Cascadia at the 24th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals

From August 1-5th, Cascadia research staff and affiliates will be participating in the 24th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals in Palm Beach, Florida. This conference will bring together scientists, policymakers, managers, and advocates for five days of presentations, learning, and constructive dialogue. Additionally, this is the first fully hyrbid, live-virtual conference of the Society of Marine Mammalogy.

Below are the titles and authors of Cascadia-affiliated presentations at the conference, listed by region where the work took place (Hawaiʻi, US West Coast, or US East Coast), as well as links to many of the presentations.


Hawaiʻi

Beneath the Surface: Diving Behavior of False Killer Whales from Two Populations Across Diel and Lunar Cycles in Hawaiian Waters – Jacquelyn F. Shaff, Michaela A. Kratofil, and Robin W. Baird. Download a copy of this poster.

Denizens of the Deep: Three Lines of Evidence Suggest a Pelagic Population of Risso’s Dolphins in Hawaiian Waters – Annie B. Douglas and Robin W. Baird. Download a copy of this poster.

Effectiveness of a 50-yard No-approach Rule and a No-swim-with Rule for Protecting Spinner Dolphins in Hawaiʻi from Human Interactions, an Initial Assessment – Kimberly A. Wood, Katie M. Abrams, Robin W. Baird, and Paige M. Nankey. View this presentation.

Is Bigger Always Better? Sexually Dimorphic Characteristics of Short-Finned Pilot Whales, False Killer Whales, Pygmy Killer Whales and Melon-Headed Whales Assessed Using Fin and Body Morphometrics from Photos Taken at Sea – Shelby N. Yahn, Robin W. Baird, and S.D. Mahaffy. View this presentation.

Long-term Associations, Life History, and Lack of Dispersal: Unique Insights from Pygmy Killer Whales off the Island of Hawaiʻi – Sabre D. Mahaffy, Robin W. Baird, and Brittany L. Hancock-Hanser. Download a copy of this poster.

Photo-Identification of Pantropical Spotted Dolphins in Hawaiian Waters Reveals Long-Term Re-Sightings, Supporting the Existence of Island-Associated Resident Populations – Erin J. Gless, Sabre D. Mahaffy, Grace L. Olson, Stephanie H. Stack, Jens J. Currie, and Robin W. Baird. View this presentation. View this presentation.

Spatial Use of Pantropical Spotted Dolphins in Relation to Stock Boundaries and Environmental Features in Hawaiian Waters  Michaela A. Kratofil, Robin W. Baird, and Daniel L. Webster. Download a copy of this poster.

Stock Structure, Residency, and Inter-Island Movements of Common Bottlenose Dolphins between O‘ahu and Maui Nui – Annette E. Harnish, Robin W. Baird, Jens J. Currie, Stephanie H. Stack, Tori Cullins, Lynn Opritoiu, Antoinette M. Gorgone, and John B. Kirkpatrick. Download a copy of this poster.

The Shyest Blackfish: Examining the Global Phylogeography of the Pygmy Killer Whale (Feresa attenuata) – Brittany Hanser, Kelly Robertson, Robin Baird, Patricia Rosel, Antonio Mignucci, Louella Dolar, Lynsey Wilcox, and Karen Martien.

Understanding the Distribution Patterns of Rough-Toothed Dolphins (Steno bredanensis) Around Kaua’i and Ni’ihau – Merra Howe, Robin W. Baird, Michaela Kratofil, and Daniel Webster. Download a copy of this poster.

Unintended Consequences: Common Bottlenose Dolphin Associations with an Aquaculture Operation in Hawaiʻi Lead to Impacts on Spinner Dolphins and other Delphinids – Robin W. Baird, Annette E. Harnish, Enrico Corsi, Antoinette M. Gorgone, Doug Perrine, Alicia Franco, Cynthia Hankins, and Emily Sepeta. View this presentation.

Variation in Social Structure of Two Different Stocks of Island-associated Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) Around the Main Hawaiian Islands – Enrico Corsi, Robin W. Baird, Annette E. Harnish, Antoinette M. Gorgone, Jens J. Currie, Stephanie H. Stack, and Jeremy J. Kiszka. Download a copy of this poster.

