twitter hashtag #Mermaids and you’ll see literally hundreds of examples of this. These are not included in the Storify in the interest of not being cruel to strangers.

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Mock the Doc: Watch both fake Mermaids documentaries tonight and mock them on twitter with us!

Posted on By David Shiffman 4 Comments on Mock the Doc: Watch both fake Mermaids documentaries tonight and mock them on twitter with us!
Popular Culture, Science

Tonight from 8-11 P.M. EST, Animal Planet is re-airing both fake mermaid documentaries, “Mermaids: The Body Found” and “Mermaids: the New Evidence”. We’re going to watch them. We’re going to live-tweet our thoughts using the show’s existing hashtag, #Mermaids. We’re going to systematically point out everything factually incorrect about mermaids (or anything having to do … Read More “Mock the Doc: Watch both fake Mermaids documentaries tonight and mock them on twitter with us!” »

New study: 22 out of 23 U.S. states aren’t doing enough to protect marine resources

Posted on By David Shiffman 12 Comments on New study: 22 out of 23 U.S. states aren’t doing enough to protect marine resources
Conservation

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mci-logoEarlier today, the Marine Conservation Institute and Mission Blue released SeaStates, the first ever national ranking of how well different U.S. states and territories protect their ocean resources. The full report is available online and is an important read, but can be summarized in 5 words: “Most states aren’t doing enough”.

The gold standard for the protection of marine resources is no-take marine reserves, areas of the ocean where no fishing or oil/gas extraction is permitted. Decades of research on marine reserves worldwide have shown that they usually have more fish, bigger fish, and more species of fish than environmentally similar areas (often adjacent to the reserve border) where fishing is allowed. In other words, when you don’t kill fish, more of them are alive.

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