Jo Marie V. Acebes

Jom is a Philippine national, born and raised in the city of Marikina. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the Ateneo de Manila and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of the Philippines at Los Baños. Her background in marine conservation and local stakeholder involvement is extensive, having worked for WWF-Philippines for more than four years, spending most of her time working with local people in the Babuyan Islands, northern Luzon. Sheconducted baseline cetacean research in identified sites around the country and acted as the coordinator of the National Marine Mammal Stranding Network. She was the project manager of the Humpback Whale Research and Conservation Project of WWF for three years, where she was not only responsible for the work and financial plans of the project but also led the conduct of the photographic identification and acoustics studies. She was later on designated as the wildlife research coordinator of the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park- Conservation and Development Project. In 2001, she became a Duke University Marine Lab Global fellow at North Carolina, USA. She pursued a Masters degree in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management at the University of Oxford in 2004 and began her research on the “Historical whaling in the Philippines: origins of ‘indigenous subsistence whaling’, mapping whaling grounds and comparison with current known distribution” for her masters dissertation. Upon acquiring her masters degree and subsequent return to the Philippines she was successful in getting new funding to continue her research on humpback whales in the Philippines and historical whaling, as well as funding for new projects such as ‘Marine education and sustainable fisheries awareness program in Jagna, Bohol’. She continues to work in the field of marine conservation and management through independent research projects and as a project manager of the Center for Rural Empowerment and the Environment (CREE). Prior to coming to Murdoch she did consultancy work for Conservation International - Philippines as the Marine Species Specialist of the Sulu-Sulawesi Seascape Project.

During the course of her research on historical whaling, she developed a keen interest on environmental history and historical marine ecology, and found new networks through her involvement with the History of Marine Animal Populations (HMAP) – Asia Project of the Census of Marine Life (http://www.hmapcoml.org). Through HMAP, she was invited to pursue a Phd at Murdoch University.

For her Phd dissertation, she aims to examine the interactions between coastal communities and their marine resources over time, local people’s perceptions of their marine environment and how such perceptions and interactions affect and translate to policy development and resource management. Taking an interdisciplinary approach and adapting tools used for ecosystem-based fisheries management, she will look at communities with a history of catching large marine vertebrate species that are now listed as threatened or are protected by law – marine mammals, whale sharks, and, manta rays. She expects to see the changes to the traditional fishing methods and the effects of these changes on their target species as well as the effects of the socio-economic conditions of the communities to the fishing practices and vice-versa.

Publications, conference papers, reports:

Acebes, JMV. 2009. ‘Historical whaling in the Philippines - origins of ‘indigenous subsistence whaling’, mapping whaling grounds and comparison with current known distribution: a HMAP Asia Project Paper’ , Asia Research CentreWorking Papers, Murdoch University, In Press.

'Philippine MPA Gap Analysis'. In: Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Gap Analysis for Philippines and Malaysia. A Report submitted by Marine Environment and Resources Foundation, Inc., Conservation International – Philippines and Borneo Marine Research Institute – Universiti Malaysia Sabah to the ASEAN Center for Biodiversity. 6 March 2009. pp. 16-68. Unpublished.(with P. Aliño, Vergara, S, Licuanan, W, Ambal, RG, Uychiaoco, A, Palomar, MJ, Basconcillo, J, and Gonzales, RO.)

'Dynamite blasts in a humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) breeding ground, Babuyan Islands, Philippines'. Bioacoustics. Special Issue: The International Conference on the Effects of Noise on Aquatic Life. 17(1-3)2008.: 153-155.(with Darling JD, and Aca, E.Q.)

'Whaling in the Philippines: ‘indigenous’ coastal whaling and foreign whaling from the 17th century to recent times'. In: Proceedings of the 17th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, Cape Town, South Africa. Nov 29 – Dec 3, 2007.

'Status and distribution of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in Northern Luzon, Philippines'. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management, 9(1)2007.:37-43. (with Darling JD, and Yamaguchi, M).

Acebes, JMV, Bautista, AL, Yamada, TK, Dolar, ML, and Perrin, WF. Stranding of Indopacetus pacificus in Davao, Philippines. In: Proceedings of the 16th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, San Diego, CA. Dec 12-16, 2005. p. 8.

'Research and conservation of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) and other cetacean species in the Babuyan Islands, Cagayan Province, Northern Luzon, Philippines'. In: Proceedings of the Regional conference on Environment and Development, The Sierra Madre Mountain Range: Global Relevance, Local Realities, Cabagan, Isabela, Philippines. Cagayan Valley Program on Environment and Development, Golden Press, Tuguegarao City 2003. (with Lesaca, LAR).

'Occurrence of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) and other cetaceans in the Babuyan Islands, Northern Luzon, Philippines'. In: Proceedings of the Second International conference on the Marine Mammals of Southeast Asia, Dumaguete City, Philippines. July 22-23, 2002. Document 33. Unpublished.

'Photographic identification of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the Babuyan Islands, Northern Luzon, Philippines'. In: Proceedings of the 14th Biennial conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Nov 28- Dec 3, 2001. p. 1.

'Northern Sierra Madre National Park Cetacean Survey: Initial report'. A Report submitted to WWF-Philippines and PLAN International-Philippines. Unpublished 2000. (with Andoy, C, Davies J, Feliciano A.)

Postgraduate Researcher, Asia Research Centre, Murdoch University, South Street, Murdoch, WA 6150. Fax: 9360 6381, Email: J.Acebes@murdoch.edu.au