For his Ph.D. thesis work, Russ had to build home-made data recorders that he attached to elephant seals to record their heart rate, body temperature, and diving behavior in order to figure out how they could hold their breath for up to 2 hours.  Since then he has been focusing much of his research on trying to understand how physiological constraints affect the ability of marine mammals to adapt to changes in their environment.  In the 1970’s there were a lot of changes happening in the North Pacific and the Bering Sea, including a major oceanographic climate shift, an dramatic increase in fishing effort, and a sudden end to commercial whaling.  Although it may never be possible to identify whether all of or none of those factors were the cause of the population declines of Steller sea lions and northern fur seals in Western Alaska, he hopes that his current work will allow us to predict how future changes may affect these animals.  In his talk, he’ll explain how he does this by designing and deploying instruments that allow us to track the migrations of these animals and their main predator, the killer whale, and also to peek beneath the waves and study their feeding behavior.

Dr. Russ Andrews is a research assistant professor with a joint appointment in the University of Alaska Fairbanks' School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences and the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, Alaska.  Using high-tech gizmos, he has studied the physiology, behavior and conservation biology of marine mammals, seabirds and sea turtles. The unifying theme of his research interests is: How and why do air-breathing animals dive beneath the surface of the ocean.

Background Reading:  Experimental Approaches to Conservation Biology

There is a unique characteristic of all marine mammals that sets them apart from terrestrial mammals: It is the fact that they can breath-hold for much longer. This ability gives them the time to dive deeply, to travel great distances underwater, to defend underwater territories and to make a living in the sea. In this talk, I will discuss the adaptations that allow them to hold their breath, in some cases, for up to 2 hr while also exercising and hunting.

Mike received his PhD in marine biology from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1981.  He has been a faculty member at the University of Alaska Fairbanks since 1989, Science Director for the Alaska Sealife Center in Seward, Alaska 1995-1999, Director of the Institute of Marine Science at UAF from 2002-2005 and is currently the Associate Dean for the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences.  Mikes research focuses on how marine mammals have adapted to life in the sea. Ever since his graduate work in San Diego, he has studied marine mammals around the world examining their biochemical, physiological and behavioral adaptations for deep and long duration diving, extended fasting, exercise physiology, hydrodynamics and even sleeping patterns. In Alaska, his work has extended into issues of population health (why are marine mammal populations declining in some areas?), contaminant chemistry, reproductive chemistry and digestive physiology. Mikes graduate students work from Alaska to Antarctica on these issues. He as written over 75 scientific papers on his work and is involved in local, state and National panels and committees dealing with policy issues related to marine mammals, ecosystem management and agency oversights.

Background Reading:  History of Polar Whaling:  Insights into the Physiology of the Great Whales

Phillip Clapham, Ph.D.  "Managing Leviathan: Can The Whaling Industry Be Trusted?"

This year saw the Government of Japan finally obtaining a majority vote at the International Whaling Commission (IWC), signaling changing times ahead for at least some of the world's whales.  Although the IWC's Moratorium will not be lifted for the foreseeable future, loopholes in the international convention that governs whaling continue to allow record catches for "scientific research", and there is increasing pressure to resume whale hunts on a fully commercial basis.  Given all this, it is worth posing the question of whether the whaling industry can be trusted to go about its business in a manner which avoids a repetition of the huge errors of management and oversight of the past - problems which led to the depletion of so many populations worldwide.  In his talk, Phil Clapham will examine the history of the whaling industry in the last hundred years, and discuss the challenges faced by those attempting to either block a return to full-scale exploitation, or to ensure that any such action is accompanied by stringent oversight and enforcement protocols.

Phil Clapham is a member of the U.S. delegation to the International Whaling Commission's Scientific Committee.  Currently, he oversees large whale research at the National Marine Mammal Lab in Seattle, where his work focuses on population biology, behavioral ecology and conservation management.  He has a quarter century of experience with cetaceans, and at one time or another has worked with most species of whales in various places worldwide.  Prior to his current position, he worked at the Northeast Fisheries Science center in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.  He remains closely associated with the Smithsonian Institution (National Museum of Natural History) in Washington DC, and for many years directed a long-term study of individually identified humpback whales at the Center for Coastal Studies in Massachusetts.  He holds a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Aberdeen (Scotland), has advised several governments and other bodies on whale research and conservation, and has served on the Board of Governors of the Society for Marine Mammalogy.  Phil has published four books and about a hundred peer-reviewed scientific papers on whales and other cetaceans.  He lives in Seattle with a large and sweet but not very bright dog named Cleo.

Background Reading:  Whaling, Modern;  Japan’s whaling plan under scrutiny;  The Social And Reproductive Biology Of Humpback Whales: An Ecological Perspective

Jim Darling, Ph.D.  "Why do humpback whales sing?"

Male humpback whales sing loud complex songs during the breeding season. The songs gradually change as they are being sung, yet all the singers in a population sing the same version at any one time. Why? Researchers have been trying to answer this question since the 1970s. This talk will describe our progress.

