DETERMINED SHE REALISED HER WHALE DREAM
Have you met Charla, the Canadian PhD. humpback whale researcher who is also a whale watching guide and ticket sales staff by us at Gentle Giants?
At the age of seven she drew a picture of herself with an orca and expressed her future dream of working with whales for the first time. Said and done. The work Charla does today, more than 20 years later, will possibly save humpback whales from suffering. But how?
Charla is now working on her PhD. about entanglement of whales and the fishing industry, based in Húsavík on behalf of University of Iceland. The work is divided into different areas on the same topic:
- In one, Charla is studying humpback whale photos to identify the individuals and their scars caused by entanglement in fishing gear.
- In another, she is investigating fishermen's experiences with entangled whales.
- The third is about pingers* (shown on the next photo. Learn more about pingers on the bottom of this page). This work is divided into two parts: one where Charla has studied humpback whales' behaviour when pingers were put into the sea and the other is to study the result of pinger usage by an Icelandic capelin boat.
Charla's hope is that her PhD. research will help solving issues between whales and people. It can possibly save more whales from suffering and save more fishermen from getting their gear destroyed at sea.
Is this not just great? Gentle Giants is very happy to have Charla as a part of our team and is proudly supporting her research. You can also help!
Did you photograph humpback whales on your trip to Iceland? Through submitting them via a form on our website, Charla can get use for them in her whale entanglement research.
Thank you in advance!
- Alexia
Humpback whale in Skjálfandi Bay, scarred by old entanglement injuries. Photo: Charla Basran
Charla is also guiding our whale watching tours, besides her humpback research. Here with captain Pétur on board Faldur. Photo: Stefán Guðmundsson
*The Whale Pinger works by emitting a signal that is detected by humpback whales. Whales are alerted to the presence of whatever gear the pinger is deployed on, allowing them the chance to move away from the gear with a reduced risk of entanglement. (Source: www.futureoceans.com)