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:  Biochemical Composition of Whale and Seal Blubber; Can Terrestrial Models of "Body Condition" Be Applied to a Marine Mammal?; Do Dietary Lipid Levels Impact The Body Condition and Health of Seals?; Using Bio-Electrical Impedance To Measure The Body Composition of Seals and Sea Lions

The great whales produce an amazing variety of sounds. The most obvious are male reproductive displays, or songs, consisting of long, intense, hierarchically organized and repeated patterns of notes. In 1971 Roger Payne and Doug Webb proposed that prior to the advent of modern shipping the largest of all earth’s creatures, blue and fin whales, might have communicated across oceans. Through access to the US Navy’s Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS), whales have been detected across ocean basins. This acoustic telescope allows observations of singing whales over large spatial and temporal scales commensurate with their ecologies and ocean habitats. Songs of blue and fin whales are infrasonic (<20Hz), and simple: well designed for ultra-long-range communication and navigation in the deep ocean. The sounds of bowhead, humpback and right whales are audible and complex: well designed for short- to mid-range communication in coastal water. Singing blue and fin whales slalom from one bathymetric feature to the next: their voices reflecting off continental shelves, seamounts and islands. Cohorts of singers move as acoustic herds spread out over areas of tens of thousand square miles. Singing occurs in high latitudes and during summer months, often in association with concentrations of food, and during periods of intense feeding. Numbers and distributions of singers can now be monitored on ocean scales once thought impossible. Paradoxically, these opportunities to finally perceive the lives of the great whales are slowly disappearing into the rising tide of human-generated acoustic noise, which in many areas in the Northern Hemisphere has reached chronic levels that now compromise the whales’ basic abilities to hear and communicate.

Dr. Christopher W. Clark, is the Imogene Powers Johnson Director of the Bioacoustics Research Program at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and Senior Scientist in the Department of Neurobiology & Behavior. He holds advanced degrees in electrical engineering (M.S.E.E., SUNY-Stony Brook, 1974) and biology (Ph.D., SUNY -Stony Brook, 1980). His doctoral research concentrated on acoustic communication in southern right whales. In 1980, Dr. Clark became an NIH postdoctoral fellow and was later appointed assistant professor at The Rockefeller University where he conducted research on vocal learning in songbirds. He joined the Cornell and the Laboratory of Ornithology in 1987. Dr. Clark’s research concentrates on animal acoustic communication with a particular focus on the development and application of advanced acoustic methods for scientific conservation of endangered species.  He leads the Bioacoustics Research Program in the design, development and application of computer-based systems for quantitative analysis of animal vocalizations, and acoustic techniques to detect, recognize, classify, locate, track and census free-ranging animals.  Through ongoing collaborations with U.S. and international colleagues Dr. Clark conducts integrated research at a variety of spatial and temporal scales to investigate the influence of ecological, environmental and anthropogenic factors on animal acoustic behavior.

Area of expertise/research focus: Acoustic communication in baleen whales. Impacts of anthropogenic noise/sound on whale communication.

Chris was born and raised on the outer Cape (Cape Cod, MA) and as a young boy and throughout all my teenage years ran wild through its salt marshes (alive with herring, squids, crabs, eel grass), swam in its kettle ponds, ate from its tidal waters and drank from its fresh water lens. In my family, I was always surrounded by singing and music. From the age of nine I attended the Cathedral Choir School of St. John the Divine in New York City , where I sang twice a day, every day for four years. It was there that my ear was trained to listen and to do so carefully. In high school from testing they told me I would best either be a farmer or a physicist. I am neither, and none the worse for it. While starting my first semester in medical school in a bio-medical-engineering program, I met Roger and Katy Payne and their young family. It was then at the age of 23 that I learned that one’s passion can also be one’s vocation. The rest of the story is my life’s history; a bountiful journey listening to the world and proclaiming to all that this world’s life is magnificent beyond all words, and deserving of our reverence in every breath we take.

