CREDENTIALS

The Ocean Alliance

• Global leader in whale research and conservation.
• First to use natural marking to identify right whale.
• Pioneer of many of today's research methodologies used worldwide to study live cetaceans.
• Involvement on a number of levels in award winning films, TV, an IMAX film and other educational efforts.
• Influential at international conferences and meetings.
• Co-discovered in 1967 that humpback whales sing songs
• Discovered that blue and fin whales can be heard across oceans.

The Voyage of the Odyssey

The Voyage is a three year research initiative, involving worldwide sampling of different whale species, birds, and other marine creatures. This will:

• help define the state of health of marine habitats, and
• raise awareness about the threats of pollution.

• Cambridge University,
• Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
• Cornell University.

The Voyage will include a global satellite link to media and education sites. It will foster a 'cooperative, non confrontational' attitude towards industry to help develop tangible results.

Right Whale Program

• Focuses on the southern right whales (Eubalaena australis), visiting Peninsula Valdes, Argentina each year. This area is a nursery and mating ground for these whales.
• Since 1970 the Ocean Alliance has continuously studied these baleen whales basing their research on over 1300 known individuals.
• Studies encompass population dynamics, behavior, social structure, habitat requirements, migration, and conservation issues.
• Ocean Alliance started a network to collect stranded specimens which can be analyzed to determine the overall health of the species.
• Ocean Alliance research programs include behavioral and photo-identification studies, satellite tagging, whale tracking, and bioacoustics.
• Ocean Alliance staff provide educational outreach from the field to students and scientists.
• A technical publication on right whales is being completed by R. Payne and V. Rowntree.

• The research vessel Odyssey, a ninety-three foot sailboat, provides Ocean Alliance with an offshore, mobile research platform.
• From Odyssey the specimens for The Voyage will be collected.
• Past Ocean Alliance research sites include the Galapagos Islands, Costa Rica, Sea of Cortez, Hawaii, Alaska, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, and Western Australia.
• The Odyssey utilizes active and passive acoustic techniques to track whales. It also has a system of environmental probes that feed information to a fully integrated computer system, recording data twenty-four hours a day.
• The Odyssey is made available to scientists, students, and volunteers from other research establishments.

• Ocean Alliance teaching programs are geared towards students of all ages. Programs integrate scientific data and interactive programs.
• The Ocean Alliance catalogue will be offering CD-ROMS, laser disc programs, videos, books, and other merchandise.
• Ocean Alliance staff offer multimedia presentations at schools and research sites.
• Ocean Alliance is a participant in Whalenet, a National Science Foundation- funded computer network for educators and students.
• Ocean Alliance offers internships to students with Cape Ann Whale Watch (Gloucester, MA) as well as the Odyssey.
• The main office is in Lincoln, Massachusetts.