Hector's Dolphin

Dr Liz Slooten is an Associate Professor in the Department of Zoology at the University of Otago in New Zealand and is the country’s leading authority on the use of population modelling to estimate sustainable levels of marine mammal bycatch in fishing operations. Her extensive research has also examined how tourism and other human activities affect marine mammals, including New Zealand’s Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins, bottlenose dolphins, sperm whales, right whales and New Zealand sealions.

Her work employs visual and acoustic techniques to survey survival rates, the movement of identifiable individuals, pollutant levels in marine mammals and other animals, reproductive biology, population modelling, risk assessment and decision analysis.

Dr Slooten also represents New Zealand at the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission and has published two books and more than 40 papers specifically on the biology, behaviour and conservation biology of the New Zealand dolphin.

Derek Orner is a Research Fishery Biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service, known as NOAA. He began his career in fisheries in the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office in Annapolis, Maryland, working on estuarine science, stock assessment and fisheries management. While in Annapolis, he coordinated development and international review of the blue crab stock assessment and the Atlantic menhaden research program.


Derek recently moved to work in the Office of Sustainable Fisheries, where he is the National Coordinator for the Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program (BREP) and also works on inter-jurisdictional fisheries management issues for Atlantic coastal species. NOAA is required to address bycatch reduction under several federal laws, including the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

As coordinator of the BREP for NOAA Fisheries, Derek oversees more than £1.5m annually in research to develop technological solutions aimed at minimising bycatch. He holds a BA in Biology from St. Mary's College of Maryland and a MS in Environmental Science and Policy from Johns Hopkins University.