To share the stories of the whale families we work with in order to develop public awareness of the importance of the oceans to both marine mammals and humans.
The deep ocean home of the sperm whales is still mostly a mystery. Learning from the whale families is part of unlocking those secrets; and by sharing their stories, we hope to motivate others to ensure that today’s calves can raise their calves in a healthy ocean. These whale families are ambassadors from a deep ocean nation, spanning evolutionary timelines longer than modern humans have walked upright, educating us about their way of life in a part of our shared planet that is difficult for us to even explore. These whales’ stories are important and people need to hear them. Not just scientists, not just marine protected area managers, not just the passionate ocean advocates, but everyone who has a mother, who has an aunt who babysits them, or who has felt the anguish of the divide between ‘Us’ and ‘Them’, and who will be amazed by the sophistication of whale lives and reminded of the richness in their own. Our research has been featured in the New York Times, two BBC miniseries, Science Magazine, MacLean's Magazine, Motherboard, WIRED, and CBC's The Nature of Things, among other great publications and series.
Over the last 10 years, we have worked closely with local governments; as well as, local and international NGOs to make advances in applied conservation. This program also provides population level data to the International Whaling Commission and has contributed to multi-institutional collaborative studies on sperm whales on oceanic and global scales. More locally, we provide monitoring and assessment of whale and dolphin populations to national governments, as well as management and conservation recommendations region wide.
Our program has provided training to local whale watch operators and their staff, educational aids, and many crew have worked aboard our trips, but with the continuation of our presence in Dominica we hope to be to develop a whales-in-schools program and to work more closely with local fisheries cooperatives.
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