November/December 2013
After “The Cove”
Thursday, December 5, 2013
7 p.m. Refreshments, 7:30 p.m. Program
Lecture Hall, Monterey Boatworks, Hopkins Marine Station,
Pacific Grove (Across from American Tin Cannery Outlet Stores)
Speakers: Cynthia Fernandez, monitor with Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project
Cynthia Fernandez, a volunteer who helps monitor the notorious dolphin . captures and slaughters in Taiji, Japan, will discuss what’s happened since the 2009 Academy Award winning documentary “The Cove” showed the atrocities to the world.
Cynthia, a San Francisco high school science teacher, will be just back from her latest monitoring trip when she addresses ACS at our special mid-holidays meeting on December 5th. She will have videos to share with us.
Cynthia, who teaches biology and environmental science, said she was inspired to join the project by the documentary. “After seeing ‘The Cove,’ I knew I had to get involved and things have just steam rolled from there.” She first visited the small fishing village in Taiji last December and January. “My goal was to document and share information about both the dolphin drives and the captive industry,” she said.
She has done presentations in many schools to explain dolphins, the problems with keeping them captive, and the activites in Taiji. “My goal is to educate children and teenagers about the cruelty of captivity in the hopes of, someday, seeing all dolphins and orcas wild and free,” Cynthia said.
Please join us for refreshments before the talk begins.
Related web page:
October 2013
Are whales and dolphins especially sensitive to human disturbances?
Thursday, October 24, 2013
7 p.m. Refreshments, 7:30 p.m. Program
Lecture Hall, Monterey Boatworks, Hopkins Marine Station,
Pacific Grove (Across from American Tin Cannery Outlet Stores)
Speakers: Terrie Williams, UCSC Marine Mammal Program chief
Dr. Terrie Williams, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California at Santa Cruz, has traveled around the world for more than 30 years to work with the largest marine mammals on earth in an effort to understand how they survive in today’s rapidly changing world.
She has done extensive research on marine mammals like killer whales, narwhals, endangered Hawaiian monk seals and sea otters, as well as elephants and lions. Terrie for 20 years had been in charge of the Marine Mammal Program at UCSC, which includes The Mammalian Physiology Lab. She recently spent two of those years with an orphaned monk seal that stars in a book published in June, “The Odyssey of KP2: An Orphan Seal and a Marine Biologist’s Fight to Save a Species.”
Terrie will talk to us about the unique biology of cetaceans that makes them both sensitive and robust to human and environmental disturbances. Expect a comparative view of the physiological tipping points in marine mammals, from the effects of noise on dolphins and whales to dwindling ice on polar bears and narwhals.
In addition to her extensive research, Terrie directed the Sea Otter Rescue Center during the Exxon Valdez oil spill and is co-founder of the Center for Ocean Health at UCSC.
Please join us for refreshments before the talk begins.
Related web page:
- UCSC Marine Mammal Physiology Project
- UCSC Marine Mammal Physiology Project staff
- The Odyssey of KP2 (on Amazon.com)
September 2013
Porpoises and dolphins return to San Francisco Bay
Thursday, September 26, 2013
7 p.m. Refreshments, 7:30 p.m. Program
Lecture Hall, Monterey Boatworks, Hopkins Marine Station,
Pacific Grove (Across from American Tin Cannery Outlet Stores)
Speakers: Founders of Golden Gate Cetacean Research
Bill Keener, Jon Stern, Izzy Szczepaniak and Marc Webber, founders of Golden Gate Cetacean Research, will talk about the unexpected discovery of harbor porpoises in San Francisco Bay after an absence of 65 years. They will also talk about bottlenose dolphins that traveled there from Monterey Bay when they meet with the Monterey Bay Chapter of the American Cetacean Society on Thursday, September 26.
The researchers have been able to photo-identify and track individual harbor porpoises, a scientific first for this hard-to-see species. They watch from shore and boat, and will share photographs of the social and mating behavior of the harbor porpoises.