Jim lives on the west coast of Vancouver Island, and have studied gray and humpback whales throughout the North Pacific since the 1970s.  He received Ph.D. at University of California Santa Cruz, for work on abundance, migrations and behavior of humpback whales in Hawaii.  In 1979, Chuck Jurasz from Juneau and Jim, found the first matches of whales between  Alaska and Hawaii.

Background Reading:  Songs Indicate Interaction Between Humpback Whale (Megaptera Novaeangliae) Populations In The Western And Eastern South Atlantic Ocean

Frances Gulland, Ph.D.  “Science from Strandings: What We Can Learn from a Dead Whale”

Frances Gulland is the Director of Veterinary Science at The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, California. She has been actively involved in the veterinary care and rehabilitation of stranded marine mammals and research into marine mammal diseases since 1994. Frances received her veterinary degree from the University of Cambridge in 1984, and her PhD in Zoology also from Cambridge in 1991 for her work on the role of parasites in the population dynamics of Soay sheep on St. Kilda.  Her professional affiliations include the International Association for Aquatic Animal Health, the Wildlife Disease Association, the Society for Marine Mammalogy and the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians. 

Background Reading:  Eastern North Pacific Gray Whale (Eschrichtius robustus) Unusual Mortality Event, 1999-2000

Josh London, Ph.D.  "Mammal Eating Killer Whales in Hood Canal, Washington"

Polar Ecosystem Program at the National Marine Mammal Lab, NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Seattle, WA

Josh London was Raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma and moved to Seattle to attend the University of Washington. He graduated in 1997 with a major in Wildlife Science from the College of Forest Resources. In 2006 Josh graduated with a PhD from the UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. His dissertation topic was on the impacts of harbor seal consumption of endangered salmon and the impacts of killer whale predation on harbor seal populations. Josh currently lives and works in Seattle, Washington

Background Reading:  Harbor Seal in Hood Canal:  Predators or Prey

Beth Mathews, M.S.  Assistant Professor, University of Alaska Southeast, Juneau, Alaska   "Who’s eating whom?  Are Predation and Competition Factors in Large Declines of Harbor Seals in Glacier Bay?"

Beth's talk will focus on whether competition with or predation by Steller sea lions or Pacific sleeper sharks may be factors in the large population declines of harbor seals in Glacier Bay National Park. Long-term surveys coupled with population demographic data spanning 13 years have provided clues to what may be driving the harbor seal declines.

Beth Mathews is an Assistant Professor of Biology at the University of Alaska Southeast where she has taught courses and studied marine mammals since 1991.  In 1979, after graduating with a B.S. from Purdue University in Indiana she had the good fortune of being a volunteer field assistant on Dr. Roger Payne’s study of humpback whales in Hawaii.  In Hawaii, she joined a team of 12 dedicated students, volunteers, and seasoned whale biologists, led by Jim Darling and Peter Tyack.  That experience changed her career trajectory from one headed toward terrestrial wildlife management and husbandry to marine mammal biology.  Following two inspiring field seasons in Hawaii, she began pursuing a Masters degree in Marine Science with Dr. Ken Norris at the University of California at Santa Cruz.  Since graduating from UCSC and moving to Alaska in 1991 she has focused on the population biology and behavior of harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and harbor porpoise.  At UAS Mathews teaches Marine Mammalogy, Field Studies in Behavior and Ecology, and actively involves her undergraduates students in research through a National Science Foundation, Research Experiences for Undergraduates program and directing Independent Research projects.

Background reading:  Declines in Harbor Seal (PHOCA VITULINA) Numbers In Glacier Bay National Park Alaska, 1992-2002

Sue Moore, Ph.D.  "Gray Whales as Alaskan Ecosystem Sentinels"

Seasonal migration and feeding habits of gray whales have been reported since the days of commercial whaling.  The long-standing story is that these whales breed and calve in the warm lagoon waters of Mexico, then swim north for a summer of feeding in northern waters including Alaskan seas.  However, recent reports suggest that gray whales may be changing some of these habits, perhaps in response to climate change.  Sue Moore will present a 'weight of evidence' story, including over-wintering of gray whales northeast of Barrow and year-round feeding bouts offshore Kodiak, that suggest  these whales may be sentinels to changes ongoing in the marine ecosystems offshore Alaska. 

Sue Moore received her doctorate from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, based on description of bowhead, beluga and gray whale habitats in the Alaskan Arctic and a Master of Science from San Diego State University where her studies focused on calling behavior in tree frogs. She has served as Director and as Cetacean Program Leader at the National Marine Mammal Laboratory and is currently on detail to the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington to develop and support Arctic and acoustic-related research programs for NOAA's Alaska Fisheries Science Center.