  Background Reading:  US Navy Journal of Underwater Acoustics; Listening to Their World:  Acoustics for Monitoring and Protecting Right Whales in an Urbanized Ocean

The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) is a treaty signed in 1946 to “provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry” (see www.iwcoffice.org).  The IWC manages thirteen species of great whales, and its charge is to adopt regulations for the conservation and utilization of whale resources by periodically amending the Schedule, a document that is an integral part of the ICRW.  Amendments to the Schedule must (at least in theory) be based on scientific findings, and require a three-fourths majority of all who voted.  Any member government can “object” to any decision within 90 days of that decision, and thus not be bound by it.  There are currently 78 member nations, which are almost equally split between pro-commercial whaling and anti-commercial whaling countries.  Because of the strong views held by many member countries, debate at the IWC annual meetings is often filled with rhetoric that is not helpful in moving the organization forward.  At this point, the IWC appears to be at an impasse due to an inability or unwillingness of countries to compromise.  Discussions regarding a system that would establish a Revised Management Scheme (the set of rules and inspection procedures that would govern commercial whaling should the moratorium be lifted) have failed to produce any agreement and are currently stalled.  This has resulted in a situation where some countries have threatened to leave the IWC.  In recent years, the total number of large whales hunted for commercial or scientific purposes is similar to the number killed prior to the implementation of the moratorium.  Three international meetings were held in the past year regarding the functionality of the IWC.  All occurred outside the auspices of the IWC.  Possible ways forward and their respective impacts on the conservation of large whales will be discussed.     

Dr. DeMaster became Science and Research Director of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, NAOO in October 2001. Previously he served as Director of the National Marine Mammal Laboratory (NMML), leader of the NMML Cetacean Assessment and Ecology Program, and head of the Marine Mammal Division at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center. Dr. DeMaster is recognized as one of the leading experts on marine mammal stock assessment and marine mammal–fishery interactions. He has published more than 58 peer-reviewed publications on marine mammals and an additional 38 reports related to the population ecology of marine mammals. In cooperation with other NOAA Fisheries scientists, Dr. DeMaster helped develop the system under which marine mammals are managed in the United States under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Since receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1978, he has been an active member of the academic community. He was an Adjunct Professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, where he taught courses on marine mammal biology and population dynamics. Since 1994, Dr. DeMaster has been an Affiliate Professor at the University of Washington's School of Marine Affairs. He also served as President of the Society for Marine Mammalogy, was Vice-Chair of the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), and is currently Chairman of the IWC Scientific Committee.

Background Reading:  Killing Whales For Science?  A storm is brewing over plans to expand Japan's scientific whaling program

Rolf Gradinger, Ph.D., Likely Impacts of Arctic Change on the Feeding Grounds of Arctic Marine Mammals

Rolf Gradinger and Bodil Bluhm

Birds, seals and whales are abundant in the cold ocean waters along the coastline of Alaska . In the Arctic regions, sea ice is one of the unique structuring features for the life in the ocean. It is used by seals to rest and reproduce, and by polar bears to migrate and hunt. However less recognition has been attributed to its enormous role on the entire structure of the marine food web. Recent changes in the sea ice cover of the Arctic produced public concern about its impacts on the arctic food web that will go well beyond birds and marine mammals. Our presentation will discuss three potential changes in the Arctic food web and how such changes might indirectly impact Arctic marine mammals.

Dr. Gradinger is an Assistant Professor of Biological Oceanography, School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks.  He believes it was his interest in the Arctic ecosystems, that brought him to Fairbanks, Alaska. Rolf was born in Germany, where he also studied biology at the universities in Mainz and Kiel. At Kiel University he received his masters and PhD degrees. Since receiving his PhD his main interest has been in Arctic sea ice ecology, which he explored as Post-Doc and Assistant Professor at two institutions in Germany. In 2001 his wife and he moved to Alaska, where they are both working as polar ecologists at UAF. Besides polar marine ecology he is interested in classical music, birding, fishing and kayaking.  Rolf's areas of expertise/research focus is on Arctic ocean ecology, sea ice ecology of Polar waters and Arctic ocean biodiversity

Background reading:  The ACIA highlights report at http://amap.no/acia/  

Bodil Bluhm, Ph.D. - Co-author with Dr. Rolf Gradinger

Bodil Bluhm is a Research Assistant Professor for Marine Biology at 
the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at the University of 
Alaska Fairbanks . She began conducting Arctic and Antarctic studies 
during her Master thesis work at the University of Kiel, Germany 
(1996-1997) and during her PhD work at the University of Bremen and 
Alfred-Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in 
Bremerhaven , Germany (1997-2000). Her initial research focus on polar 
benthic communities and their population ecology has broadened since 
she moved to Alaska in 2001. This is when she also began exploring 
Arctic sea ice communities in joint projects with her husband. In the 
last five years, Bodil’s research has taken her to Alaskan, Canadian 
Arctic and Russian Arctic waters to study seafloor and sea ice 
communities and biodiversity patterns and food webs, from the shallow 
coastal waters to the Arctic deep sea. Along with an international 
team of researchers, Bodil leads the Arctic Ocean Diversity Census of 
Marine Life project.

