The Whalenerd‘s Podcast

Episode 69 - What Do Whale Watchers Want? Virtual Events and Whale News

In this episode we covered a report that came out last fall about what whale watchers looked for in a whale watch tour operator, and their contributions to the local economy surrounding Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. We also had an update about the killer whales that have been attacking boats in the Canary Islands and a Gray Whale UME update. 

We also discussed the new mask mandate from the US Coast Guard for all vessels. There are also some virtual events coming up based in Maui this month through Pacific Whale Foundation that you can check out! And yes, for those of you who have been waiting for an update - Eric found a badger! Finally! We closed out the episode with a few book recommendations.

Episode 68 - Senate Hearings and Scientific Papers

In this episode, we unpacked a few more scientific papers as a follow-up to our conversations about the southern resident's killer whales. We also talked about the Senate hearings in Washington state that took place this past week about salmon habitat restoration and the commercial whale watching license program. We shared our thoughts on this frustrating situation. After this episode, we will be moving on from covering the situation in the Salish Sea so heavily and go back to covering it from a new standpoint. That way we can back to more of our regularly scheduled topics on our episodes. If you are looking for ways to get involved with things going on in the Salish Sea for Southern Resident Killer Whales, we are happy to direct you to organizations that are doing work up there. 

Episode 67 - Update from San Juan Islands

In this episode we checked in with our friends Sara and Jeff from Maya's Legacy on San Juan Island. We talked to them about what whale watching has been like since COVID started. Sharing a border with Canada, reductions in travel, and shelter in place orders have made life complicated and interesting for the boat based ecotourism operations in the Salish Sea. On top of all of that, there is a whole new set of regulations coming in to play for viewing Southern resident killer whales. There is a lot of misinformation out there about what this means for whale watching in the Pacific Northwest, so we hope this episode clarifies a few things for folks. You can indeed still see plenty of whales, including killer whales, in the Salish Sea on a whale watch tour despite the changes in regulations. One of the best thoughts to come from our discussion in regard to whale watching, the plight of the Southern residents, and salmon stocks was: we all want more fish - fisherman and whale watchers should really be pooling resources to move the needle on government regulations together. We had a few announcements for upcoming online events too!

Episode 66 - What's the cost?

In this episode we talked about some whale news including updates on North Atlantic right whales, manatees, and upcoming conferences. We also talked about a film project that Adam was involved in and the Octopus Teacher. Katlyn also had a recommendation for the film I Am Greta on Hulu. We had some great discussions around the contributions of whales to the environment and how they contribute more to the terrestrial ecosystem than we originally realized. We also shared information about a new paper that was published in regard to vessel distance and foraging disruption in Southern resident killer whales and had a lengthy discussion about it afterward. If you were to sum up the main discussions we had, we were wrestling with what is the cost vs benefits of healthy and unhealthy whale populations and watching them as an ecotourism industry. Big questions to grapple with, but we hope to continue those conversations.

Episode 65 - Good News and Bad News

Happy new year! We covered a lot of whale news in this episode. Some of it was good news and some of it was less good... We covered right whale news, whale watching regulations in Washington, blue whales and more!

We also have news! Katlyn is back in Maui. It’s been an interesting turn of events this fall with the Hawaiian islands reopening - so she decided to give it a try. We will keep you posted on how things go in California and Maui as the winter progresses. Please stay safe and healthy!

Episode 64 - Winter Whale Watching and More

This is our last episode of 2020. We answered questions that were sent to us by listeners over the past few weeks. We talked about where are good places to take kids whale watching, migration route and feeding ground changes due to climate change, camera settings that we use, and recent whale sightings. We also got off on a few tangents including some conservation topics and science communication.

Thank you so much for your support this year! Especially our patreon supporters have a great holiday season and stay safe and healthy.

Episode 63 - Where humans and whales intersect

This episode was packed with lots of whale news! We had all kinds of updates about right whales, whale calves, whales in new places, a new species of whale, and more. This led us to a discussion about how cetaceans and humans co-exist and how we can do that better. 

Episode 62 - Reminiscing on the Pacific Northwest

\This week we talked more about Adam’s background in his whale/marine career. Eric also just took a road trip up to Oregon and Washington. So we were all feeling nostalgic about our trips and times spent in the Pacific Northwest. We also talked about some recent pieces of whale news and our most recent sightings and adventures. 

Minisode 6 - Meet Our New Host

We have an exciting announcement! We have officially added a new cohost to the whalenerds team. We want to introduce you to Adam Ernster. He has been on the podcast as a guest a few times with us but now he will be on with us regularly. Listen in to minisode 6 to hear more about him. We are looking forward to working with Adam and bringing some new momentum to whalenerds over the next few months.  

Episode 61 - Recent Whale Adventures

In this episode, we all checked in from up and down the California coast and Delaware! Katlyn is working a boat delivery on the East Coast at the moment. We talked about the boat delivery and recent trips in addition to some updated whale news. There was a cool match from the Southern Hemisphere from Happywhale, the orca attacks on boats near Portugal are continuing, and we talked about a call to action for a new proposal involving whale watching of Southern Resident Killer Whales.

Happywhale match: https://www.facebook.com/972752052758961/posts/3838778372822967/?d=n

https://happywhale.com/individual/25891

Proposal regarding whale watching of Southern Residents: https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/at-risk/species-recovery/orca/rule-making