As some of you know, Carole Carlson died on March 24th after a long illness. The following is taken from an obituary, the full version of which can be found here: http://www.currentobituary.com/obit/206306 --- Carole was Director of Research and Education for the Dolphin Fleet Whale Watch, Research Associate at the College of the Atlantic (COA) and Adjunct Scientist at the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) with whom she developed the first humpback whale catalog. Her research on the pigmentation patterns used to identify individual humpback whales continues to influence how population studies are done today. An expert on photo-identification techniques, humpback whales and whale watching, she received her doctoral degree in Biology and Ecology at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She collaborated educational and conservation data collection programs for the Dolphin Fleet Whale Watch that is the prototype of the NMFS and Whale and Dolphin Conservation’s “Whale Sense’ Program for the Gulf of Maine, the CCS and the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, also regionally in Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. She spent over thirty years studying large cetaceans off the east coast of the United States, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, the Dominican Republic and the Eastern Caribbean. She was Co-Chair of the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission on Whale-watching and facilitated the Antarctic Humpback Whale Catalogue archived at the COA. She organized and conducted international, local and regional whale-watching workshops and operators training programs on whale watch guidelines and regulations for Puerto Rico, Bonnaire, Dominica, Iceland, St Lucia, South Africa, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Oman and the USA. She authored scientific papers as well as education materials for distribution in the United States, the Wider Caribbean Region, Japan, Taiwan and South America. Carole promoted the Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW) of the Cartegena Convention of the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and helped draft its Marine Mammal Action Plan. Other affiliations: Board of Director of Pacific Whale Foundation, Scientific Advisor for: International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW,) Cetacean Society International, Centro de Conservation Cetacea, Right Whale Project of Uruguay, Whale Conservation Institute, Argentina, Brazilian Right Whale Project, and UNEP. And lastly, she was Executive Director of the Peaked Hill Trust, a conservation organization for the Natural Heritage Cultural Community of Dune Shacks in the Cape Cod National Seashore. --- I would note that Carole was recognized for her work - and warm presence - at the IWC in a remembrance held during the recent Scientific Committee meeting in Slovenia; the tributes are on video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3lx8IJX8WA Carole was a wonderful inspiration and a good friend to many, and she will be much missed. Phil Clapham -- Phillip J. Clapham, Ph.D. Leader, Cetacean Assessment and Ecology Program Marine Mammal Laboratory Alaska Fisheries Science Center 7600 Sand Point Way NE Seattle, WA 98115, USA Associate Editor, *Royal Society Open Science* http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/ tel 206 526 4037 email phillip.clapham@noaa.gov