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 Lewis Evans Why are we here? Over the winter months, around 10,000-12,000 humpback whales complete a 3,000+ mile migration from feeding areas spanning from Alaska to Russia to the subtropical waters of Hawai’i. Hawai’i serves as the main breeding ground for the North Pacific population of humpback whales with most of the migrating population residing within Maui Nui waters. In addition to the high density of whales within the Au’au channel the, West Maui mountains

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