The 10^th Marine Mammals of the Holarctic International Conference will be held in Arkhangelsk from 29 October to 2 November at the Northern (Arctic) Lomonosov Federal University.

The goal of the conference is to discuss the results and prospects of research on marine mammals of the Northern Hemisphere, as well as efforts to protect and manage marine mammal species and populations. The programme includes breakaway sessions and roundtable discussions on the study and protection of gray whales, Atlantic walruses, beluga whales, landlocked seals and other types of marine mammals.

The following presentations are planned for the session on Beluga Whales of the White Sea and other events:

Dmitry Glazov, “Beluga populations in Russia’s waters: the extent of exploration and priority study areas”;

Roman Belikov, “Bioacoustic study of the belugas of the Solovki breeding area”;

Alexandra Zheludkova, “Description of beluga’s behaviour (Delphinapterus leucas, Delphicus sp.) at different levels of organisation in their natural habitat”;

Anton Chernetsky, “Structure of the White Sea beluga population (Delphinapterus leucas) during the ice-free period”;

Vera Krasnova, “Levels of organochloride pollutants in belugas (Delphinapterus leucas) of the Russian Arctic”;

Yekaterina Prasolova, “Influence of boat tourism on the behaviour of belugas in the waters of the Solovki summer breeding area (1999–2015)”;

Valeria Vergara, “Contact call diversity in an Arctic estuary: preliminary evidence of vocal signatures in wild belugas and consequences for endangered beluga populations”;

Oleg Lyamin, "Monitoring cortisol in belugas in different experimental situations”;

Andrei Lebedev, “Long-term influence of oil pollution on the southern local beluga pod.”

A special breakaway session at the conference will be devoted to the legal aspects of sea mammal habitat pollution.

The conference is held once every two years and unites leading sea mammal researchers from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, the United States, Canada, Japan and Europe, as well as activists and organisers of sea animal protection groups.