Whale Tales

Whale Tales is presented by Whale Trust

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Mahalo nui loa!

Thank you for supporting whale research through Whale Tales 2020!
We are working on plans for 2021 (February 12-15) and hope to see you there!

Whale Tales 2020 Presenting Sponsors

ABOUT WHALE TALES


Whale Tales is an annual four-day event on Maui that brings together marine experts with thousands of residents and visitors from around the world. Each year since 2006, world-renowned presenters have joined the Whale Trust research team on Maui to collaborate and share the latest findings on humpback whales and their environment. Scientists, photographers, filmmakers and conservationists join the public for a memorable weekend of engaging talks, receptions and exciting whale watches.

Over the last 13 years, Whale Tales has raised more than $725,000 for whale research and reached tens of thousands of people, including thousands of local schoolchildren. All proceeds from the Whale Tales event are distributed to selected beneficiary organizations and students to support whale research in Hawaii through the Whale Tales Beneficiaries Program.

WHALE WATCH PARTNERS

These companies donate their boats and crews for benefit whale watches throughout Whale Tales weekend. 100% of ticket sales support whale research in the Pacific through the Whale Tales Beneficiary Program.

Guest Presenters

Jim Darling, PhD

Jim Darling, PhD

Whale Trust
BIO
Jim Darling has led research programs on whales for over 25 years. His primary studies include long term investigations of behavior and ecology of gray whales in British Columbia and humpback whales throughout the North Pacific. Jim has been executive director of West Coast Whale Research Foundation, a Canadian research and education society, and research director of the Clayoquot Biosphere Project, a Vancouver Island community based organization that promoted field research in the temperate rainforest ecosystem. Jim has written numerous scientific and popular articles and several books on his work. Since 1997, Maui has been the base of his study on the function of the humpback whale song. View his current research.
Flip Nicklin

Flip Nicklin

Whale Trust/National Geographic
BIO
Flip Nicklin is a world-renowned underwater photographer. He has spent his 40-year career specializing in the photography of marine mammals, especially whales and dolphins. Through 20 National Geographic articles from 1982 to the present, he has worked closely with top whale researchers from around the world. From this work Flip brings a unique, global perspective on the study of whales to Whale Trust. Flip co-founded Whale Trust and has assisted on studies of humpback whales in Hawaii since the 1980s, and lives in Maui for a portion of each year. In 2012, Flip was bestowed one of the highest honors by The North American Nature Photography Association by being named Outstanding Photographer of the Year.
Russell Brown

Russell Brown

Adobe
BIO
Russell Preston Brown is the Senior Creative Director at Adobe Systems Incorporated as well as an Emmy Award-winning instructor. His ability to bring together the world of design and software development is a perfect match for Adobe products. In Russell’s thirty-five years of creative experience at Adobe, he has contributed to the evolution of Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator with feature enhancements and advanced scripts. Most recently he has begun to travel the world with a mobile phone camera and aerial drone to capture his adventures from a whole new creative perspective. This new age of mobile photography has sparked his creativity and has inspired a variety of new imaging directions.

Check out his work: www.instagram.com/dr_brown and http://www.russellbrown.com

Ralph Lee Hopkins

Ralph Lee Hopkins

Lindblad Expeditions/National Geographic
BIO
Ralph Lee Hopkins travels to the world’s most wild places with Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic, and is the Director of Expedition Photography for the National Geographic fleet. For more that 20 years he’s photographed expeditions from the Arctic to the Antarctic and points in between. Ralph’s work appears regularly in National Geographic publications and is represented by National Geographic Creative. An inspiring teacher, Ralph teaches workshops for National Geographic Expeditions and digital seminars National Geographic Traveler. His most recent book is Nature Photography: Documenting the Wild World. To view his online portfolio visit www.RalphLeeHopkins.com.
Kristi West

Kristi West

Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology
Identifying threats to whales and dolphins in the Pacific Islands: What can strandings tell us?
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.
BIO
Dr. Kristi West is an Associate Researcher at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology and affiliate faculty in the department of Human Nutrition Food and Animal Sciences, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at the University of HawaiI. Dr. West has led a university based cetacean stranding response and research program in the Pacific Islands region for over 13 years. She is a physiologist with expertise leading cetacean necropsies and cause of death investigations. Dr. West’s research interests are focused on identifying and evaluating threats to cetacean population health in Hawaii and the greater Pacific.
Marc Lammers, PhD

Marc Lammers, PhD

Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary
Mystery of the Humpback Whale Song
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.
BIO
Dr. Marc Lammers is the Research Coordinator at NOAA’s Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary (HIHWNMS). He is also the Co-Founder and President of Oceanwide Science Institute and is an affiliate faculty member at the Hawai’i Institute of Marine Biology. He holds a B.A. and a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Hawaii. At HIHWNMS he leads research activities focused on understanding the population, ecology, and behavior of Hawaii’s humpback whales. He is also an expert in marine acoustics and has studied Hawaii’s dolphins for more than 25 years. His work has yielded more than 75 scientific publications and has been featured in popular media.
Grady Booch

Grady Booch

IBM Research
Applying Artificial Intelligence To Detect Marine Mammal Vocalization
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.