Background reading: Census of Marine Life www.coml.org

Caroline Jezierski, Alaska SeaLife Center (Graduate Research Associate) and Lindblad Expeditions (Naturalist)

This talk will address the impact of ecotourism on harbor seal behavior and whether educational training can alter human behavior in order to reduce disturbance to the seals.

Caroline grew up in the Midwest where her love of nature began on family camping trips. While pursuing her degree in Biology at Gustavus Adolphus College, her desire for outdoor adventure increased. She spent her summers as a white water raft guide in Colorado and studied wildlife ecology and conservation in Tanzania. After college, she moved to the west coast where she began her career as a field biologist. Caroline spent two years as a member of the AmeriCorps Watershed Stewards Project conducting stream and watershed surveys and providing educational outreach to local communities. For nearly a decade she has worked as a field biologist for state and federal agencies. Her “office” has ranged from the tundra of Alaska to the national parks of Washington to the broad rivers of Oregon and to the redwood forests of Northern California. Although she has specialized in inland salmon fisheries, she has also conducted research on birds, amphibians, and most recently, marine mammals. In the winter of 2000, her love for the sea was born while sailing as a deckhand for Lindblad Expeditions. In 2004, Caroline returned to school to pursue a Master’s Degree in Marine Biology at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. She is currently based in Seward, Alaska working with the Alaska SeaLife Center; she is studying the human impact on the harbor seals hauled out on glacial ice in Kenai Fjords National Park. She also works as a naturalist for Lindblad Expeditions in Southeast Alaska and Baja California. 

Background Reading:  Kenai Fjords Research and Harbor Seal Responses to Visitors in Aialik Bay, Alaska; The Impact of Education on Ecotourism and Harbor Seal Behavior in Kenai Fjords National Park

Mike Miller, "Alaska Native Cultural and Traditional Relationships with Marine Mammals”

A discussion of the interactions Alaska's Tribal hunters have with Marine Mammals, and, how others can benefit from Customary and Traditional Knowledge.

Mike Miller is a Tribal Councilman for the Sitka Tribes of Alaska and continues to represent his community as well as other Southeast communities on subsistence related issues involving herring, halibut, marine mammals and rural determination. He has been active with many organizations and boards including Alaska Board of Fisheries, National Marine Fishery Services, USFWS, Federal Subsistence Board, North Pacific Fishery Management Council, Indigenous Peoples Commission for Marine Mammals, Alaska Native Harbor Seal Commission, and the Alaska Sea Otter Commission. Mike holds a USGC Master of Towing Vessels License and has operated his own Marine Towing Company since 1995.

Background Reading:  Ordinance 95-10 Governing the Take of Marine Mammals

Caitlin O'Connell-Rodwell, Ph.D., Keynote Speaker,  "Lessons from elephant communication and society facilitate positive relationships with people"

The structure of African elephant society is primarily matriarchal in nature, where dominant female elephants make decisions for the herd as a whole with regard to safety, movements, resource choices and affiliations.  Bull elephants also rely on the decision making ability of dominant individuals.  Communication is an important aspect of survival, influenced by the ability to communicate over long distances and affected by local environmental and social pressures.  New findings about elephant communication and social structure will be reviewed and implications for elephant/human interactions discussed.

Caitlin O'Connell-Rodwell is a Research Associate at Stanford University, in the Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. Her discoveries about elephant society and communication have been published and reported in various periodicals, including Science, Science News, Natural History, National Geographic, The Economist, and Discover. She has appeared on National Geographic, the BBC, PBS/Nature, and the Discovery Channel. She has just published a book with Simon & Schuster entitled The Elephant's Secret Sense. O'Connell-Rodwell lives in San Diego , where she and her husband direct the nonprofit organization Utopia Scientific (www.utopiascientific.org) as well as the film company, Triple Helix Productions, both of which promote elephant conservation, science education and public health issues around the world.

Background Reading: 1) Living with modern conservation paradigm: can agricultural communities co-exist with elephants?  A five-year case study in East Caprivi, Namibia  2) Wild elephant (Loxodonta africana) breeding herds respond to artificially transmitted seismic stimuli

Lorrie Rea, Ph.D., "Steller sea lions and the potential for human interactions – entanglements, contaminants and fishing."