The speakers founded the nonprofit Golden Gate Cetacean Research in 2010 to focus scientific study on the porpoises, dolphins and whales of San Francisco Bay.
Bill Keener is a former executive director of The Marine Mammal Center. Dr. Jon Stern is a biology professor at San Francisco State University. Izzy Szczepaniak is a local expert on harbor porpoises who has been studying them for 35 years. Marc Webber was formerly Director of Animal Care at the Marine Mammal Center and currently works for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in Alaska.
Next month: Thursday, Oct. 24 — Dr. Terrie Williams, UC Santa Cruz professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, will discuss physiological “tipping points” in marine mammals, from the effects of noise on cetaceans to dwindling ice on polar bears and narwhals. (Please note this special meeting date, NOT the usual last Thursday of the month, in order to avoid any conflicts with Halloween.)
Related web page:
August 2013
Polar bears in a changing world
Thursday, August 29, 2013
7 p.m. Refreshments, 7:30 p.m. Program
Lecture Hall, Monterey Boatworks, Hopkins Marine Station,
Pacific Grove (Across from American Tin Cannery Outlet Stores)
Speaker: Bob Wilson
Bob Wilson, a founder of Polar Bears International and a board member of the Farallones Marine Sanctuary Foundation, will talk about polar bears and the threats they face in a warming world when the Monterey Bay Chapter of the American Cetacean Society meets on Thursday, August 29.
The polar bears are as dependent on oceans as whales and dolphins, they just like it frozen. Bob will discuss the biology of the bears and the challenges they face as polar ice melts. He will share his appreciation of these great creatures.
Bob is a retired federal lawyer who has been active with The Marine Mammal Center based in Sausalito for more than 30 years. He is also active with the sanctuary’s Beach Watch program, monitoring the beaches along the Gulf of the Farallones and Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuaries.
He has been actively involved in the Marine Life Protection Act processes, particularly in establishing a series of marine reserves and closure areas that included the Farallone Islands. Bob is also on the audit committee of the Desert Tortoise Preservation committee and the advisory committee of the Snow Leopard Trust.
Next month: Thursday, Sept. 26 — Harbor porpoises and bottlenose dolphins return to San Francisco Bay, a program presented by biologists from Golden Gate Cetacean Research.
Mark your calendars: The October meeting will be on Oct. 24 instead of the usual last Thursday of the month in order to avoid and conflict with Halloween activities.
Related web pages:
July 2013
The American Cetacean Society, Monterey Bay Chapter Annual BBQ honoring Katy Castagna
Saturday, July 27, 3 p.m. until dusk
Veteran’s Memorial Park, Monterey
Cost: $20 per person
ACS Party and Barbecue
Directions to Veteran’s Memorial Park:
Monterey Drive due west on Jefferson St. (up the hill) from the heart of Monterey, our area is on the left.
Or take Highway 68 west from Highway 1 to Skyline Forest. Turn right there, go to Skyline Drive and turn left.
Skyline Drive will lead you right into the Park. Our area is on the right if coming on Skyline.
Menu: Tri-tip, chicken, veggie burgers, salad, beans, soft drinks, water.
Good friends. Fun raffle, so bring some bills. Please bring your own table service and BYOB.
Cost: $20, children under 12 are 1/2 price.
