"Assessing whale health, with an update on drone surveys of Resident killer whale condition"

Presented by:

Dr. John Durban, NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center
Dr. Holly Fearnbach, SR3 SeaLife Response, Rehabilitation and Research

Dr. Durban leads the Cetacean Health and Life History Program at NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, California. Dr. Fearnbach is the Marine Mammal Research Director for SR3, a non-profit organization in the Pacific Northwest dedicated to improving marine wildlife health and welfare. In partnership, John and Holly have pioneered methods for studying the health of free-ranging whales and dolphins, including the use of aerial photographs to monitor the growth and body condition on Southern Resident killer whales over the past decade. In this talk John will outline several ongoing research projects and methods used by his program, particularly the use of drones to non-invasively assess whale health. Holly will give an update on their current project to use drone-based photography to infer the nutritional status of both Southern and Northern Resident killer whales, in collaboration with the Vancouver Aquarium’s Coastal Ocean Research Institute.

The lecture will take place at 6:30 pm at The Whale Museum. 

https://whalemuseum.org/pages/upcoming-events

The lecture is free and open to the public, hope to see you there!