I am looking forward to talking to WhaleFest participants about issues involved with Steller sea lion and human interactions.  Humans and marine mammals utilize the same marine environment and thus have the potential to interact in many ways, some of them detrimental. Three general areas of discussion will be environmental contaminants, entanglement of sea lions in marine debris and fishing gear, and the potential for competition with fisheries. I plan to present recent research conducted by Alaska Department of Fish and Game and other researchers on environmental contaminant burdens measured in sea lions in Alaska and on the types and rates of visible entanglement of sea lions surveyed in Southeast Alaska . I will also briefly outline avenues of research being undertaken to try to determine what the potential is for competition between foraging sea lions and human fishing operations and how to distinguish if competition for food resources might be having a detrimental impact on sea lion populations.

Lorrie works for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Division of Wildlife Conservation, Marine Mammals Section.  She received her Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.  Her dissertation was titled “Prolonged fasting in Pinnipeds” and was chaired by Dr. Michael A. Castellini.  She received her Master's of Science from the University of California, Santa Cruz, California, studying the changes in resting metabolic rate during long-term fasting in northern elephant seal pups (Mirounga angustirostris) and a  Bachelor of Science (Honors Marine Biology) from the University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.  Lorrie is currently living in Fairbanks, AK and oversees a collaborative physiology research laboratory (ADFG and SFOS) on the UAF campus and the Steller sea lion research program run by ADFG and is the Wildlife Physiologist III, Principle Investigator of the Steller Sea Lion Research Program, Marine Mammals Section, Division of Wildlife Conservation, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Fairbanks, AK.  Her personal interests are scuba diving, ballroom dancing and wine tasting. 

Background Reading:  Utilization of stored energy reserves during fasting caries by age and season in Steller sea lions

Jooke Robbins, Ph.D., "Assessing human impacts on free-ranging large whales”

The Gulf of Maine is one of four North Atlantic humpback whale feeding stocks, and likely the one with the greatest interaction with humans.  Segments of this population have a coastal distribution that overlaps areas of high human use.  Since the 1970s, this has provided unprecedented opportunities for scientific research. At the same time, this population has been the focus of a sizeable eco-tourism industry and is vulnerable to commercial fisheries interactions and vessel strikes.  In this talk, I will discuss the benefits and difficulties of assessing population status and impacts in areas where whales and humans routinely overlap.  

Jooke is a senior scientist at the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies and the director of its Humpback Whale Studies Program.  She holds a Ph.D. in marine biology from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland.  Jooke has studied humpback whales since 1995 and conducts collaborative research in the North Atlantic, the North Pacific and the South Pacific Oceans. She is a member of the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team and the U.S. Delegation to the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission. Her area of expertise and research focus is large whale biology, population structure & dynamics and human impacts.

Background Reading:  Draft report of the NOAA Large Whale Health Assessment Workshop held in Olympia, Washington on 8-9 December 2006

Peter Ross, Ph.D., "Killer Whales of the North Pacific: Sentinels of a Contaminated Planet"

Dr. Ross is a Research Scientist who specializes in the area of toxicology, ecotoxicology, marine mammal sciences, immunotoxicology and physiology. He has a particular interest in the study of marine mammals, reflecting their i) vulnerability to health effects related to contaminant exposure and ii) their utility as indicators of ecosystem health. Dr Ross conducted studies which helped to elucidate the role of environmental contaminants in the virus-associated mass mortality among harbour seals in northern Europe in 1988. Dr Ross demonstrated that the transient killer whales of the North Pacific Ocean were the most PCB-contaminated marine mammals of the world. He continues to explore the links between contaminants, food webs, and marine mammals, and is conducting research on harbour seals, sea otters, killer whales and grizzly bears.

Dr. Ross, a marine mammal toxicologist, is based at the Institute of Ocean Sciences in Sidney, British Columbia Canada. He obtained his PhD from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, having defended his thesis in Dutch. Prior to that, he obtained his MSc (Dalhousie University) and BSc (Trent University). He has published over 75 scientific articles, but only a few poems. He has lived in Victoria, on southern Vancouver Island, since 1996. He likes chocolate, beer and red wine, though not necessarily in that order. 

Background Reading:  Fireproof of killer whales (Orcinus orca): flame-retardant chemicals and the conservation imperative in the charismatic icon of British Columbia, Canada