Every year, a lively and enthusiastic group of scientists meets at the University of Auckland School of Biological Sciences to compare notes about whales.
The South Pacific Whales Research Consortium (SPWRC) first met in 1999 as a group of friends who wanted to share their whale research. The group has grown since then and now plays a vital role in coordinating and reporting on non-lethal whale research in the South Pacific.
Their work will help strengthen the New Zealand Government’s case to ban whaling in the Southern Ocean at the International Whaling Commission annual meeting in Chile in June 2008. Michael Poole is a founding member of SPWRC and has spent more than 20 years researching whales and dolphins in French Polynesia.
Listen to Michael Poole talking about his fascinating whale research on the island of Mo’orea,Tahiti (duration about 6 minutes).
Michael Poole interview.mp3 (6.19 mB)
Michael Poole and Anton van Helden at the SPWRC meeting in Auckland, 6 February 2008.
