Written by Martin van Aswegen We are pleased to share a new publication in Marine Ecology Progress Series , entitled: Age-specific body length, mass, and energetic cost of growth in humpback whales. Authors: Martin van Aswegen , Andy Szabo , Jens Currie , Stephanie Stack , Jan Straley , Janet Neilson , Christine Gabriele , Kelly Cates , C. Scott Baker , Debbie Steel , Adam Pack , Kristi West , Nicholas Hofmann , Rob Toonen , Coral Loockerman , Florence Sullivan , Ted Cheesema

Written by MMRP PhD student Lewis Evans We are excited to share our newly published manuscript   in Marine Mammal Science . Titled:  Elevating photo-identification: Aerial-identification improves re-sight rates and supports long-term monitoring of humpback whales Authors: Lewis I. Evans , Martin van Aswegen , Sonja Feinberg, Jens J. Currie , Stephanie H. Stack , Andrew Szabo , Lars Bejder Why did we conduct this study? Not all whales are the same. They differ in size, body co

Written by MMRP PostDoc Alec Burslem For a while it looked like I was going to be a chef.  It was 2009, and after a couple of...

Written by Martin van Aswegen We are pleased to share a new publication in The Journal of Physiology , entitled: Maternal investment, body condition and calf growth in humpback whales. This publication is accompanied by another study estimating the energetic cost of gestation in humpback whales. Authors: Martin van Aswegen , Andy Szabo , Jens Currie , Stephanie Stack , Lewis Evans , Jan Straley , Janet Neilson , Christine Gabriele , Kelly Cates , Debbie Steel , and Lars Bejd

Written by Martin van Aswegen We are pleased to share a new publication in The Journal of Physiology , entitled: Energetic cost of gestation and prenatal growth in humpback whales . Authors: Martin van Aswegen , Andy Szabo , Jens Currie , Stephanie Stack , Kristi West , Nicholas Hofmann , Fredrik Christiansen , and Lars Bejder . Figure 1. Graphical abstract summarizing key methods and findings from the study. Abstract: Improving our understanding of energy allocation in repro

Written by MMRP PhD student Fiona-Elaine Strasser ~ During my first trip to Antarctica working as a polar expedition guide, I expected a routine zodiac cruise in Paradise Bay in the Drake’s Passage. But moments after we started the cruise, soft blows echoed all around us, and suddenly, gliding calmly through the glassy waters, a group of humpback whales surfaced and passed directly by us. As I turned off the engine of my zodiac, I realized:  We were merely tiny spectators sur

Written by MMRP MSc student Lewis Evans Lewis Evans | mysite ( mmrphawaii.org ) Thank you, Attenborough! I have always been interested in the natural world and the outdoors (I know it’s cliché but it’s also true). Although, being from a small town in inland England I wasn’t familiar with ocean/coastal environments until David Attenborough showed us via The Blue Planet. From here my interest in the marine environment only grew. My way to stay connected to the ocean was through

Written by Claire Lacey . If you’ve never come across it, the idea of “Plastic Free July” originated in Western Australia in 2011 as an initiative of the Plastic Free Foundation. It was created as a challenge encouraging individuals to reduce the use of plastics during the month of July. This year participants can sign up and pledge to either avoid single-use plastic packaging, try and reduce their use of takeaway items (plastic bottles, take-away cups and so on), or go compl

Written by Martin van Aswegen At the beginning of each year, I head to the Maui Nui region to study the whales frequenting the shallow, calm waters of the Au’au Channel (Figure 1). Each winter, Hawaii hosts approximately 10,000 humpback whales migrating from cool, productive feeding grounds throughout the North Pacific. These migrations extend between 5,000-10,000 miles round-trip, representing some of the longest migrations in the animal kingdom. As capital breeders, humpba

Written by Liah McPherson My master's thesis research with MMRP is focused on the abundance and demographics of spinner dolphins offshore west Oʻahu . It's an important project, and one that I'm excited to share more about in the coming months – but here at MMRP, I'm fortunate to be able to contribute to multiple projects within our lab and with other collaborators. This February, I had the extraordinary opportunity to travel to Antarctica with California Ocean Alliance to

By Liah McPherson I remember the exact moment my advisor, Lars Bejder , asked me if I wanted to go to Antarctica. It was June 1st, 2021, and I was grabbing food to take outside at our (covid safe) lab get-together. I’m pretty sure I spent the rest of the gathering staring dreamily into space, contemplating the potential future of collecting data on whales at end of the Earth. Fast forward eight months, and I’ve just arrived to the West Antarctic Peninsula for the second of t

Written by Martin van Aswegen Following disrupted fieldwork in 2020, this year was a great opportunity for MMRP PhD student Martin van Aswegen and Director Dr. Lars Bejder to make up for lost time and data. Representing our third consecutive year of data collection on humpback whale ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) body condition across Hawaii and Alaska, 2021 was shaping up to be an important year for the project. The humpback whale energetics project aims to quantify the ene

Written by Martin van Aswegen Following successful winter sampling in 2019, Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP) Director Dr. Lars...

Written by: Lars Bejder Every winter, ~10,000 humpback whales migrate to Hawaii, with the main purpose of breeding. The time period...

Written by Martin van Aswegen Winter 2019 was a busy, but exciting time for the Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP) humpback whale...

Written by Fabien Vivier This winter, I joined Andy Szabo from the Alaska Whale Foundation in Sitka, Alaska, for two one-week field trips...

Written by Martin van Aswegen I recently participated in a collaborative project involving the Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP) from...