Sea Otter Conservation

Dr Shawn Larson received her Ph.D. from the University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fishery Science, has been the Curator of Conservation Research at the Seattle Aquarium for 22 years, and has been studying shark biology and ecology for 14 years. Dr Larson has published over 50 peer-reviewed scientific papers and abstracts on the biology and ecology of marine animals. Dr Larson has organized and run international shark conservation workshops for over 12 years and is currently a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Northeast Pacific Shark Specialist Group tasked with defining the conservation status of all shark species in the northeastern Pacific.

Dr James Bodkin is a Research Wildlife Biologist Emeritus at the United States Geological Survey based at the Alaska Science Center. His research expertise includes population biology and ecology of marine mammals, population estimation, predator/prey relations, marine conservation, and more. He is a member of the Society for Conservation Biology, the American Society of Mammalogy, the Society for Marine Mammalogy, and the Wildlife Society.

Dr Erin Foster is a postdoctoral research scientist in the Cetacean Research Program at the Pacific Biological Station for Fisheries and Oceans Canada. She received her PhD from the University of Victoria, with a dissertation on sea otters and soft-sediment flora and fauna. Her research work includes examining the roles of sea otters in structuring soft sediment communities, altering eelgrass reproductive strategies and genetic diversity, and ancient Indigenous maricultural practices.