Vulnerability of U.S. Marine Mammal Stocks in the Pacific and Arctic to Climate Change – Matthew D. Lettrich, Jason Baker, Diane Bowen, Lilian Carswell, Dorothy M. Dick, Christina Fahy, Paul Fiedler, Nancy Friday, Krista Graham, Roger B. Griffis, Deanna Lynch, Dawn P. Noren, Peter Thomas, Sadie K. Wright, Robin W. Baird, Lisa T. Ballance, Lars Bejder, Steven Bograd, Charlotte Boyd, Amanda Bradford, Lauren Divine, Candice Emmons, Brian Fadely, Erin A. Falcone, Megan Ferguson, Donna Hauser, Elliott L. Hazen, Jaime Jahncke, Steven Jeffries, Michelle Lander, Charles Littnan, Josh M. London, Lisa Loseto, Sharon Melin, Daniel H. Monson, John Moran, Erin M. Oleson, Heidi Pearson, Lori Quakenbush, Kim Raum-Suran, Jan Roletto, Brenda K. Rone, Gregory S. Schorr, Jonathan J. Scordino, Kim E. W. Shelden, Sheanna M. Steingass, Jeremy Sterling, Raphaela Stimmelmayr, Suzie Teerlink, M. Tim Tinker, Dave Weller, Michael Willims, and Alex Zerbini.

U.S. West Coast

A Happy Collaboration: Basin-Scale, High-Throughput, AI-Assisted Photo-ID Matching for North Pacific Humpback Whales – Ted Cheeseman, Katherina Audley, Astrid Frisch, Nicola Ransome, Jorge Urban, Pamela Martinez Loustalot, Jeff Jacobsen, Ester Quintana-Rizzo, Joelle De Weerdt, Daniel M. Palacios, Craig Hayslip, John Calambokidis, Kiirsten Flynn, Phil Clapham, Christie McMillan, Jackie Hildering, Janie Wray, Nicole Doe, Caitlin Birdsall, Karina Dracott, James D. Darling, Josie K. Byington, Tasli Shaw, Mark Mallison, John K.B. Ford, Thomas Doniol-Valcroze, Janet Neilson, Jan Straley, Suzie Teerlink, Jen Cedarleaf, Andrew Szabo, Fred Sharpe, John Moran, Heidi Pearson, Olga von Ziegesar, Briana Witteveen, Denny Zweifelhofer, Craig Matkin, Rachel Cartwright, Stephanie Stack, Jens Currie, Meagan Jones, Edward Lyman, Rachel Finn, Christine Gabriele, Adam Pack, Beth Goodwin, Kym Yano, Lars Bejder, Martin van Aswegen, Marie Hill, Jo Marie Acebes, Olga Filatova, Olga Titova, Evgeny Mamaev, Greg Donovan, Jeff Moore, Jay Barlow, Marilia Olio, Hayley Newell, and Ken Southerland.

A Multifaceted Examination of Blubber to Infer the Nutritional Status of the Eastern Pacific Gray Whale (Eschrichtius robustus) – Barbie Halaska, John Calambokidis, Padraig Duignan, Stephen Raverty, Paul Cottrell, Jessica L. Huggins, Kia Hayes, and Daniel Crocker.

A New Methodology to Track Changes in Gray Whale Body Condition on Individual, Annual, and Seasonal Scales – Kira A. Telford, Erin Meyer-Gutbrod, and John Calambokidis.

A Whale’s Guide to Stress Management: Application of Corticosteroid Hormones as Biomarkers for Stress Response – Valentina Melica, Shannon Atkinson DeMaster, Diane Gendron, Aimee Lang, Jonathan Scordino, and John Calambokidis.

Blue Whale Body Condition from Photographs Taken over a 14-Year Period in the NE Pacific: Annual Variation and Connection to Measures of Ocean Productivity – Rachel Wachtendonk, John Calambokidis, and Kiirsten Flynn.

Combining Survey and Tagging Data to Inform Humpback Whale Vulnerability to Vessel Strikes in a High-Traffic Shipping Area – Christie McMillan, John Calambokidis, James Fahlbusch, Elise Keppel, Lisa Spaven, and Thomas Doniol-Valcroze.

Do Boat Activities Affect the Behaviors of the Sounders in Inland Waters? A Study on Gray Whales (Eschrichtius robustus) in the Northern Puget Sound – Alexander Pavlinovic, Kiirsten Flynn, John Kirkpatrick, and John Calambokidis.

