METHODS/PROGRAMS
What are the true conditions of the world's oceans? We need to know that before we can make scientifically credible proposals for what to do about it!
VOYAGE OF THE ODYSSEY
Background: In spite of the seriousness of the problem of ocean pollution, neither the overall concentrations of toxic chemicals in the seas nor their rates of increase have been measured in any comprehensive manner. This lack of baseline data makes it all but impossible to persuade governments to take the steps necessary to prevent the further increase of toxins in the seas.
From this concern comes Voyage of the Odyssey, the first global assessment on the baseline levels of ocean-borne, man-made toxins.
Launched from Monterey, California on August 12, 1999, the
Voyage of the Odyssey is an ambitious, collaborative three-year
global research program developed by the Whale Conservation
Institute, that includes colleagues from Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution, Cornell University, Cambridge University, and Dartmouth
College.
Major fundraising efforts at WCI have been made to raise
sufficient funds to get Voyage of the Odyssey under way. Of
the Voyage's three year budget of $2,745,750 we have so far
received commitments for $1,534,400. A prospectus on Voyage
of the Odyssey that gives a complete picture of the entire three-year
program, its collaborators, its areas of study, and its budget
is available from WCI at your request.
WCI/OA has the platform for carrying out this work in its research vessel, Odyssey, one of the best-equipped research vessels in the world. We have a well-trained boat crew, a support staff, and skilled volunteers committed to doing the work. And we have the scientific knowledge, the thirty-year experience, the media skills, and the wisdom of Dr. Roger Payne at the helm.
Objective: To influence governments to take steps to ban toxic substances from entering the seas.
Methods: The specific methods we will use to accomplish our objective of banning toxic substances from entering the seas are as follows:
- Conduct research in all the oceans of the world using whales and albatrosses as indicator species to measure the health of the seas;
- Provide these research results to other scientists and conservationists in appropriate publications and at international gatherings;
- Make this information available to the public by:
- creating documentaries from Odyssey for international release,
- developing the educational component of the Voyage, a web-based program called Voice From the Sea and to create a series of related yet separate network-based educational programs for children and adults, based on the Voyage of the Odyssey and our findings, and thoroughly integrated with other Internet programs that naturally relate to our work;
- engaging politicians, newsmakers, and the general public by holding major press conferences in all the major ports visited by Odyssey in her five-year circumnavigation.
EDUCATION PROGRAMS
Background: Educating the public about whales and their ocean environment is part
of the core mission of WCI. Over the years we have developed
numerous programs to accomplish it, and are now incorporating
new technologies, such as IMAX and the world wide web, to reach
a broader audience.
Objectives: To educate as much of the general public about whales and their habitat as we can reach, and to make learning about science interesting and fun for students K-12 by using whales.
Methods:
- WCI Website: Our new website focuses on the exciting,
ongoing activities of the Voyage of the Odyssey. It has
been designed to be an interactive, educational adventure,
and includes whale sounds and videos; video clips of talks
and updates from Dr. Payne and WCI spokesperson, Patrick
Stewart; photographs and footage of whales; and a wide variety
of general information. The website is updated constantly
with new and compelling messages from Dr. Payne and Odyssey
crew as Odyssey makes its way to all the oceans of the world
to collect samples that will tell us about the actual level
of pollution in the world's seas.
- WHALE Education Program Teaching Kit: With the generous
help of the Pacific Life Foundation, in early 1999 WCI published
the WHALE Education Kit. Recently honored with a Parent's
Choice Award, the kit is a multimedia, thematically based,
hands-on education program designed to develop in students
an appreciation for whales, science, and the ocean environment.
The kit is based on the acclaimed IMAX film Whales, co-written
and co-directed by Roger Payne and has been tested successfully
in a pilot program, sponsored by Pacific Life, in Orange
County, California in 110 classrooms. In 2000, through a
program also sponsored by Pacific Life, the kit will be
distributed to twenty schools in ten major cities in conjunction
with special showings of the IMAX film Whales at ten Museums
of Science. It is WCI's long-term objective to distribute
the kit as widely as possible in classrooms around the world.
- Video Curriculum: We have also developed an interactive video curriculum and slide presentations with narrative scripts that can be used for presentations to groups of any size or age. We have also conducted interviews on the internet between students and experts.
- New Documentary Feature Film: Dr. Payne has been developing and co-writing a new educational documentary/feature about interactions between humans and cetaceans.
- CETA Program: In 1993 the Cape Ann Whalewatch of Gloucester,
Massachusetts and WCI combined education efforts in a program
called CETA (for "Cetacean Education Through Awareness").
At that time we hired a CETA Program Coordinator who is
working on her Master's Thesis through the University of
Georgia. She plans and reports on CETA activities each year
and manages the annual CETA fundraiser. CETA trains interns
to serve as naturalists on Cape Ann Whalewatch trips and
to do basic whale research such as photo-identification
of whales and a logging of what individual whales were seen
during the trip.
Since 1993 the program's naturalists have educated more than 150,000 Cape Ann Whalewatch passengers, including students from 100 to 150 school classes each year, about whales, the ocean
environment, and conservation issues, and has trained over sixty college interns in basic marine biology and standard research methods. CETA contributes scientific findings to other local researchers, and sends our humpback whale identification photographs to the master humpback catalog at the College of the Atlantic. CETA also contributes to and participates in WhaleNet, an interactive marine mammal educational website sponsored by Wheelock College.
- Lectures/Speaker's Bureau: From Dr. Payne to some of
our trained volunteers, members of WCI's board and staff
are frequently asked to give lectures, talks, slide shows,
and other presentations to audiences everywhere. Talking
to interested audiences-whether in classrooms, museums,
meeting halls, or at scientific meetings held anywhere in
the world-is part of the ongoing work and part of the educational
mission of the Whale Conservation Institute.
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