Marine Mammal Institute

If all goes as planned, the skeleton — after help from scientists and specialists from around the world — will be fully reassembled in May outside the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, completing a journey from surf to scientific centerpiece.

[VIDEO] Barb Lagerquist was interviewed for this news story about the rearticulation of a blue whale skeleton by Canadian company Dinosaur Valley Studios to be displayed at HMSC in Newport.

Selene Fregosi and Dave Mellinger are in Hawaii with NOAA Fisheries Service and other research partners testing passive acoustic gliders. These remotely operated devices carry microphones underwater to record the sounds of the sea in places humans can't easily reach. This "glider challenge" will identify the strengths and weaknesses of different glider designs to identify how to use them best in the field.

Oregon’s fishing industry, state agencies, and university researchers have been working together to protect whales from entanglement in crab fishing gear. MMI professor Leigh Torres has been leading extensive surveys to identify where, and when, whales might be most at risk. This knowledge has led to targeted, practical solutions that help protect whales without unnecessarily restricting fishermen.

With support from Oregon State University’s license plate funding, MMI graduate student Mahmud Rahman attended the Sixth Joint Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America and the Acoustical Society of Japan in Honolulu (known as ASA 2025). This conference was a critical opportunity for him to engage directly with researchers in marine bioacoustics and acoustic localization, an area central to his planned doctoral research.

In his own words:

When a humpback whale beached itself on the Oregon Coast earlier this month, thousands of people followed along through the attempt to save it — and mourned the animal when the rescue effort ultimately failed. But as the whale was euthanized, and in the days that followed, its death also brought together local residents, scientists and tribal members who say they’re drawing lessons — and hope — from the loss.

Members of the West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network, the Oregon State University Marine Mammal Institute, Oregon State Parks, Oregon Fish and Wildlife Department and half a dozen other agencies had spent days with the whale, trying to find a way for it to survive. After performing a final necropsy, those agencies stepped back to allow the tribe to take over.

Jim Rice is the Stranding Program Manager with the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University. KLCC’s Rachael McDonald asked him to describe what happened.

A young humpback whale stranded on the Oregon Coast north of Yachats on November 15, prompting a response of trained teams from across the West Coast through the West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network.