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Location: Hawaii

World Whale Film Festival Spotlight: In the Wake of Giants

This documentary shares the true stories of the dedicated individuals who risk their lives to free entangled humpbacks and other large whales in Hawaiian waters. Ed Lyman, coordinator of the response efforts in Hawaii and featured in the film, will speak about his experiences in responding to at least 80 marine mammal entanglements under NOAA’s … Continued

World Whale Film Festival Spotlight

Trashy Selfie Project This year’s World Whale Film Festival (Feb 08) will showcase films that inspire ocean and wildlife conservation around the world. A short film by Big wave surfer Paige Alms and world champion windsurfer Sarah Hauser on their conservation campaign titled ‘Trashy Selfie’ will be presented by the filmmakers. Using their platforms as … Continued

World Whale Film Festival Spotlight

Madison Stewart, aka ‘Shark Girl’ returns to the World Whale Film Festival, February 08, 2019, with an update on her goal to convince shark fishermen in Indonesia that tourism is a viable and profitable alternative to the shark fin industry.In a world where shark stock is collapsing, changing the practices of generations of shark fishermen … Continued

World Whale Film Festival Spotlight: A Voice For Whales

One year ago, almost to the day of our 3rd Annual World Whale Film Festival, Pacific Whale Foundation’s founder Greg Kaufman passed away after a hard fought battle with cancer. A pioneer in noninvasive humpback whale research in the mid-1970s, Greg founded Pacific Whale Foundation in 1980 to educate the public, from a scientific perspective, … Continued

World Whale Film Festival Spotlight: The Hoaʻāina Of Hāʻena

The 3rd annual World Whale Film Festival will be held at Historic Iao Theater February 08 from 6-9pm. One of the eight films meant to inspire health through waves of change is The Hoaʻāina Of Hāʻena, presented by Kipahulu Ohana, who are focused on shoreline and nearshore stewardship resource management. The Hoaʻāina Of Hāʻena tells … Continued

New research paper on Maui’s mother-calf humpback whales

Among humpback whales, mothers with calves are a particularly special group, especially in terms of conservation. Whale calves represent the next generation of an increasing population of humpback whales that will need our continued monitoring and stewardship. To study where they spend their time while here in Maui, our research department analyzed data collected by … Continued

Top 10 Reasons to Run and Walk for Whales

Kicking off this year’s Maui Whale Festival, a month long celebration of the marine mammal that inspired the creation of our organization, is our annual Run & Walk for the Whales event February 02, 2019. There are so many reasons to participate this year! Support a Cause All proceeds from the event support Pacific Whale … Continued

The Elusive False Killer Whale

In 2013, Jens Currie came to Pacific Whale Foundation as a data analyst from Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans. With an ambition to explore more robust statistical methods of potential anthropogenic impacts on cetacean populations, Jens is now Senior Research Analyst. Here, he lends a helping hand for those of us that are new … Continued

PWF Marine Debris Action Plan Partnership

In concert with our core research, education and conservation work focused on marine mammals, Pacific Whale Foundation began to research marine debris in 2013 when we noticed how much floating trash we were encountering during whale and dolphin surveys. By conducting formal research studies we strive to understand the types and amounts of debris that … Continued

Pilot whale encounters 30 miles offshore

Our Research Team has begun surveying the deeper waters southwest of Maui as part of our new false killer whale study. The first day of research took us ~30 nautical miles off the coast of Maui in waters >2,500 feet. Although we didn’t see any false killer whales, we did have two encounters with short-finned … Continued