Hannah Myers, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She focuses on reducing incidental human-caused mortality of marine mammals and on basic ecological research to inform conservation and management. In Alaska, her work includes a collaborative project with the Amendment 80 trawl fleet in the Bering Sea to understand killer whale behavior around trawl vessels and modify nets to reduce killer whale bycatch risk; as well as co-leading a long-term killer whale monitoring program in Prince William Sound and Kenai Fjords, where she focuses on bioacoustics. She teaches marine policy at UAF.

Talk Description:

– Explore the evolving interactions between marine mammals and fisheries, and how the science behind these relationships might shape management practices in the future.

Talk: “Marine Mammals and Fisheries: Interactions in a Changing Ocean”

Time: Nov 06, 3:00 pm - 3:45 pm

Fred has been studying the foraging ecology of humpback whales in SE Alaska since 1987. He received his Ph.D. from Simon Fraser University, focusing his research on acoustics, social behavior, and bubble tools. Fred’s interest in conservation biology has led him to follow whales to their Hawaiian wintering grounds to document their historical ecology and legacy impacts of commercial whaling. He has been awarded the Fairfield Award for Innovative Marine Mammal Research and the Society for Marine Mammalogy’s Award for Excellence in Scientific Communication. A naturalist in the classical tradition, he enjoys botanizing and preserving high latitude Mediterranean plant communities. During his undergraduate years at the University of Washington, he co-authored and illustrated Wild Plants of the San Juan Islands, followed by Birding in the San Juan Islands.  Fred volunteers with NOAA as a large whale disentangler.

Talk Description:

– How the unique geography and oceanography of Southeast Alaska’s fjords shape where whales occur, how they have used these dynamic habitats over time, and how these patterns may shift in the future.

Talk: “Whales in the Fjords”

Time: Nov 06, 2:00 pm - 2:45 pm

Dr. Ted Cheeseman is a research fellow at the University of California Santa Cruz and co-founder and director of Happywhale, a research collaboration and citizen science platform that uses AI-powered image recognition to track individual whales globally. He completed his PhD in Marine Science at Southern Cross University, Australia, where his widely collaborative work on North Pacific humpback whale populations leveraged AI technology to identify nearly every living whale in the region—revealing that one-third of Hawaiʻi’s humpback population was lost following a three-year marine heatwave.

Born into a family of biologists and expedition leaders, Ted led Antarctic expeditions for 30 years before pivoting to marine science. His research has been published in over 40 peer-reviewed papers, and he has contributed to international research collaborations spanning all the world’s oceans. Through Happywhale, he aims to democratize whale research by bringing together scientists and citizen scientists to document entire ocean populations—achieving in a day what previously required a year of data processing. When not studying whales, Ted is happiest anywhere wild, especially in surf, snow, and high mountains.

Talk Description:

– The 2014-2016 marine heatwave killed one in three Hawaiian humpbacks. Why didn’t these long-distance migrants simply feed elsewhere? Ted shares what Happywhale’s ocean-wide citizen science reveals.

Talk: “Humpback Whales are Remarkably Stubborn Home-Bodies”

Time: Nov 07, 2:00 pm - 2:45 pm

Flip Nicklin is a world-renowned underwater photographer. He has spent his 47-year career specializing in the photography of marine mammals, especially whales and dolphins. Through 21 National Geographic articles from 1981 to the present, he has worked closely with top whale researchers from around the world. From this work Flip brings a unique, global perspective on the study of whales to Whale Trust. Flip has assisted on studies of humpback whales in Hawaii since the 1970s, and lives in Maui for a portion of each year. His work is featured in Among Giants, A Life with Whales and in 2012, Flip was bestowed one of the highest honors by The North American Nature Photography Association by being named Outstanding Photographer of the Year.

Talk Description:

– My story of photographing whales and whale researchers for National Geographic Magazine. An improbable 50 year life with whales.

Talk: "Among Giants: A (photographer’s) life with whales"

Time: Nov 06, 1:00 pm - 1:45 pm

Dr. Michael Castellini earned his PhD in Marine Biology from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1981 and joined the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) faculty in 1989. During more than three decades at UAF, he held numerous research and leadership positions, including founding Science Director of the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, Director of the Institute of Marine Science, Associate Dean and Dean of the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, and Dean of the UAF Graduate School. He is now a Professor of Marine Biology and Dean Emeritus with the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences.

Dr. Castellini’s research has focused on how marine mammals have adapted to life in the sea. Since his graduate work in San Diego, he has studied marine mammals around the world, examining the biochemical, physiological, and behavioral adaptations that allow them to undertake deep and long-duration dives, endure extended periods of fasting, exercise in extreme environments, move efficiently through water, and even sleep at sea. His work in Alaska has also explored marine mammal population health, contaminant chemistry, reproductive biology, digestive physiology, and responses to environmental and climate change.

Over the course of his career, Dr. Castellini has conducted research from Alaska to Antarctica and mentored generations of undergraduate and graduate students. He has authored numerous scientific publications and book chapters and has served on local, state, and national panels addressing marine mammals, ecosystem management, and science policy. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a National Associate of the National Academies of Sciences.

Mike has also been a longtime member of the Sitka WhaleFest science team, helping develop the annual symposium program since 1999. Through this work, he has helped identify and invite scientists for the weekend symposium and Scientist in the Schools program, strengthening connections among marine scientists, students, educators, and communities throughout Alaska.

