Catch and Release: Large Whale Entanglement Response and the Science that Goes with it

August 7, 2024

Ed Lyman, Large Whale Entanglement Response Coordinator, NOAA’s Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary

Join Ed Lyman, the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary’s Large Whale Entanglement Response Coordinator, to learn about the risks posed by entanglement threat to one of our large whale species – the humpback whale, and the authorized network response to free them and other whales from life-threatening entanglements. Ed has been responding to entangled large whales for 30 years and has been involved in over a hundred entanglement response efforts. The talk will focus on sanctuary and nearby waters that are the humpback whales’ principal breeding/calving grounds in the North Pacific. Discover how trained and experienced responders free 40-ton entangled whales using cutting-edge tools, techniques and technologies through some exciting imagery. While freeing a whale is beneficial and rewarding, it is the science associated with the effort, such as the use of telemetry, drones, AI image recognition, and photogrammetry, that facilitates the response and helps us better understand the threat as to reduce it in the future for whales and humans alike.