Dramatic Increase in Dolphin Strandings in Washington State (USA): Brucella and the Out-of-Towners – Jessica L. Huggins, Dyanna M. Lambourn, Deboral A. Duffield, Dalin N. D’Alessandro, Erin D’Agnese, Stephen A. Raverty, and Michael Garner.

Ecological Implications of Multi-Day Behavioral Synchrony and Physiological Variation in a Blue Whale Pair – James Fahlbusch, Max Czapanskiy, William Oestreich, John Calambokidis, William Gough, and Jeremy Goldbogen.

Examination of Changes in Reporting on and Use of the Salish Sea by Humpback Whales – Hanna Miller, John Calambokidis, Kiirsten Flynn, Ryan Kelly, and Terrie Klinger.

From Individual Responses to Population Effects: Integrating a Decade of Multidisciplinary Research on Blue Whales and Sonar – Cormac Booth, Enrico Pirotta, David Cade, John Calambokidis, Daniel Costa, James Fahlbusch, Ari Friedlaender, Jeremy Goldbogen, John Harwood, Elliott L. Hazen, Leslie New, Jarrod A. Santora, Stephanie Watwood, and Brandon Southall.

From Russia with Love: A New Mammalian Sighting Record Highlights Atypical Transpacific Breeding Behaviour in Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) – Nicola Ransome, Olga Titova, Olga Filatova, Marie Hill, Astrid Frisch, Ted Cheeseman, Jorge Urban, Amanda Bradford, Luis Medrano Gonzalez, John Calambokidis, Pamela Marinez Loustalot, and Joshua Smith.

Humpback Whale Photo-Identifications from Guerrero Indicate Southern Mexico is Similar to Central America as a Wintering Area of Whales that Feed Primarily on the US West Coast – Katherina Audley, Andrea J. Garcia Chavez, Paul Ramirez, Elana Dobson, Kiirsten Flynn, Ted Cheeseman, and John Calambokidis.

Interactive Threats Reduce Foraging and Prey Capture Effort by Endangered Killer Whales (Orcinus orca) – Marla Holt, Jennifer Tennessen, Bradley Hanson, Candice Emmons, Deborah Giles, Jeffrey Hogan, Eric Ward, Michael Ford, and Sheila J. Thornton.

Large Whale Transboundary Unusual Mortality Events: Best Practice and Investigation Through Coordination and Collaboration – Deborah Fauquier, Jorge Urban Ramirez, Lorena Viloria, Sergio Martinez, Steven Swartz, Stephen Raverty, Paul Cottrell, Sean MacConnachie, Tonya Wimmer, Laura Bourque, Pierre-Yves Daoust, Megan Jones, Stepanie Lair, Marion Jalenques, Matthew Hardy, Hilary Moors-Murphy, Angelina Vanderlaan, Stephanie Ratelle, Brett Gilchrist, Melissa Landry, Alexis Van Bemmel, Jessica Huggins, Jim Rice, Barbie Halaska, Moe Flannery, Michael Garner, Padraig Duignan, Kathy Burek Huntington, Frances Gulland, Tracey Goldstein, John Calambokidis, Sue Moore, Michael Moore, William McLellan, Alex Costidis, Sarah Sharp, Kimberly Durham, Allison DePerte, Megan Stolen, David Rotstein, Craig Harms, Jason Baker, Kerri Danil, Kate Savage, David Weller, Joshua Stewart, Kristin Wilkinson, Justin Viezbicke, Justin Greenman, Mandy Keogh, Allison Henry, Sean Hayes, Diane Boggard, Barb Zoodsma, Mendy Garron, Ainsley Smith, Erin Fougeres, Blair Mase-Guthrie, Denise Greig, Eric Patterson, Caroline Good, Trevor Spradlin, Sarah Wilkin, and Teresa Rowles.

Longitudinal Study of Entanglement Scars on Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) off the Central California Coast – Allison Payne, Ellen Hines, John Calambokidis, Jennifer Tackaberry, Tim M. Markowitz, and Wim Kimmerer.

Long Term Trends in Gray Whale Stranding in Washington State: Insights from Consistent Responses from 1977-2022 Including Connections with Unusual Mortality Events – John Calambokidis, Jessie Huggins, Dyanna Lambourn, Stephanie Norman, Steven Jeffries, Kristin Wilkinson, Amanda Warlick, Deborah Duffield, and Stephen Raverty.

Mixed-Stock Analysis of Humpback Whales in the North Pacific Using DNA Profiles – Kelly Lizewski, Debbie Steel, Karen Lohman, Renee Albertson, Ursula Gonzalez, Jorge Urban Ramirez, John Calambokidis, and C. Scott Baker.