Talk Description:

– Looking at the questions shaping WhaleFest today, this talk will trace how decades of discovery and conversation brought us here, and shaping where we’re headed.

Talk: “Back to the Future: Whalefest and Beyond”

Time: Nov 08, 3:00 pm - 3:45 pm

John Straley graduated from the Browning School for Boys in New York City in 1971.  His father had grown up in Iowa and Wyoming and didn’t care to have his youngest son become a city boy.  In the summers John worked in the wilderness of north central Washington State as a wrangler and horseshoer.  He’s earned degrees in Literature from the University of Washington and worked as a mill worker, a trail crew foreman and finally as a Private Investigator in Alaska. In 1992 he published his first book The Woman Who Married a Bear which became the first in the Cecil Younger series.  He had written four books in the Cold Storage, Alaska series. He has published five books of poetry. He won the best first mystery Shamus award and the Spotted Owl award for the best northwest mystery.  In 2008 he was appointed as the writer Laureate of Alaska, and later was awarded an honorary PhD from the University of Alaska in Fairbanks.  In 2017 he retired from the Alaska Public Defender Agency. 

He is married to Janice Straley who is a prominent Marine Biologist.  They are the proud parents of Finn Straley.  He and Janice lived in Sitka, Alaska from 1977 until October of 2022 when they moved to Carmel, California to be closer to Finn and his family. Though, they all remain Alaskans at heart.

Talk: TBD

Time: Nov 07, 1:00 pm - 1:45 pm

Finn Straley was born in Sitka Alaska in 1988. As a youth he spent many hours looking for whales with his mom in her yellow skiff.  He also spent a great deal of time sitting on a couch in his dad’s Private Investigation office, reading books about Russian prisoner tattoos. He graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in History from Whitman College in 2011, and promptly moved to Los Angeles to perform stand-up comedy. In 2020 he was named one of Time Out LA’s Comedians to Watch. Several weeks later a global pandemic shut down all live performance for the foreseeable future. During that time, Finn moved back to Sitka.

He now lives in Monterey, California, ten minutes away from his parent’s place in Carmel Valley. He is the branch manager (and only on-site employee) of the Aromas Library, a part of the Monterey County Free Libraries. He is married to a beautiful woman with immaculate handwriting, and has two wonderful sons.

Talk: TBD

Time: Nov 07, 1:00 pm - 1:45 pm

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.  

Talk: TBD

Time: Nov 08, 2:00 pm - 2:45 pm

Related Publications: Publication Publication Publication Publication Publication Publication

Vera was born and raised in Savoonga (Sivungaq) on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. Since 2002, Vera has been the Director of the Eskimo Walrus Commission (EWC) at Kawerak, Inc. in Nome, Alaska, which represents 19 coastal Alaska Native communities to promote community involvement in research, document Indigenous knowledge, and co-manage the Pacific walrus population. Vera is a Special Advisor on Native Affairs on the Marine Mammal Commission, a Steering Committee member for the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy, a committee member on the Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program/University of Alaska, and an Advisory Council member for the University of Alaska Fairbanks College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. She has served as an Advisory Panel member of the North Pacific Research Board, as a member of the Inuit
Circumpolar Council Executive Committee and Alaska board, and as a member of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission. Vera is also the Bering Strait Commissioner for the U.S. Department of State, facilitating travel between the Indigenous people of Chukotka, Russia, and the Bering Strait region of Alaska. Vera is a strong advocate for the subsistence lifestyles of Arctic Indigenous people and is passionate about strengthening Indigenous languages and cultures.

Talk: TBD

Time: Nov 08, 1:00 pm - 1:45 pm

Orlin was born and raised in Nome, Alaska. With strong family ties in Savoonga, Alaska. He is Indigenous, a traditional foods hunter, and has been part of the UAF BLaST program and the BRAIDED project, gaining training in One Health laboratory techniques, data management, and scientific communication. Orlin is the lead author on a paper in review and has presented at local and national conferences. After graduating with his BSc. in Fall 2025, his goals are to continue his graduate education at UAA in the Department of Biological Sciences by starting an MS degree in the Fall of 2026 under the mentorship of Dr. Bishop. There, he aims to apply his scientific training and skill set towards addressing the concerns and needs of his community members in Nome and Savoonga, focusing on mercury accumulation in subsistence foods.  

Talk: TBD

Time: Nov 08, 1:00 pm - 1:45 pm

Hannah Clayton is a 5th year Ph.D. Candidate in the Goldbogen Lab of Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University and National Science Foundation graduate fellow. Her research interests lie generally at the intersection of physiology, energetics, and behavioral ecology of great whale systems. Her thesis, in collaboration with Cascadia Research Collective and SR3, leverages behavioral insights from a small and unique sub-group of Eastern North Pacific gray whales (the Sounders) to better understand the energetic, social, and environmental dynamics impacting the resilience of baleen whales at multiple scales.  While animal behavior has been a large interest since her youth, Hannah’s path to her current work was not linear, she spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as a medic before making a career pivot. In her downtime she enjoys creating her own scientific illustrations, spending quality time with friends, and staying active.

Talk Description:

– Modern-day tools like drones, tags, and models are opening new windows into the lives of baleen whales, especially in changing climates. In this talk, Hannah introduces us to the Washington gray whale “Sounders” of northern Puget Sound, and what they can teach us about the resilience of the species.

Talk: “Reading Resilience: how new technologies are changing our understandings of whales"

Time: Nov 07, 3:00 pm - 3:45 pm