Conservation Research

Scientific research is one of the two pillars on which our conservation efforts rest.

Long before Conservation Biology became a respectable science, The Whale Museum supported (or instigated) and frequently performed studies that have provided essential knowledge to promote stewardship of whales and the Salish Sea ecosystem.

The Whale Hotline: Annual Orca Master Sightings Report

2022 Orca Master Report

2017 Orca Master Report

1976-2014 Sightings Publication

Peer Reviewed Publications

There are numerous peer-reviewed publications in which an author was affiliate with The Whale Museum, or where authors have acknowledged the collaboration of The Whale Museum or one of its programs. In addition, there are numerous reports (aka "Gray Literature") that are testament to the ongoing conservation efforts of The Whale Museum through scientific research.

Temporal and Contextual Patterns of Killer Whale (Orcinus orca) Call Type Production

Fellowship Program

The Whale Museum has sponsored independent investigators and interns through our Fellowship Program. To date, over 32 independent investigators and 100 interns have been sponsored over the years, as well as 4 bachelor theses, 5 masters theses and 4 doctoral theses in marine mammal conservation.

In fact, in a single year The Whale Museum sponsored six Interns, four Visiting Scientists, and former Research Curator Dr. Richard Osborne's doctoral research at the University of Victoria.

The Visiting Scientists included:

1. Dr. David Bain from the University of Washington.
2. Dr. Robert Otis from Ripon College who has been studying whale/boat interactions at Lime Kiln State Park over the last thirty plus years.
3. Patrick Miller, a doctoral student at MIT & Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who also worked on orca acoustics in collaboration with Dr. Bain.
4. Jen Olsen, a graduate of the master's program at Huxley College, Western Washington University, who plotted Whale Hotline sighting data using a GIS (Geographical Information System) in collaboration with Richard Osborne.

For more information, please contact Jenny Atkinson, Director, at (360) 378-4710 ext. 26 or via email at jenny@whalemuseum.org