Janet Neilson
Humpback Whales in Hot Water
About the Speaker
In 2014-2018, after many decades of population growth, a long-term National Park Service study of humpback whales in Glacier Bay and adjacent Icy Strait documented abrupt declines in humpback whale abundance, reproduction, calf survival, site fidelity, and body condition. These changes coincided with the onset of the 2014-2016 marine heatwave in the North Pacific. The longevity and consistency of this study offer a unique opportunity to examine this migratory population’s response to the heatwave and the lingering effects of this event on humpback whales in southeastern Alaska. Janet Neilson has worked for Glacier Bay National Park in Southeast Alaska for the past 21 years. She is lucky enough to spend most of her summer work days out in a small boat, searching for and photographing humpback whales in Glacier Bay and Icy Strait (about 100 miles north of Sitka). Winter finds her in the office, sorting out which individual whales were seen based on their natural markings, managing these records in a database, writing reports and papers, and doing outreach to share results. In 2006, Janet earned her master's degree at the University of Alaska Fairbanks studying humpback whale entanglement in fishing gear in Southeast Alaska. Before making Alaska her home, Janet spent several years migrating around the Pacific studying whales and dolphins on various field research projects in Washington, California, Hawaii, New Zealand, and Antarctica. She lives in Gustavus (population ~500) with her husband and two kids. Click to learn more about Janet and her work