Events

Mark will be discussing his wildlife photos from Orange County while sharing the tools he uses to capture his images. He will also be talking about how these images help researchers.

Large whale entanglements are a growing concern in most regions of the world and a leading cause of death for humpback whales along the US West Coast. During the presentation, we will discuss the current status of large whale entanglements, how the response network saves individual whales while collecting data necessary to prevent future entanglements, and Cascadia's research efforts to reduce the entanglement threat in California as well as the rest of the US West Coast.

Alisa will be talking about her two favorite research projects. She will first present on the ACS-LA Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project and then will present on the killer whales that have been encountered off of California.

In this talk, Ed Lyman shares his experiences as the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary’s Regional Large Whale Entanglement Response Coordinator. He assists NOAA by coordinating a community-based network in Hawai’i to not only monitor the animals, but also provide safe and authorized response to entangled, or otherwise compromised large whales. Ed has participated in nearly 130 disentanglement efforts and helped free more than 70 whales from life threatening entanglements – more than 40 with the sanctuary.

North Pacific humpback whales have been recovering from a low of about 1000 individuals at the end of commercial whaling in the 1970s. Dr. Cheeseman has used the AI-powered web platform Happywhale's whale ID dataset to model North Pacific humpback whale population changes over the past 20. He found that the 2014-2016 Pacific Marine Heatwave, a global record breaking event dubbed ’The Blob,’ caused a population crash in Hawaii’s whales but not Mexico’s.

Antarctic minke whales are rarely seen and remain poorly studied because of their cryptic nature and preferred habitat deep in the Antarctic sea ice.

Comparative anatomist Joy Reidenberg studies the anatomy (body structure) of many different animals, but her favorites are cetaceans. Her lecture will cover the many unique anatomical adaptations that allow whales to survive as mammals in an aquatic environment.

Blue whales that seasonally use the southeastern Gulf of California, particularly the Loreto Bay National Park during winter and spring, have been monitored for more than three decades from the research center CICIMAR-IPN, based in La Paz, Baja California Sur in Mexico.

A history of marine mammal research in Central America, with discussion on the challenges this dynamic community of scientists face in terms of representation, language barriers, training, and funding.

New technology like drones have immense potential in cetacean science and conservation as cost-effective, scalable, adaptable, and non-invasive tools.

Dr. David Weller has been studying the biology and ecology of whales and dolphins for 40 years. His specialization is in the areas of wildlife science, population assessment and evaluation of potential disturbance impacts from human activities. He received his Ph.D. in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from Texas A&M University in 1998. Prior to that, he completed B.A. and M.A. degrees at the University of Hawaii and San Diego State University, respectively. He has been in residence at Southwest Fisheries Science Center since 1998.

The talk will discuss the impacts of climate change on Arctic marine mammals. Case studies will be presented on the ecology of polar bears and narwhals around Greenland.

Dr. Giles will give an overview of Wild Orca’s Southern Resident Killer Whale Health Monitoring Program as well as a summary of collaborative research projects being conducted by some of the most respected names in wildlife conservation research. Together, these projects paint a near real-time picture of the health of endangered Southern Resident killer whales and provide timely data to the public and management agencies used to understand and address the causes of population decline.

Two chapters, two speakers, one amazing night celebrating all things beluga! Building community around Alaska’s critically endangered Cook Inlet belugas with Suzanne Steinert + Beluga ecology and conservation — Insights from transdisciplinary research in Alaska and the Canadian Arctic with Kimberly Ovitz

Penguins serve as indicators of environmental change, sounding the alarm on overfishing, marine pollution, introduced predators, shifting ocean temperatures, and more. By studying penguins in the wild, we not only learn about the ecology of our changing planet, but we can use our observations to develop conservation actions that will protect seabirds, other marine predators, and entire ocean ecosystems. Join Dr. Caroline Cappello as she shares photos, stories, and lessons learned from her work with Galápagos penguins in the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador, and Magellanic penguins in southern Argentina.

Up until recently, twenty captive orcas were residing in North America. I will present the scientific evidence for the poor welfare of captive orcas and discuss and update the development of an authentic whale sanctuary in Nova Scotia by the Whale Sanctuary Project.

Since we last saw Stephen in January 2020, he has travelled by sea to the over a dozen global locations. What has he seen and what excited him most? Join us to hear stories and see his wildlife photos

The resident island-associated population of false killer whales in Hawai‘i was listed as Endangered in 2012. Despite a lot of research before and after 2012, little has been done to protect this population, and it has been declining steadily since.

Steven Swartz will discuss the current impacts of climate change on the Arctic's seasonal marine food production and how that is affecting marine species like gray whales

Professor Williamson will introduce North Atlantic Right Whales including their natural history, conservation status and current research. The effects of climate change on this species will also be discussed.

Humpback Whales of Tonga and Maui

Beluga whales are smaller-sized whales that are very social and inhabit Arctic and sub-Arctic waters. They are rarely reported outside of this range. However, in October 2021, a lone beluga appeared in the waters of the Pacific Northwest (PNW) and remained in the area for approximately a month. This presentation will describe the biology and ecology of whales; the case of the lone PNW whale; and current threats and challenges that face wild populations of beluga.

Southern Resident Killer Whales with Erin Gless! Learn more about these killer whales, what challenges they face, and what's being done to try to save this unique population.

Dr. Cristina Castro is an Ecuadorian researcher and principal investigator for Pacific Whale Foundation Ecuador, where she has been leading PWF’s field studies on humpback whales in Machalilla National Park since 2001.

Biologist at MarEcoTel and Cascadia Research Collective - Fin Whales

California Stranding Coordinator for NOAA’s Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program

Conservation Biologist, Executive Director of SoCal Sea Turtles

Director and Coordinator of the full-season shore-based ACS-LA Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project.

Bioacoustician, lead research assistant and project manager at NOAA/NMFS/AFSC Marine Mammal Laboratory

Wildlife photographer, creator of Orange County Outdoors

CSULB Shark Lab Director, Marine Biology Professor

Interpretative Ecologist, Catalina Island Conservancy

Marine mammal scientist, Director of Education at Pacific Marine Mammal Center

Co-founder of Happywhale.com, and co-owner of Cheesemans’ Ecology Safaris

Co-Founder and former president of ACS-OC

Professor, OCC Marine Science Department