Eurasian Otter Workshop 2021

We are glad to announce the first Eurasian Otter Workshop (EOW), a virtual meeting organized by the IUCN/SSC Otter Specialist Group on the 26-28 February, 2021. The workshop promotes a discussion forum on research advances and conservation priorities for the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra), the otter species with the widest distribution, to encourage joint research programmes and collaborations. The meeting, originally planned to be held in Varazdin, Croatia in 2020, had to be cancelled due to the pandemic.

The workshop is structured in three sessions over three days (3 hours each day, from 15.00 to 18.00 Central European Time) featuring invited speakers. The official language of the workshop is English.

PROGRAM

Lectures will be 20min + 10min discussion

Friday February 26th

Conservation planning

    • 15:00 Welcome (Nicole Duplaix and Anna Loy)
      15.15-15.30 Jamie Copsey (IUCN/SSC Conservation Planning Specialist Group) Conservation planning techniques
    • 15.30-16.00 Nicole Duplaix (Co-Chair IUCN/SSC Otter Specialist Group) Eurasian otter success story?
    • 16.00-16.30 Anna Loy and Syed Hussain (Co-Chair IUCN/SSC Otter Specialist Group and OSG Red List Authority) Future challenges for the conservation of the Eurasian otter
    • 16.30-16.40 Break
    • 16.40 – 18.00 General Discussion
Saturday February 27th

Threats

    • 15.00-15:30 Alexandra Zimmerman (IUCN Human-Wildlife Conflict Task Force) Guidelines for conflict resolutions
    • 5.30-16.00 Andreas Kranz (IUCN OSG Conflict Resolution Task Force) Otter fishing conflicts. The case of Austria
      16.00-16.10 Break
      16.10-18.00 Poster Session & General Discussion
Sunday February 28h

Research advances for monitoring otter populations

    • 15.00-15.30 Maurizio Casiraghi (Università di Milano ‘Bicocca’, Italy) Environmental DNA: from presence/absence to a measure of anthropogenic pressure
    • 15.30-16.00 Frederick Kistner (WildTrack) WildTrack: Footprint Identification Technology for monitoring Eurasian otters
    • 16.30-17.00 Nian-Hong Jang-Liaw (Taipei Zoo) Population Dynamics of Eurasian otter in Kinmen Island, Taiwan
    • 17.00-17.30 Emiliano Manzo (IUCN Small Carnivore Specialist group) Camera traps – The unknown. How to select an appropriate camera trap
    • 17.30-17.40 Break
    • 17.40-18.00 General Discussion
    • 18.00 Closing remarks

REGISTRATION AND POSTER SUBMISSION

Due to the overwhelming amount of interest in the conference and the limits imposed by modern online platforms, we have been forced to close registrations ten days early at 500 attending participants. We apologise for the unexpected change in deadline! If anyone has a specific motivation to attend the workshop, please write an email stating said motivation to eow2021 -at- gmail.com. As of now, only extremely special cases will be accepted.

A certificate of participation will be distributed after the workshop.

Posters will be displayed online on the EOW page in the IUCN/SCC OSG website, and will be discussed during a dedicated poster session.

  • Scientific Committee: Nicole Duplaix, Anna Loy, Mia Bisther, Arno Gutleb, Syed Hussain, Andreas Kranz, Anna Roos, Melissa Savage, Karin Schwartz
  • Organizing Committee: Nicole Duplaix, Anna Loy, Margherita Bandini, Carol Bennetto, Mia Bisther, Hannah Krupa, Karin Schwartz, Jennifer Van Brocklin, Lesley Wright

Enquires and posters submission: eow2021@gmail.com