14 November 2019: Martin Biuw joins the NAMMCO Scientific Committee

It is with great pleasure that NAMMCO welcomes Martin Biuw to the Scientific Committee!

Every NAMMCO country can appoint up to 6 scientists to the Scientific Committee and we are very happy to have Martin join us as our 6th member from Norway.

Martin has extensive experience in marine mammal research, stretching back to his master’s degree on grey seals, from Stockholm University in 1996-1997. He worked for many years with southern elephant seals in the Southern Ocean, initially as part of a PhD project at the Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of St Andrews, and linked to the Australian Antarctic Division in Tasmania. Martin has special expertise in animal telemetry and was instrumental in the development of innovative instrumentation for studies of migratory patterns and ecophysiology of marine mammals, as well as instrumentation for the collection of oceanographic data using marine mammals. He has organized several research expeditions to islands in the Southern Ocean. He led three consecutive elephant seal research expeditions to South Georgia and was expedition leader and chief field scientist during the Norwegian Antarctic Research Expedition to Bouvet Island in 2007-2008, organized by the Norwegian Polar Institute. Since 2018 Martin has been employed at the Institute of Marine Research within the marine mammal group. He is responsible for population modeling and assessment of ice-breeding seals (Harp and hooded seals), and for exploring novel approaches to monitor and study marine mammals in the field.

Martin’s expertise in seal ecology, telemetry, and population modeling is an extremely valuable and welcome addition to the diverse group of scientific experts on our committee and we look forward to working with him in the years to come.