Send payment to reserve your dinners to: ACS, P.O. Box HE, Pacific Grove, CA 93950 (checks to ACS)
Questions: call Sally Eastham 372-6919 or Jerry Loomis 419-1051
June 2013
Dancing on the belly of the shark:
Whale tales from long ago on Monterey Bay
Thursday, June 27, 2013
7 p.m. Refreshments, 7:30 p.m. Program
Lecture Hall, Monterey Boatworks, Hopkins Marine Station,
Pacific Grove (Across from American Tin Cannery Outlet Stores)
Speaker: Tim Thomas
Tim Thomas, well-known fisheries historian and Monterey Bay waterfront tour guide, will talk about one of Monterey’s more unique and least understood fisheries – whaling – when he talks to the Monterey Bay Chapter of the American Cetacean Society on Thursday, June 27. He will use historic photos, film and oral histories to discuss the local industry that helped decimate whale populations in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Tim has been researching Monterey Bay fisheries for 25 years and has written two books on the subject and is now working on a third about “Pop” Ernest Doelter, the “abalone king” who found cooking methods that turned the bait-fish mollusks into dining delicacies. He’ll talk about “Pop” and other little known history, including a basking shark fishery and how a wealthy sport fisherman introduced catch ideas that revolutionized the fishing industry and made Monterey world famous.
Tim was the historian/curator at the Monterey Maritime Museum for 16 years and is known for his lectures, programs and tours on the Monterey waterfront. He has also lectured extensively on the Monterey Japanese community both here and in Japan and is on the board of the Monterey Japanese American Citizens League. For more information, see www.montereywaterfrontcanneryrowtours.com.
May 2013
Hippo and Whale Evolution
Thursday, May 30, 2013
7 p.m. Refreshments, 7:30 p.m. Program
Lecture Hall, Monterey Boatworks, Hopkins Marine Station,
Pacific Grove (Across from American Tin Cannery Outlet Stores)
Speaker: Doug Cheeseman
Doug Cheeseman will compare hippos and whales in an energetic program with 100 images focusing on wildlife behavior that he has observed, including mating and feeding strategies. Doug has been leading African wildlife safaris since 1978 and Cheesemans’ Ecology Safaris charter to Antarctica since 1994. He was a lecturer on the Lindblad Explorer back in 1984 for Salen Lindblad on an Antarctic circumnavigation.
In 1998 Doug retired from many years of teaching zoology and ecology at De Anza College to photograph wildlife and to lead safaris around the world full time. He is an enthusiastic speaker and has many great photos to choose from taken on safari of hippos and other African wildlife and on pelagic trips of several different species of cetaceans from many areas, including Antarctica. He will discuss social and survival behavior in Orcas, Humpbacks, other cetaceans, and their relatives, the Hippopotamus, plus a few other fascinating wildlife species. He will have many action photos.
Join Doug as he compares characteristics of cetaceans in the Southern Ocean to their close relatives, the Hippos of Africa.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
7 p.m. Refreshments, 7:30 p.m. Program
Lecture Hall, Monterey Boatworks, Hopkins Marine Station,
Pacific Grove (Across from American Tin Cannery Outlet Stores)
Speaker: Bryant Austin
Bryant Austin signs and numbers his first to-scale photograph
of a whale, simply entitled “Humpback Whale Calf I”.
© Copyright 2008 Studio Cosmos. All Rights Reserved.
Bryant Austin is an experimental multi-media artist whose life-long passion has been exploring the depths of possibility in connecting humanity with the greatest minds in the water. His journey and challenge to recreate the transcendent sensation one experiences floating an arm’s length away from the eye of an inquisitive whale, has compelled him to create breath-taking photo mosaics at “whale scale”- both in terms of size and in the level of detail witnessed in ‘real life’.
Austin’s body of work represents the largest and most detailed photographs of whales in the world. His photographs have been met with international acclaim, and have been received enthusiastically during exhibits worldwide, including shows in Norway and Japan – countries that continue to hunt whales.
About the Presentation
In his talk, Austin offers insight into three major areas of his work. It begins with the journey to follow the inspiration given to him by two whales, and the external and personal challenges he had to overcome to document and share these creatures on their scale.
With the challenges he faced in our world, he moves to share the challenges in the world of a whale. Over the years Austin has grown to appreciate the concept of coming to know whales as individuals. He will share stories about seven of them, some that have spent up to six hours per day for five days with him. Individual whales spending time with him on their terms, from a distance less than six feet is what is at the core of his work, and what allows him to create the largest photographs of whales in the world.
