40 years ago last month, in the corridors of a legendary early whale conference at the University of Indiana, whale photo-ID was being discussed for the first time among the leading whale and dolphin scientists of the time — all 30 or 40 of them. That's a far cry from the 2,500 people attending the 21st Society for Marine Mammalogy Biennial conference in San Francisco this week. (Back then, there was no SMM, no biennial, and no journal devoted to MM work.)

You can read more about the birth of whale photo-ID and how it provided a foundation for so much of what we’re learning today about whale and dolphin societies in this recently published article in Hakai Magazine.

Available for free download, or reading online:

http://www.hakaimagazine.com/article-long/whales-through-new-lens

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Erich Hoyt
Senior Research Fellow, WDC, Whale and Dolphin Conservation
Programme Head, Critical Habitat/ MPAs, WDC
Co-director, Far East Russia Orca Project and Russian Cetacean Habitat Project
Co-chair, IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Area Task Force

Park House, Allington Park
Bridport, Dorset DT6 5DD
United Kingdom
Email: erich.hoyt@mac.com
Web: erichhoyt.com
cetaceanhabitat.org
whales.org

erichhoytbooks.com

Facebook: erichhoyt
Twitter: @erichhoyt

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