BIO
Grady Booch is Chief Scientist for Software Engineering at IBM Research where he leads IBM’s research and development for embodied cognition. Having originated the term and the practice of object-oriented design, he is best known for his work in advancing the fields of software engineering and software architecture. A co-author of the Unified Modeling Language (UML), a founding member of the Agile Alliance, and a founding member of the Hillside Group, Grady has published six books and several hundred technical articles. Grady is a trustee of the Computer History Museum, an IBM Fellow, an ACM and IEEE Fellow, and has been awarded the Lovelace Medal. He has given the Turing Lecture for the BCS, and was recently named an IEEE Computer Pioneer. He is currently developing a major trans-media documentary for public broadcast on the intersection of computing and the human experience.
Lars Bejder

Lars Bejder

Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology
The Use Of Innovative Technology to Study The Bioenergetic Demands of Migrating Humpback Whales
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.
BIO
Dr Bejder is the Director of the Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP) at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaii at Manoa where he is responsible for the academic and strategic development of the MMRP. He has studied various aspects of cetacean biology, ecology, and conservation in New Zealand, Australia, Mexico and the US (Hawaii, Florida and California). He has >120 publications on cetaceans focusing on behavioral ecology, methods to evaluate complex animal social structures, impacts of human activity, and health assessments. He works closely with wildlife management agencies to optimise the conservation- and management outcomes of his research. Dr Bejder is an adjunct Professor at Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia and at Aarhus University, Denmark.
Brian Skerry

Brian Skerry

Marine Wildlife Photojournalist/National Geographic

PRESENTATION TIME:
WHALE WATCH: Book online now!

Tribes of the Sea
BIO
Brian Skerry is a photojournalist specializing in marine wildlife and underwater environments. Since 1998 he has been a contract photographer for National Geographic, covering a wide range of subjects and stories. In 2010 National Geographic named one of Brian’s images among their 50 Greatest Photographs of All Time. In 2014 he was one of five photographers named as a National Geographic Photography Fellow and he was awarded the 2016 National Geographic Photographer’s Photographer Award, an honor bestowed by his colleagues. He is currently at work on his 28th story for the magazine.

Brian’s work has also been featured in Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, BBC Wildlife, Paris Match, GEO, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Smithsonian, Esquire, Audubon and Men’s Journal. He is the author of 10 books, including the acclaimed monograph Ocean Soul. His latest book is SHARK, published by National Geographic Books in 2017.

He frequently lectures on photography, exploration and conservation issues, having presented at the United Nations General Assembly, The World Economic Forum, TED Talks, The National Press Club, The Royal Geographical Society in London and the Sydney Opera House. He is a frequent guest on television programs including NBC’s TODAY Show and CBS’s This Morning.

Beth Goodwin

Beth Goodwin

Jupiter Research Foundation
Wave Glider EUROPA'S Recovery: Across the Pacific in Search of Humpback Assemblies
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.
BIO
Beth Goodwin is the Vice President and Director of the Hawaii operations and marine mammal programs for Jupiter Research Foundation, and is the Captain of their research vessel, the May Maru. She was a co-founder of Liquid Robotics Inc. and has an in depth knowledge of Wave Glider mechanics, operations, and diagnostics. She did her graduate studies at UC Santa Cruz and San Francisco State. She has spent decades studying whales and dolphins is passionate about protecting the ocean.
Jean-Michel Cousteau

Jean-Michel Cousteau

Ocean Futures Society
BIO
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.

John Moran

John Moran

NOAA’s Auke Bay Laboratories
What Happens in Alaska Doesn’t Stay in Alaska
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.
BIO
John Moran is a research fisheries biologist at NOAA’s Auke Bay Laboratories in Juneau, Alaska. He received a M.S. from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in fisheries and completed his undergraduate studies in zoology and marine biology at the University of New Hampshire. John has worked across Alaska studying fish, birds, and mammals. Currently he is a principal investigator for the Gulf Watch Alaska long-term monitoring program funded by the Exxon Valdez oil spill Trustee Council, monitoring the impacts of recovering humpback whale populations on herring populations and the overwintering energetics of fish in Prince William Sound. John is a member of the Alaska Marine Mammal Stranding Network and the Large Whale Disentanglement team.
Daniel Opitz

Daniel Opitz

Ocean Mind
IMMERSE YOURSELF – Humpbacks of Hawai'i
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.

BIO
Daniel Opitz develops and produces innovative and international award-winning documentaries, natural history films, and immersive learning experiences. The focus of his work is the emotional connection between man and nature, humans and whales, science and art, the sea and the mind. Since 2000, Daniel has worked as an independent filmmaker under the name of Ocean Mind, is founder and CEO of the Ocean Mind Edutainment LLC, and the president of the Ocean Mind Foundation.

After more than five years of intensive development, the “Humpbacks of Hawai‘i Exhibit & Sphere” opened in February, 2019 at the Maui Ocean Center. 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, bringing guests eye-to-eye with Maui’s humpback whales in their home beneath the waves.

Ed Lyman

Ed Lyman

Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary
Trends In Large Whale Entanglements and Recent Response Efforts
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.
BIO
Ed Lyman is currently the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary’s Natural Resource Management Specialist and acts as the region’s Large Whale Entanglement Response Coordinator under NOAA Fisheries’ Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program. Ed has worked with NOAA, state agencies, and nonprofits in addressing the large whale entanglement threat for 25 years. His efforts encompass Alaska, the East and West Coasts, Hawaii and other countries.

Ed has participated in over 100 disentanglement efforts and helped free more than 60 marine animals from life-threatening entanglements. He and the Sanctuary coordinate a community-based network to provide safe and authorized response to entangled whales around the main Hawaiian Islands.

Many Thanks to All of our 2020 Sponsors!

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

Partnering with Whale Trust as a Whale Tales sponsor emphasizes your commitment to the future of our oceans. Whale Tales is an esteemed marine-science event among whale researchers and enthusiasts around the world. Corporate and individual sponsors are critical to bringing this world-class event to Maui each year. Your sponsorship is an investment in the ongoing research and education efforts that inform long-term management and conservation programs.

View Sponosorship Opportunities Become a Whale Tales Sponsor

CONTACT US

Phone:

(808)572-5700

E-mail:

whaletales@whaletrust.org

Mailing Address:

PO Box 243
Makawao, Hawaii 96768