His talk concludes with his extensive work in Norway and Japan where he has so far carried out six exhibitions within these countries. He offers insights to the overwhelmingly positive responses both from the public and from the media in these countries and how it has provided him with a glimpse into the potential for positive change with the simple act of making a whale truly visible. He concludes with a message of hope; knowing that with sufficient time and care, it is possible to connect humanity with the greatest minds in the water.
March 2013
Diving with Beluga Whales
Thursday, March 28, 2013
7 p.m. Refreshments, 7:30 p.m. Program
Lecture Hall, Monterey Boatworks, Hopkins Marine Station,
Pacific Grove (Across from American Tin Cannery Outlet Stores)
Speakers: Art Haseltine and Virginia Bria
The fabled white whales, very social and very vocal, draw the most adventuresome naturalists and photographers to the icy waters they inhabit. Despite their relative isolation, several populations of the beluga whales are considered endangered because of pollution in their waters along North America, Russia and Greenland; infectious diseases; and predation, both natural and human.
Our speakers, Art Haseltine and Virginia Bria, were among a small group of five intrepid divers who went into the Hudson Bay off Churchill, Canada, some months ago to take underwater photos of these enchanting “ghosts of the sea.” They will show the wonderful results, explain the challenges of underwater photography, and share an overview of Hudson Bay, polar bears and an excursion onto the subarctic tundra.
Art, a longtime resident of Carmel, is a marine biologist and underwater photographer who retired from the California Department of Fish and Game to concentrate on his fine-art photography, specializing in black-and-white prints of underwater marine life. His work can be seen on www.fotosea.com. Art said the beluga whales had been high on his “bucket list.”
Virginia, who lives in Marin County, is past president of the Northern California Underwater Photographic Society and has provided photos to several environmental organizations. She studied art and photography at Pratt Institute in New York and has followed a lifelong passion for photography and the marine environment. Her work can be seen at www.bellasirenaimages.com. Virginia travels extensively.
Please join them as they describe the efforts required to dive with beluga whales, and share the marvelous results.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
7 p.m. Refreshments, 7:30 p.m. Program
Lecture Hall, Monterey Boatworks, Hopkins Marine Station,
Pacific Grove (Across from American Tin Cannery Outlet Stores)
Speaker: William F. Gilly, Hopkins Marine Station
William Gilly has been studying Humboldt squid in the Gulf of California and the Pacific Ocean for the last 10 years. His group at Hopkins Marine Station uses a variety of electronic tagging methods, an animal-borne video package (CritterCam), and hydro-acoustics to reveal natural behaviors of this adaptable predator in relation to physical and biological features of their environment. This squid supports the largest invertebrate fishery in the world and is a major prey item for sperm whales, Risso’s dolphins and other marine mammals in the eastern Pacific.
Please join us for what promises to be an interesting and informative evening.
Do all humpback whales migrate?
Thursday, January 31, 2013
7 p.m. Refreshments, 7:30 p.m. Program
Lecture Hall, Monterey Boatworks, Hopkins Marine Station,
Pacific Grove (Across from American Tin Cannery Outlet Stores)
Speaker: Casey T. Clark
Each year, humpback whales undertake the longest migration of any marine mammal, moving between productive high-latitude feeding areas and low-latitude breeding areas where they undergo lengthy fasts. It has long been assumed that all humpback whales within a population migrate annually. There is, however, a growing body of evidence that this may not be true. Many researchers have reported seeing humpbacks in feeding areas during the breeding season, when they are expected to be elsewhere. Additionally, there is a consistent over-abundance of males in the breeding areas, despite a 50:50 overall sex ratio in the feeding areas. This has led researchers to suggest that some females might not undertake the yearly migration, and might instead choose to stay in the feeding area through the winter.
Casey Clark’s research looks at seasonal use of Monterey Bay by humpback whales, in an effort to understand how and when these whales use this habitat.
Please join us for what promises to be an interesting and informative evening.