Past Festivals

Q&A with Speakers

Curious Creature Questions Answered!

Gene Tagaban – Banquet Keynote Speaker

Spirit in All Things

Michael Castellini

Marine Monsters at Home: The Beauty of Life in the Sea

Casey Clark

I am the Walrus!

Hans Thewissen

Whales, Superheros, and Midoceanic Ridges

Ben Burford

Social Behavior De-mystifies Squid

Ralph Lampman

Pacific Lamprey - Keeping 450 Million Years of Tradition Alive

Nicholas Pyenson

Beasts of the Northern Wild: Tracing the Evolution and Extinction of High Latitude Marine Megafauna

Leslee Matsushige

The Fascinating, Fantastic, Fabulous Family of Fishes: Seahorses, Seadragons and Pipefish

Leah Zacher

How to Make a Zombie Crab

Discussion Panel

Back off Man, I'm a Scientist!

Kate Stafford

Listening to the Arctic, with Billy Adams

Macy Rae Kenworthy

Standing on the Edge of Climate Change

Seth Danielson

Ice Floes to Seals, Waves to Whales

Christine Gabriele

Back off Man, I'm a Scientist! (Discussion Panel on how science and policy intersect)

Michael Castellini

Betsy Baker

How Marine Science Changed My Life: One Lawyer’s Story

Jacquelyn Gill

Mice and Mammoths: A Paleoecologist’s Thoughts on Extinction, Survival, and Resilience

Jan Straley

TBD

Christina Lockyer

Choosing My Own Path to Discovery

Thomas Royer

Southeast Alaska: Ancient Gateway to the Americas

Colleen Duncan

One World, One Health

Ray Troll

Keynote

Billy Adams

Two Perspectives of the Bowhead - Science and Inupiat

Michael Castellini

WhaleFest 2036

Alex Werth

Meal Time: Lessons from Whales about the Evolutionary Past and Technological Future

Craig George

Two Perspectives of the Bowhead - Science and Inupiat

Jan Straley

WhaleFest 2036

Travis Horton

Humpback whale migrations through space and time

John Ford

40 Years of Killer Whales and our impact

Ellen Chenoweth

Getting Along in a World with More Whales

Trish Lavery

A Whale Poop Tale

Jim Darling

Songs Across the Pacific

Chris Whitehead

What do algae, poison, and CSI have in common?

Jim Harvey

Live long and prosper: Challenges of Estuary Livin

Nicole Misarti

Unraveling the past with mud, garbage & chemistry

Diva Amon

Dinner in the Deep

Helen Rozwadowski

Navigating the Unknown

Steven Haddock

Living Lights of the Sea

Mette Kaufman

Unexpected Life under the ice

Chris Larsen

Tidewater Glaciers: The Ocean’s Mixer

Michael Castellini

Marine Mammals on the Edge

Jan Straley & Laruen Wild

Thinking Like a Sperm Whale

Michael Moore

Big Needles for Big Whales: Using Innovative Methods to Work with Large Whales in their World

Russ Andrews

Spying on the Underwater Lives of Whales

Dr. Michael Castellin

Early Pinniped Research & Ancient Gizmos

Aleria Jensen

Lose the Loop: Tackling Pinniped Packing Band Entanglement in Alaska

Jo-Ann Mellish

Til Death Do Us Part: Discovering Sea Lion Secrets

Ross Coen

Japan’s Balloon Bombs: How a Gadget Led Americans to Study Pacific Winds

Ro Bailey

The View From Above: Research Using Unmanned Aircraft

Reid Brewer

The Technology That Rocks Our World

Don Sineti & Craig George

The Cultural Exchange of Whaling Traditions

Pierre Richard

Peering Through the Lives of Narwhals

Bill Streever

Users of the Arctic Riding the Changing Tide

Craig George

The Stay at Home Whales: Bowheads to Belugas

Lori Quakenbush

Are Ice Seals Arctic Survivors

George Durner

Will the Diminishing Arctic Ice be a Dead End for Polar Bears?

Yulia Ivashchenko

Historical Whaling and the Future of Large Whales in the Arctic

Bodil Bluhm

What! No Summer Arctic Ice?

Dr. Michael Castellini

What is Ahead For the Changing Arctic?

Terrie Williams

John Moran

Following the arc of humans’ relationship with marine mammals in Southeast Alaska

Andrew Trites

Jeremy Mathis

Rolf Gradinger

Sherry Tamone

Ron Heintz

Richard Nelson

Dr. Michael Castellini

Christine Gabriele

Missing the Boat: Understanding and Preventing Whale Vessel Collisions in Alaska

Reid Brewer

Climate Change and the Impacts of Warming Temperatures on Giant Octopus Populations

Aaron Thode

Thunder on the Horizon, and Echoes, Echoes Everywhere: Using Acoustic Reflections to Track Whales and Study Changing Arctic Soundscapes

Bree Witteveen

Tools Used to Explore Cetacean Foraging Ecology in a Dynamic Environment

Julie Hagelin

Follow Your Nose: Do Whales Use Smell to Find Their Food?

Francis Wiese

The Many Faces of the Sea: How Scientists Tackle Understanding Ocean Systems

John Straley

Sitka’s Connection to Cannery Row and the Birth of Ecological Thinking

Terrence Cole

Eliminating Southeast Alaska: A Small Price to Pay for World Peace

Dr. Michael Castellini

One World, One Ocean, Many Users

Roger Gentry

The Mysteries of Whales and Underwater Noise

Russ Andrews

Diving into the Abyss with Deep-Diving Whales: What Are They Doing Down There?

Jonathan Stern

The Most Mysterious Leviathan: The Magnificent Minke

Carrie Goerz

Our Own Backyard: The Alaska Perspective on Rehabilitating Marine Wildlife

Frances Gulland

Beyond Alaska: The National Perspective on Rehabilitating Marine Wildlife

Victoria Vosburg

Scientist Panel Discussion on Rehabilitation

Jan Straley

Overwintering Humpback Whales in Alaska

Mike Castellini

What Does It Take To Be A Whale?

Leslie Slater

Storm Petrels and Murres of St. Lazaria

Harald Yurk

Culture in Killer Whales

Molly Ahlgren

The Incredible Biology of the Red Sea Cucumber (Parastichopus californicus): An Ongoing Saga

Russ Andrews

The Foraging Ecology of Steller Sea Lions

Bob Small

Harbor Seal Photo Identification

Jim Darling

The Pacific Northwest Gray Whales

Jim Bodkin

Sea Otter Natural History and Human Relations

Flip Nicklin

Whales North of Here

Adam Frankel

Humpback Whales in Alaska and Hawaii: Singing the Same Song

Amy Steffian

Alutiiq Whaling Traditions of the Kodiak Archipelago