Marine Biology Programs 

The evening programs of the Marine Biology Section are held from January through April and September through December on the second Thursday of each month at 7:30 p.m. in the Unity Church at 5840 Oak Street (Oak at 42nd Ave), Vancouver. These programs are open to the public and members are encouraged to invite their friends. For more information and suggestions for future programs please contact the Program Co-ordinator Joan Lopez at 604-682-1617.

Thursday, February 9
The Humpback Comeback Project
Christie McMillan

Humpback whales and other cetaceans have made a remarkable recovery since the abolishment of commercial whaling in North Pacific waters. For many baleen whales, the new threat to their individual survival is entanglement in fishing gear. Disentanglement teams have been trained to assist whales, but there may be entanglements that we do not know about. Christie and her colleagues from the Marine Education and Research Society are working to better understand the problem of humpback whale entanglement in BC Waters. Using photographs of scarring on whale's bodies as evidence of previous entanglement events, they are working to determine where and how often whales are becoming entangled, with the intention of raising awareness and potentially coming up with strategies that would decrease the magnitude of this threat for these magnificent creatures.