Update On Whales In The Salish Sea with Mark Malleson, Whale Observer and Dr. Lauren McWhinnie, U.Vic Researcher

Date: 

Saturday, May 20, 2017 - 1:00pm to 3:00pm

Event Location: 

Saturna Community Hall
Mark Malleson Whale observer and Internationally known photographer. Mark will present his stunning photographs of Cetaceans in local waters . He will also discuss the changes in Cetacean movements he has observed and photo-documented over the last 20 years. Dr. Lauren McWhinnie will be giving an overview of the current status of the Southern Resident Orcas.

See Mark's stunning photography of Whales and hear his observations on Whales in our waters. Mark is the senior zodiac skipper for a local Whale watching company in Victoria, where he shares his passion for the ocean with people from all over the world. Since 1997, Mark has been involved with some of our top scientists in photographing whales and collecting data year round to help researchers with Whale identification and better understand Whale movement in Southern B.C. waters.

Lauren will be giving an overview of the current status of the Souther Resident Orcas and the multiple threats they are facing. She'll talk about her work as part of MEOPAR'S NEMES project, assessing how often Cetaceans are entering Boundary Pass through acoustic and visual data, as well as the level of vessel noise they are being exposed to in this area. Lauren is using data from our SIMRES hydrophones and our suface mounted camera.