Ed Lyman

Unraveling Large Whale Entanglements

About the Speaker

Ed Lyman is the Natural Resource Specialist, and Regional Large Whale Entanglement Response Coordinator for the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. He works closely with NOAA Fisheries under their Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program to better understand large whales and the threats that impact them, especially entanglements. For over 20 years Ed has coordinated a community-based large whale entanglement response network in Hawaiʻi and advised and assisted other regions. Ed has seasonally assisted NOAA Fisheries and the greater Alaska community over the same time. He has participated in nearly 140 disentanglements and helped free more than 75 whales from life threatening entanglements. His primary goal, however, is working with fishermen, scientists, managers, and others to gain valuable information – the science associated with response, to mitigate the broad-based impacts that threats like entanglement pose. Ed combines his interests in innovative technologies and his love of imagery to help him and others in response and research efforts. Ed is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire and has studied whales since 1994 when he worked for the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, a non-profit whale research and rescue organization on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.  He also worked for the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, where he worked with fishermen to reduce entanglement impact.  

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