Dear Marmamers, We are excited to announce that the full program for this October's World Whale Conference has now been published. It is summarized below. For the full program in detail please click here: https://www.worldwhaleconference.com/Conference/Conference-Program *World Whale Conference* *8th – 11th October 2019* *The Beach House Hotel, 344 The Esplanade, Scarness, Hervey Bay, QLD 4655, Australia* *Conference Agenda* The theme for this year's conference is* ‘Journeys that Inspire Change’* With 2020 just around the corner, the World Whale Conference will set out a *10-year* *manifesto* declaring our intentions, motives, and strategy to protect cetaceans and their habitats from 2020-2030. As the largest gathering of whale watching tourism experts, NGOs, scientists, artists, and individuals with a passion for all things cetacean, the World Whale Conference is the perfect place to plan for a brighter future! The conference will breathe life into the manifesto, and give us the hope and direction we need to continue on journeys that inspire change! *MONDAY 7 October - PRE-CONFERENCE DAY* *Excursions* Opportunity to head out whale watching with the Hervey Bay fleet! *Late Afternoon* WELCOME RECEPTION ------------------------------ *TUESDAY 8 October - WWC Day 1* *Journeys That Inspire Change* *Morning* *8:30 – 9:00* Registration - Tea / Coffee on arrival *9:00 – 9:30* Launch conference. Official Butchulla Welcome to Country *9:30 – 10:00 KEYNOTE ADDRESS: *TBA *10:00 – 10:45 KEYNOTE ADDRESS: *Thirty years with the Humpback whales of Hervey Bay: an inspirational journey Drs Trish Franklin and Wally Franklin. The Oceania Project, Australia; Southern Cross University, Australia *10:45 – 11:15 *Morning Tea/Coffee Break *MORNING PRESENTATION SESSION: JOURNEYS THAT INSPIRE CHANGE* *11:15 – 11:30 *Encounters with Ocean Megafauna Clint Hempsall. Professional cinematographer, Australia *11:30 – 11:45 *Diving deeper into our relationship with whales and their Ocean home Glenn Edney. Te Wairua O Te Moananui-Ocean Spirit Charitable Trust, New Zealand *11:45 – 12:00 *"Tails of Stellwagen - Art as Language for Communicating Science" Richard W Dolan, Boston Harbor Cruises. New England Aquarium, USA *12:00 – 12:15 *Take 3 for the Whales Roberta Dixon-Valk. Take 3 for the Whales, Australia *12:15 – 12:30 *Whale watching and Akrasia – an uneasy relationship? Michael Lück1 and David A. Fennell2 1 Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand; 2 Brock University, St Catharines, Canada *12:30 – 12:45 *Connecting cetaceans with people living far from the sea Ursula Tscherter. Marine biologist and educator, Switzerland *12:45 – 13:00 *The humpback whale, Madagascar's new emblematic species Anjara Saloma, Marine Charton, François-Xavier Mayer, Didier Cabocel, François Mailhé, Paolo Lamano, Dina Andrianaivoravelona, Henry Bellon. Cetamada, Madagascar *13:00 – 14:00* Lunch *14:00 – 14:15 *The Transformational Power of Swimming with Whales Mette Lubczyk. Senior Swim-with Guide, Tonga *14:15 - 14:30 *What’s in the message? Unpacking message delivery in Australian whale watching tours. Dr Liz Hawkins & Dr Kay Dimmock. Dolphin Research Australia & Southern Cross University, Australia *14:30 – 15:30 *Workshop: How do we encourage people to act to protect cetaceans and our oceans? Led by Suzanne Rogers, Jo White and Matthew Payne. Human Behaviour Change For Animals, UK *15:30 – 16:00: *Coffee break *LATE AFTERNOON PRESENTATION SESSION: EXPLORING WHALE MIGRATIONS* *16:00 – 16:15 *A current affair: associations between the East Australian Current and humpback whale entanglement in Queensland shark-control nets Jessica A. Bolin; David S. Schoeman, Carme Piza-Roca, Kylie L. Scales. Global-Change Ecology Research Group, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia *16:15 – 16:30 *East Australian humpback whales calving on the northern migration: evidence from the Gold Coast Bay, Queensland, Australia Torre-Williams, L1,2, Reinke, J. 2,3, Meynecke, J.O. 2,3, Martinez, E.1,4 1Coastal-Marine Research Group, School of Natural and Computational Sciences, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand; 2Griffith Centre for Coastal Management, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia; 3 Humpbacks and High-rises, Queensland, Australia; 4 Applied and Environmental Sciences Department, NorthTec, Whangārei 0148, New Zealand *16:30 – 16:45 *Investigating migration patterns of the humpback whale population D and E1 using citizen science. Jan-Olaf Meynecke, Sarah McCulloch. Humpbacks & High-rises, Griffith Centre for Coastal Management, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia *16:45 – 17:00 *Monitoring a threatened beluga whale population using photographic identification Kasey Ryan (Presenter) 1, S. Ferguson1,2, M. Marcoux1,2, W.R. Koski3, B. Young2, and C. Watt1,2 1University of Manitoba, Winnipeg MB, Canada; 2Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Winnipeg MB, Canada; 3LGL Limited, King City ON, Canada *17:00 – 17:15 *A cost-effective approach for photogrammetry of free-roaming whales Emily A. Gregory, Vikki Schaffer, Javier X. Leon, Carmen Piza-Roca, Kylie L. Scales. University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia *17:15 – 17:30 *Tired eyes no more: Automated image recognition of humpback whale fluke identification surpasses human manual matching. Ted Cheeseman, Ken Southerland, Jinmo Park, & Phillip Clapham. Southern Cross University, Australia; Happywhale; ESTsoft; NOAA, USA ------------------------------ *WEDNESDAY 9 October WWC DAY 2* *Towards responsible tourism for whales and dolphins* *Morning* *8:30 – 9:00* Doors open, Tea / Coffee on arrival *9:00 – 9:15 *Welcome and introductions *9:15 – 10:00 KEYNOTE ADDRESS: *The whale watching journey. What have we learned over 50 years of growth? Professor Mark Orams. Sustainability Research Centre, USC Business School, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia; School of Sport and Recreation, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand *MORNING PRESENTATION SESSION: RESPONSIBLE IN-WATER ENCOUNTERS WITH CETACEANS* *10:00 – 10:45* Short talks *10:00 – 10:15 *A review of commercial swim tours with Humpback whales in Australia Raquel Trejo , Brendan P. Kelaher, Anna Scott , Jan-Olaf Meynecke, & Matt Curnock. National Marine Science Centre and Marine Ecology Research Centre, Southern Cross University, Australia; Griffith Centre for Coastal Management, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia; CSIRO Land and Water,c/- ATSIP Building, James Cook University, Queensland, Australia *10:15 – 10:30 *What do we know about whales in Hervey Bay and how we can protect them? Stephanie Stack. Pacific Whale Foundation, Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia *10:30 – 10:45 *Swim-with-humpback whales in Vava’u, Kingdom of Tonga: Behavioural responses of mothers and calves to swimmer approaches Lorenzo Fiori, Emmanuelle Martinez, Mark B. Orams, Barbara Bollard. Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand *10:45 – 11:15 *Coffee break *11:15 – 11:30 *Risky business: Demographics of highly interactive dwarf minke whales during swim-with encounters Suzanne Hillcoat, Dr Alastair Birtles, Dr Naomi Gardiner, Dr Matt Curnock. James Cook University; CSIRO, Australia *11:30 – 11:45 *“A match made in heaven? Swim-with-cetaceans programs and citizen science provide exceptionally rich opportunities for research” Alastair Birtles, Suzanne Hillcoat, Emily Daley, Claire Barr & Martha Brians. James Cook University, Australia *11:45 – 12:00 *Exploring the influence of social media on swim-with-whale tourist behaviour: A case study of swim-with humpback whales tourism in Niue Chantal D. Pagel1, Mark Orams1,2, Michael Lück1. 1Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand; 2University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia *AFTERNOON PRESENTATION SESSION: RESPONSIBLE WHALE WATCHING* *12:00 – 12:15 *Towards a sustainable whale watching in Reunion island in the South West Indian Ocean: assessing and mitigating humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) tourism disturbance Ludovic Hoarau, Dalleau Mayeul, Delaspre Sylvain, Landes Anne-Emmanuelle. CEDTM (Centre d'Etude et de Découverte des Tortues Marines), Réunion Island *12:15 – 12:30 *Whale watching tourism promoting the development of coastal communities and local professionals in Brazil Sergio Cipolotti. Humpback Whale Institute, Brazil *12:30 – 12:45 *When visiting whales in Juneau, Alaska – Are there enough to go around? Suzie Teerlink. NOAA Fisheries, USA *13:00 – 14:00 *Lunch *14:00 – 14:30 Keynote address: *Doing Well by Doing Good: The Importance of Social Enterprise Models in Sustainable Whale Watching Paul Forestell, Ph.D. Pacific Whale Foundation, Hawaii, USA *14:30 – 14:45 *New Zealand’s Marine Mammals Protection Regulations (MMPR): Why are different user groups violating them? Yasmine M. Elmahdy, Mark B. Orams, Michael Lück. School of Sport and Recreation, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand; USC Business School and Sustainability Research Centre, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia; School of Hospitality and Tourism, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand *14:45 – 15:00 *The legal frameworks of whale watching activities in the Indian Ocean: evaluating the most effective tools to mitigate whale-watching abuse for the “whale route” project Stéphanie Sorby. University of Réunion Island, IRD *15:00 – 15:15* The dolphin captivity problem and possible solutions Nick Stewart. Global Head of Wildlife – Dolphins, World Animal Protection, UK *15:15 – 15:45 *Expert Panel Q&A. What does the future for whale and dolphin tourism look like? *15:45 – 16:15 *Coffee break *16:15 – 17:30 *IDEAS EXCHANGE SESSION! How responsible whale watching can save Planet Earth! *17:30 – 18:30* World Cetacean Alliance Partner meeting / AGM *THURSDAY 10 October WWC DAY 3:* The Power of Local Communities to Protect Whales and Dolphins On site and across Hervey Bay all day *Morning* MORNING WHALE WATCH - Official Conference Event. *08:00 – 12:00* *Responsible whale watching tour * Take a trip out to see the whales and learn more about responsible whale watching practices. *Afternoon* *14:00 – 17:00* *The Hervey Bay story* Hear the Hervey Bay story from the local people across Hervey Bay. *Unveiling the Whale Sculpture* The art piece, to be constructed of sustainable bamboo, will represent a humpback whale and calf, signifying the importance of Hervey Bay’s annual “whale nursery” in the calm waters between K’gari Fraser Island and the mainland. *Evening* *19:30 – 22:00 *An Evening with Whale People *19:30 – 20:00. *Video presentations *19:30 – 19:45 *Educating kids about oceans in their habitat Aeon Bashir, Menaka Nagarajan. Aeon for Ocean, Minnesota, USA *19:45 – 20:00 *Effects of the interaction with charismatic species on people's environmental awareness in Baja California Sur, Mexico María Laura Marcías, Christian Salvadeo, Lizbeth Salgado-Beltran. Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur, Baja California *20:00 – 22:00* Whale People – a collection of art and stories about two communities separated by a watery divide! ------------------------------ *FRIDAY 11 October WHS DAY 1:* Whale Conservation and Heritage Awards *Morning* Whale Heritage Sites Summit *Morning session:* *8:30 – 9:00* Doors open, Tea / Coffee on arrival *9:00 – 9:30* Keynote address: Glen Miller *9:30 – 10:45* *Whale Heritage Sites* Celebrating achievements across our network of Whale Heritage Sites and announcing newly certified sites. *10:45 – 11.15* Morning Tea/Coffee break *11:15 – 13:00* *Celebrating cetaceans* How to create small and big events that will inspire the next generation of ocean advocates and meet a key criterion for Whale Heritage Site certification! *13:00 – 14:00* Lunch *Afternoon * *14:00 – 16:00* Whale Conservation Awards *16:00 – 16:30* Afternoon Tea/Coffee *16:30 – 17:00* Launch: Manifesto for Whales and Dolphins – WCA plan for the next 10 years! *17:00 – 17:30* Executive summary and close *Evening* *19:00* Dinner at The Hervey Bay Boat Club (raffle / auction / fancy dress / fun!) (details to be announced soon). *SATURDAY 12 October* Stranding Response Workshop: ORRCA (Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia) led Stranding Response Theoretical and Practical Training (To Be Confirmed) *Morning Session:* Stranding Response theory session Preparing for a rescue incident Venue: University Sunshine Coast, Fraser Coast Campus (TBC) *Afternoon Training:* Put our community training to the test on the beach (main beach near the pier, TBC) *Presentation of certificates to all attendees* *Dylan Walker *Chief Executive Officer *World Cetacean Alliance* Studio 3, Lower Promenade Madeira Drive, Brighton, BN2 1ET, UK. t: +44 (0) 1273 355011 c: +44 (0) 7900 471490 e: dylan@worldcetaceanalliance.org <sophie.lewis@worldcetaceanalliance.org> World Whale Conference 2019 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RQClwulOi8> The World Cetacean Alliance (WCA) is a Partnership of over 100 organisations and individuals in 40 countries worldwide working collaboratively to protect cetaceans and their habitats. 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