Stranding investigations provide the only means to determine causes of mortality in dolphins and whales. This talk will provide an overview of stranding events throughout the Pacific Islands region and the information that can be gained by conducting stranding investigations. This will include novel disease findings, the impact of marine debris on cetaceans and research to better understand how whales and dolphins make their living and the threats that they face.

Humpback whale song has long held many mysteries, including the reason whales produce it. The documentary ‘Mystery of the Humpback Whale Song’ features the research of Dr. Marc Lammers from the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary and Dr. Adam Pack from the University of Hawaii at Hilo as they dive into the world of the humpback whale to uncover the function of the iconic song produced by males each breeding season. The documentary was filmed on location in Maui by PBS South Florida and presents cutting-edge field research methods and interviews with Drs. Lammers and Pack as they share their insights and thoughts about why whales sing. Both will be on hand to present their work and answer questions.

There have been remarkable advances in artificial intelligence the past decade, owing to a perfect storm of the confluence of three important forces: the rise of big data, the exponential growth of computational power, and the advancement of key algorithms in artificial intelligence. These advances have proven to be useful in commerce and science but also raise some questions, especially with regard to privacy and the conduct of war.

Much of the work the public sees in deep learning applies to text, images, and video, as manifest in products such as Siri and Alexa. Some of our current research builds on the work of Watson to apply deep learning to identify and understand audio signals. We’ve been building on our work in industrial AI to use neural networks to detect and understand marine mammal vocalization, focused first on the songs of the humpback whale. This work has a three-fold purpose: to automate the analysis of weeks of field data; to support on-going data collection using autonomous vessels; to advance our understanding of the meaning of whale song.

This presentation will showcase our research that seeks to better understand the bioenergetic demands facing humpback whales that migrate between their Hawaiian breeding grounds and their Alaskan feeding grounds. Innovative technology is allowing us to gain new and fascinating insights into how these gentle giants prepare for the energetically demanding migrations between these two important habitats. I will provide information on how we are using unmanned aerial systems (drones) and suction-cup tags fitted with cameras and accelerometers to gain an understanding of how humpback whales in Alaska feed and how some whales use bubbles to optimize their consumption of prey by producing bubble-nets. I will discuss the next steps in our research which aim to quantify suckling rates of calves while on their Hawaiian breeding grounds. Hopefully, our research will provide information to better understand and predict the impacts of climate change and shifting prey availability on humpback whale populations.

Wave Glider Europa, an autonomous surface vehicle equipped with a hydrophone, has traveled across the deep ocean basins of the Tropical Pacific in search of undiscovered humpback whale breeding assemblies. A summary of Europa’s voyages east and west of Hawaii as well as her current mission will be presented along with the remarkable story of our efforts to recover Europa in the middle of the North Pacific.

Since first being “thrown overboard” by his father at the age of seven with newly invented SCUBA gear on his back, Jean-Michel has been exploring the ocean realm. The son of ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, Jean-Michel has investigated the world’s oceans aboard Calypso and Alcyone for much of his life.

Honoring his heritage, Jean-Michel founded Ocean Futures Society, a non-profit marine conservation and education organization that serves as a “Voice for the Ocean” by communicating the critical bond between people and the sea and the importance of wise environmental policy. As Ocean Futures Society’s spokesman, Jean-Michel serves as an impassioned diplomat for the environment, reaching out to the public through a variety of media and educational programs.

Jean-Michel has produced over 80 films, received the Emmy, the Peabody Award, the Sept d’Or, and the Cable Ace Award. In 2015, Jean-Michel released his first IMAX film, “Secret Ocean 3D” which continues to be screened in over fifty theaters around the world. Jean-Michel’s newest feature film, “Wonders of the Sea,” uncovers the complexities of our interconnected world of life in the oceans and shows us how we are all asked to safeguard the future of our water planet.

Skinny whales, fewer calves, changes in distribution and behavior – what happened in Alaska? From 2014-2016 a marine heatwave named “The Blob” struck the North Pacific Ocean. The effects of this warm water impacted the marine food web in many ways. I will present observations from Alaska and discuss how high latitude ecosystem perturbations may be responsible for some of the changes seen in Hawaii’s humpbacks.

As the first-of-its-kind in Hawai‘i, the new “Sphere” at the Maui Ocean Center marks a new era in the confluence of technology, artwork and marine observation. For the first time ever, guests can experience the mystery and majesty of the largest mammals on planet Earth as no one has before. “Humpbacks of Hawai‘i” offers a new and exhilarating dimension to Maui’s famous whale watching season and even beyond, breaking the barrier of the ocean to bring guests eye-to-eye with Maui’s humpback whales in their home beneath the waves.

Creator and award winning filmmaker Daniel Opitz takes you on a personal journey from vision to reality, and describes concept, technology and making of this revolutionary project.

“The use of immersive, lifelike and interactive technologies has the potential to revolutionize human perception and offers a groundbreaking step towards increasing public awareness toward environmental issues, and contributes toward the increased possibility of significant, sustainable and powerful learning experiences,” Daniel Opitz, filmmaker and director, Ocean Mind.

Ed Lyman will review recent community-based response efforts to entangled large whales reported around the Hawaiian Islands. He will use an array of imagery including drone, helmet, and pole-mounted cameras to provide a unique perspective on a challenging effort – freeing a 40-ton, free-swimming animal from a life-threatening entanglement. Understanding entanglement risk and its impacts remains our best strategy for reducing entanglement threat. Changes, such as those observed for humpback whales the last few years in much of the North Pacific Ocean, may provide additional challenges to understanding an already dynamic threat. Ed will provide some examples of how population-level changes may be influencing or contributing to entanglement threat here in Hawaii and elsewhere.