Background Reading:  Listening for Large Whales in the Offshore Waters of Alaska

Flip Nicklin- Keynote Speaker (WhaleFest Banquet) "National Geographic Whales"

         Widely regarded as the premier whale photographer of the world, Flip Nicklin, a National Geographic photographer, has more than 5,500 dives under his belt. His ability to free dive to depths of up to 90 feet allows him to swim near enough to record whale behavior without interrupting it.
          His first contact with National Geographic Society came in 1976 when he was signed on as a deck hank and diving assistant for a three-month shoot with photographers Bates Littlehales and Jonathan Blair. Everyday he shot with the photographers was a life-long dream for him. With the help of his mentors, two of his images were published, along with theirs, in National Geographic.  This began his career as an underwater photographer. He went on to shoot sharks and whales for the Geographic centennial issue. Eight years after his first publication, he had become the marine mammal photographer for the National Geographic. 
            Flip Nicklin first worked with humpback whales in Lahaina in 1979.  Along with his father, Chuck, he was part of an Imax Movie crew filming “Nomads of the Deep.” He returned in 1980 to help Jim Darling determine the sex of singing humpbacks, which turned out to be male. His first National Geographic Magazine story on Maui humpback whales was in 1982. Flip published a second National Geographic story about Darlings’ work in 1999 and has continued to work with Jim in his study of humpback whales off the coast of Maui.  He is a co-investigator, along with Ph.D. candidate Meagan Jones.

Nicklin has several books to his name including, "With the Whales" and "Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises", published by the National Geographic Society; which he coordinated and to which he contributed many of the photographs. His most recent book Whales and Dolphins in Question / JAMES G. MEAD AND Flip Nicklin, published by Smithsonian.

National Geographic Magazine  Stories:  Publication Date

Killer Whales  NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine, 2005 Apr.
Pursuing the Minke: The Most Abundant Baleen Whale is Still a Mystery to Science--and a Target for Whalers  NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine, 2001 Apr.
Listening to Humpbacks  NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine, 1999 July
Blue Refuges: U.S. National Marine Sanctuaries  NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine, 1998 Mar.
Bottlenose Whales: Pioneering Research Tracks Deep Divers of the North Atlantic  NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine,  1998 Aug.
Polar Bears, Stalkers of the High Arctic  NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine, 1998 Jan.
Bearded Seals: Going With the Floe  NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine, 1997 Mar.
Bowhead Whales: Leviathans of Icy Seas  NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine, 1995 Aug.
Realm of the Elusive Sperm Whale  NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine, 1995 Nov.
Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises  Book, 1995
Beluga: White Whale of the North  NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine, 1994 June
Dolphins in Crisis  NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine, 1992 Sept.
Beneath Arctic Ice  NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine, 1991 July
Whales: An Era of Discovery  NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine, 1988 Dec.
Narwhal: Unicorn of the Arctic Seas  NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine, 1986 Mar.
Krill--Untapped Bounty From the Sea?  NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine, 1984 May
Rare Look At Sperm and Blue Whales, The Unknown Giants  NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine, 1984 Dec.
Whales Called "Killer"  NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine, 1984 Aug.
New Light on the Singing Whales  NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine, 1982 Apr.

Todd O'Hara, Ph.D.   "Arctic Alaska Oil:  The good, bad & ugly"

This presentation will cover the past 150 years of "oil" exploitation in arctic Alaska and the impacts on marine mammals and the critical linkages (good, bad and ugly) with humans (indigenous and non-indigenous). The presentation will emphasize that marine mammal oil has long been important to indigenous peoples, then came Yankee whaling that nearly extirpated whales (humans did drive a sirenian to extinction). Ironically the petroleum industry likely saved many whale species in the Arctic when a well struck oil in Pennsylvania but now the petroleum industry is in the backyard (offshore exploration and development) of the Inuit who still use oil/blubber of arctic marine mammals.

Todd recently became an Associate Professor of Wildlife Toxicology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (2004) and was a Research Biologist for the Department of Wildlife Management, North Slope Borough and 9.0-year resident of Barrow, Alaska. He lives with his wife Carla; and son Lars and daughter Anne. Dr. O’Hara came to Alaska for the “opportunity of a lifetime” to work and live “in the field” with amazing people and wildlife. Dr. O’Hara’s academic training includes a D.V.M. [University of Wisconsin - Madison, School of Veterinary Medicine (1988 - 1992)], a Ph.D. in Pharmacology/ Toxicology [Medical College of Virginia (1985-1988)], and a B.S. and M.S. in Biology [Villanova University (1979-1985)]. Dr. O’Hara is a Diplomate of the American Board of Veterinary Toxicology (ABVT) since 1995. His major interests are environmental/ wildlife toxicology, and wildlife conservation and medicine. Current research activities include assessments of arctic fox, polar bears, ice seals and other mammals for nutritional value and exposure to contaminants for human consumers and health assessments of free ranging wildlife. As models for humans and wildlife (apex predators) we study free ranging polar bear and arctic fox health with respect to contaminants and nutrients (e.g., all consume seals).

Background Reading:  Coleman:  The American Whale Oil Industry: A look back to the future of the American petroleum industry?