Overlap of Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) Habitat and Vessel Traffic in San Francisco Bay with Insights from Tagging – Bekah Lane, James Fahlbusch, John Calambokidis, Allison Payne, Thomas Moore, Bill Keener, Isidore Szczepaniak, Tim M. Markowitz, Marc Webber, and Ellen Hines.

Population Characteristics of Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) Observed off the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua, Central America – Joelle De Weerdt, John Calambokidis, Bram Vanschoenwinkel, Marc Kochzius, and Phil Clapham.

Quantifying Microplastic Ingestion by Rorqual Whales with High-Resolution Field Measurements – Shirel Kahane-Rapport, Max Czapanskiy, James Fahlbusch, Ari Friedlaender, Jeremy Goldbogen, and Matthew Savoca.

Resight and Survival of Entangled Humpback Whales Within the California, Oregon, and Washington Region Using Photo-Identification and Long-Term Life History Data – Jenn Tackaberry, Elana Dobson, Kiirsten Flynn, Ted Cheeseman, and John Calambokidis.

Ship Strikes on Large Whales in the Salish Sea, Washington State: Insights from Recent Strandings and Two Well-Documented Fatal Strikes by Washington Ferries – Kiirsten Flynn, Jessie Huggins, Elana Dobson, Kristin Wilkinson, Tasli Shaw, Bart Rulon, Alisa Lemire Brooks, and John Calambokidis.

Small-Boat Surveys Combining Transects, Photo-ID, Sampling, and Entanglement Response to Gain Information About and Reduce the Risk of Entanglements of Large Whales Along the California Coast – Jack Barkowski, Doug Sandilands, Kathi George, Jenn Tackaberry, Kiirsten Flynn, James Fahlbusch, Ryan Berger, Julia O’Hern, and John Calambokidis.

Sound and Movement Tags Reveal Ambient Noise Effects on Foraging Outcomes in Fish-Eating Killer Whales – Jennifer B. Tennessen, Marla Holt, Brianna Wright, Bradley Hanson, Candice Emmons, Deborah Giles, Jeffrey Hogan, Sheila J. Thornton, and Volker B. Deecke.

Squid Games: Risso’s Dolphin Occurrence in the Southern California Bight and Interaction with the Squid Fishery Around Catalina Island – Alexandra Vanderzee, Brandon Southall, and John Calambokidis.
Stable Isotope Profiles (δ13C, δ15N, δ18O, and δ34S) Reconstructed from Gray Whale Baleen Provide Insight into Foraging Behavior – McKayla Miller, Emily Sperou, Farzaneh Mansouri, Jessie Huggins, John Calambokidis, Mandy Keogh, Kate Savage, Kerri J. Smith, Stephen Trumble, and Sascha Usenko.

Unusual Open Water Grouping Behavior in Salish Sea Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina richardii) – Trevor Derie, Katrina MacIver, Dave Anderson, Laurie Shuster, and Cindy R. Elliser.

Vocal Behavior of Foraging Gray Whales Tagged with Bio-Logging Devices Determined Using an Accelerometer-Based Caller Identification Method – Hannah Clayton, John Calambokidis, David Cade, and Rianna Burnham.

U.S. East Coast

Assessment of Low Impact Minimally Percutaneous External Electronics Transmitting Tags Deployed on Short-Finned Pilot Whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) – Joe Day, Danielle Waples, Zachary Swaim, Heather Foley, Daniel Webster, Robin Baird, and Andy Read.

Behavioral Responses of Cuvier’s Beaked Whales to Operational and Simulated Mid-Frequency Active Sonar off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, USA – Brandon Southall, Andy Read, Doug Nowacek, William Cioffi, Stacey DeRuiter, Catriona Harris, Heather Foley, Megan McKenna, Nicola Quick, Robert Schick, Jeanne Shearer, Kristin Southall, Zachary Swaim, Len Thomas, Danielle Waples, Daniel Webster, and Jillian Wisse.

Combining Satellite Telemetry and Fisheries-Dependent Logbook Data to Characterize Depredation Behavior by Short-Finned Pilot Whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) in the U.S. Atlantic Pelagic Longline Fishery – Joseph Fader, Andy Read, Robin Baird, Daniel Webster, Heather Foley, and Zachary Swaim.