There’s always something new happening in the world of whale research.
Anton van Helden, Te Papa’s marine mammal specialist, will be fronting Science Express @ Te Papa on Thursday 3 April, at 6.30pm in Espresso on Level 4.
He’s going to talk about some of the recent findings from the annual meeting of South Pacific whale researchers (SPWRC) recently held at Auckland University. These researchers use non-lethal methods to study whales – important at a time when some countries, such as Japan, continue to kill whales in the name of science.
He’ll also talk about new info on beaked whales (some of the whale species closest to his heart) – including a curious tale of a possible new species of beaked whale from Kiribati.
Anton van Helden with a Gray’s beaked whale skull Mesoplodon grayi
Viliamo Iese lives on Tuvalu, and recently attended the South Pacific Whales Research Group Consortium meeting at Auckland University in February 2008.
Where exactly is Tuvalu? It’s a 2 hour flight north of Fiji. Tuvalu is made up of 6 atolls and 3 islands – and some are only 5 metres above sea level – but it has a very small land mass of only about 26 square kilometres – spread over a vast area of the Pacific.
This makes researching whales and dolphins in Tuvalu particularly challenging! But with help from New Zealand, the support of the Tuvalu government and the efforts of Vili, the Pacific Island nation of Tuvalu is all set to contribute to our understanding of whales in the South Pacific.
Listen to Viliamo Iese talking about whale research and cultural attitudes to whales in Tuvalu. (duration about 9 minutes)
Download Viliamo Iese’s interview (mp3, 8.66 MB)
Vili Iese (right) talks to other whale researchers at the SPWRC meeting, Auckland, Feb 2008
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.
