Marine Mammal Institute

The climate crisis is upending a unique and complex ecosystem that has existed in the Arctic for millennia. The loss of sea ice means more vessels can pass through the Bering Strait, bringing more ocean noise and pollution and driving up the risk of catastrophic oil spills and deadly ship strikes. In this special issue of The Circle magazine, Angie Szesciorka asks, What will this mean for bowhead whales — an ecologically and culturally important species — and the Indigenous communities that rely on them?

“They’re not afraid of boats, and there’s nothing for them to eat there,” said Robert Pitman, a marine ecologist at Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute. “They’re intelligent, social animals, and they live in what I think is probably an under-stimulating environment for their mental capacity.”

When scientists listen with sensors placed throughout the oceans, Kate Stafford said, “it can seem quite loud and chaotic.” Marine wildlife like whales, dolphins, and many fish “are not visual like most of us humans are,” Stafford said, and “largely rely on their sense of hearing to navigate their world.” 

Kate Stafford, an associate professor and bio-acoustician at Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Institute, joins today to explain how a film brought her to the Republic of Seychelles to locate blue whales using their vocalizations, share insights into whale song and explain how she hears climate change.

Josh Stewart and Leigh Torres are featured in this PBS mini-documentary about new understandings of gray whale Unusual Mortality Events.

In 2021, Kate Stafford and Ladd Irvine took part in a research voyage aimed at finding and identifying a population of blue whales in the Seychelles. In this article from BBC, Dr. Stafford describes the research as well as the fascinating qualities of blue whale song.

A new paper first-authored by MMI Assistant Professor Joshua Stewart shows that gray whales are susceptible to changing Arctic conditions, which may become more dramatic as climate change unfolds.

Postdoctoral Scholar Keith Hernandez is first author on a new paper that indicates the median age of critically endangered Māui dolphins has shifted one year younger than previously measured. This was determined with a minimally invasive "epigenetic clock" that uses small skin samples of living animals.

A minor-league baseball promotion rooted in a quirky bit of Oregon history will culminate this weekend in Eugene with a fundraising auction to benefit Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute.