The letter, asking whether Canada will permit killer whale extinction, identifies Canada’s conflicting aspirations and obligations to protect biodiversity while continuing to permit megaprojects that destroy the critical habitat of threatened and endangered species.
Join Raincoast scientists, Dr. Valeria Vergara, Misty MacDuffee and Dr. Lance Barrett-Lennard, for Below the surface: Culture, genes, conservation, and the future of Southern Resident killer whales.
The paper highlights the importance of bridging different ways of knowing, emphasizing that Indigenous Knowledge encompasses more than ‘data,’ and includes holistic expertise on culture, society, language, ethics, relationships, practices, and more.
We invite you to join us in Vancouver, Victoria, or Tofino for a special evening and ‘re-premiere’ of Groundswell, a 25 minute short film with a new prologue.
Raincoast continues to work toward an ocean that provides healthy, abundant salmon and is quiet enough for hunting and feeding.
Our research helps us better understand their susceptibility to anthropogenic threats and the impact of those threats, and develop practical and effective measures to reduce them.
Our new Cetacean Conservation Research Program was launched at the beginning of 2022 and we couldn’t be more excited about it.
Belugas, nicknamed “sea canaries”, are one of the most loquacious cetacean species, producing an impressive array of sounds for a variety of purposes, such as social communication, group cohesion, maintaining mother-calf contact, navigating, and detecting prey.
“Dot is back!” exclaims Jaclyn from atop our beluga observation tower. We photo-identified this female beluga during our second field day. “That dimple below her dorsal ridge isn’t just a charming beauty mark, it’ll help us re-sight her over the summer…and hopefully next summer too!” – Jaclyn tweeted. Now, only a day later, Dot is…
Beluga whales produce a multitude of sounds for a variety of functions. To date, calls used for group cohesion and for mother-calf contact, known as ‘contact calls’, are the best understood 4,6,8,11,13,14. The fact that contact calls sound nothing like the typical chirps and whistles that are common in the beluga vocal repertoire, but instead…
Senior Scientist and Co-Director of our Cetacean Conservation Research Program, Dr. Valeria Vergara, is teaching the course, which is part of the SFU’s Continuing Studies Program.
Exploring why belugas care for each other’s offspring.