6
Hugo Patrício Castello had a remarkable influence both in Argentina and Brazil.
Moreover, he included the South American researchers with the organization of the
“Primera Reunión de Trabajos de Espertos en Mamíferos Acuáticos de América del
Sur” in 1984, in Buenos Aires. These bi-annual conferences became known as RTs
and remain uninterrupted until now.
The research development in Brazil owes its influence to the Admiral Ibsen de
Gusmão Câmara
†
who was a pioneer in whaling assessment. In southern Brazil,
Hugo P. Castello, Maria Cristina Pinedo and the Uruguayan Alfredo Ximenez
†
deserve to be highlighted because they organized the first research laboratories. The
Canadian Robin Best
†
and the Brazilian Vera Maria Ferreira da Silva, based in
Manaus, did the same in the Amazon Basin and also encouraged many other young
researchers. Fernando W. Rosas and Miriam Marmontel belong to the subsequent
generation of researchers responsible for leveraging that area of knowledge and
develop research programs that included dolphins, whales, manatees and
pinnipeds.
Other South American countries such as Peru, Colombia and Ecuador also contributed to the study of humpback whales and Amazonian otters. The Galapagos
archipelago was and still is one of the most extraordinary open-air laboratories of
the world, highlighting Ecuador in the international arena.
1.2 Results
1.2.1 Retrospective of the Last 32 Years
In an attempt to reconstruct a timeline that minimally expresses what happened in
three decades, in Latin America, we are going to start with the first RT (Buenos
Aires, 1984) and the preceding year. Thus, 16 bi-annual congresses of experts in
aquatic mammals were sampled, covering 32 uninterrupted years and with the presentation of 3019 abstracts (Table 1.1). From 1996 (Viña del Mar, Chile), these
symposia started to be organized by SOLAMAC (The Latin American Society of
Specialists in Aquatic Mammals, Fig. 1.1) and the number of submitted abstracts
has grown substantially.
Twenty-nine countries were represented in these scientific events, and many of
them did not represent Latin America (Table 1.2). Many of these outside interests
were related to postgraduate courses taken abroad by Latin-American researchers,
especially in the United States. Also, many international partnerships contributed
with their logistics and technology in more expensive studies. The three countries
with the highest participation (Brazil, Argentina and Chile) have covered about 75%
of all Latin American scientific production over these 32 years (Table 1.2). Certainly,
the volume of papers presented by Brazil, which is almost half of the production in
these 32 years, has a direct relation to its large population and a coastline of about
7500 km.
P.C. Simões-Lopes
Hugo Patrício Castello had a remarkable influence both in Argentina and Brazil.
Moreover, he included the South American researchers with the organization of the
“Primera Reunión de Trabajos de Espertos en Mamíferos Acuáticos de América del
Sur” in 1984, in Buenos Aires. These bi-annual conferences became known as RTs
and remain uninterrupted until now.
The research development in Brazil owes its influence to the Admiral Ibsen de
Gusmão Câmara
†
who was a pioneer in whaling assessment. In southern Brazil,
Hugo P. Castello, Maria Cristina Pinedo and the Uruguayan Alfredo Ximenez
†
deserve to be highlighted because they organized the first research laboratories. The
Canadian Robin Best
†
and the Brazilian Vera Maria Ferreira da Silva, based in
Manaus, did the same in the Amazon Basin and also encouraged many other young
researchers. Fernando W. Rosas and Miriam Marmontel belong to the subsequent
generation of researchers responsible for leveraging that area of knowledge and
develop research programs that included dolphins, whales, manatees and
pinnipeds.
Other South American countries such as Peru, Colombia and Ecuador also contributed to the study of humpback whales and Amazonian otters. The Galapagos
archipelago was and still is one of the most extraordinary open-air laboratories of
the world, highlighting Ecuador in the international arena.
1.2 Results
1.2.1 Retrospective of the Last 32 Years
In an attempt to reconstruct a timeline that minimally expresses what happened in
three decades, in Latin America, we are going to start with the first RT (Buenos
Aires, 1984) and the preceding year. Thus, 16 bi-annual congresses of experts in
aquatic mammals were sampled, covering 32 uninterrupted years and with the presentation of 3019 abstracts (Table 1.1). From 1996 (Viña del Mar, Chile), these
symposia started to be organized by SOLAMAC (The Latin American Society of
Specialists in Aquatic Mammals, Fig. 1.1) and the number of submitted abstracts
has grown substantially.
Twenty-nine countries were represented in these scientific events, and many of
them did not represent Latin America (Table 1.2). Many of these outside interests
were related to postgraduate courses taken abroad by Latin-American researchers,
especially in the United States. Also, many international partnerships contributed
with their logistics and technology in more expensive studies. The three countries
with the highest participation (Brazil, Argentina and Chile) have covered about 75%
of all Latin American scientific production over these 32 years (Table 1.2). Certainly,
the volume of papers presented by Brazil, which is almost half of the production in
these 32 years, has a direct relation to its large population and a coastline of about
7500 km.
P.C. Simões-Lopes