Justin Cox
A Non-Invasive Tool For Collecting Killer Whale ...

Drones can be powerful tools in gathering important health data about wildlife, including marine species like the Salish Sea’s endangered killer whales. Scientists have already established the benefits of collecting breath samples to monitor orca health, but we wanted to scientifically understand if it is less invasive than previous sampling methods–namely the use of a long pole with a petri dish extended from a nearby boat toward the whale’s blowhole.

A new study published in the peer-reviewed journal, Marine Mammal Science, led by SeaDoc Society Research Assistant Catherine Lo, answered that question by analyzing more than 1,000 drone-collected killer whale breath samples. 

A Non-Invasive Tool For Collecting Killer Whale Breath Samples
Justin Cox
Meet SeaDoc's Newest Science Advisors, Caitlin ...

This summer, our brilliant Scientific Advisory Committee gathered in Seattle to assess and ultimately determine funding for five new critical research projects here in the Salish Sea. You can read about those here.

Our Science Advisors are a vital part of our mission, and we’re excited to introduce two exciting new additions. They are Caitlin Magel of Puget Sound Institute and Phil Bloch of Confluence Environmental Company. We asked them a few questions so you can get to know them a bit better. 

Welcome Caitlin and Phil! 

Justin Cox
SeaDoc Announces More than $200,000 in New ...

We're excited to announce that SeaDoc Society will fund five new scientific research projects aimed at improving the longterm health of the Salish Sea. Each project was carefully reviewed and selected by our Scientific Advisory Committee and funded through your donations from people like you.

We look forward to sharing more about each of these as fieldwork ramps up, but here is a brief look at the newly funded projects:

SeaDoc Announces More than $200,000 in New Funded Research
Justin Cox
Joe Gaydos Elected to Washington State Academy ...

The Washington State Academy of Sciences has elected 36 new members in recognition of their outstanding record of scientific and technical achievement. Among the select group in this year’s slate is SeaDoc Society Science Director Joe Gaydos!

Joe Gaydos Elected to Washington State Academy of Sciences
Justin Cox
The Ocean is Our Lab

The Molly B skims the water as divers prepare for a day of field work in the Salish Sea. SeaDoc Society’s research assistant Cat Lo gets ready to don her heavy dive gear and take a plunge. One by one, the divers back roll off the boat and splash into the water with their slates and survey equipment. They descend and begin their objective; to survey young-of-year rockfish. 

Cat’s job entails a lot of time spent on or under the water, whether she’s surveying baby rockfish, assisting with killer whale health assessments, or the many other projects SeaDoc has in motion. Time spent in the field comes with its highs, its challenges, and its unexpected outcomes. While all components of science are important, much of the work we do puts us out in the field, interacting with the ecosystem first hand. 

As marine scientists, the ocean is our laboratory. 

The Ocean is Our Lab

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Artificial Intelligence and the Health of Killer Whales

For the past few years, SeaDoc has led an effort to compile individual health records for killer whales, with an eye toward better understanding threats across entire populations. Great strides have been made on that front, but the power of those records as a tool for research is about to go up a notch thanks to a grant from Microsoft as part of their AI for Earth program.

AI for Earth aims to amplify human ingenuity and advance sustainability with the goal of empowering organizations to thrive amid limited resources. SeaDoc will receive a seed grant that provides access to Microsoft Azure’s cloud-computing platform and assistance with artificial intelligence computing tools for data analysis.

"It is exciting to have Microsoft investing in recovery of southern resident killer whales but I'm even more fired up about what this is going to do for improving killer whale health," said SeaDoc Chief Scientist Joe Gaydos.

Multiple organizations including Center for Whale Research, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, NOAA Fisheries, SeaWorld, SR3 - Sealife Response, Rehabilitation and Research, and marine mammal stranding networks all over the West Coast have been entering killer whale health data into a shared database being built by Lisa Clowers at the National Marine Mammal Foundation. This allows us to look at individual animal health, but the database also permits evaluation of trends, comparisons between populations, and evaluation of factors that contribute to disease, which can be extremely valuable in understanding threats at the population level. Currently the process is slow and definitely not real-time. But this latest grant from Microsoft has the potential to change that for the good of conservation.

The grant from Microsoft will permit us to do real-time data entry and evaluation, which will enable us to more quickly and effectively respond to threats. This is particularly important with a species like killer whales, where the added computing power and Microsoft's help in analyzing multiple complex factors will help us understand what causes disease and hopefully help prevent it too. Individual animal immune status, the disease agent itself, and a huge suite of environmental factors influence diseases so we have to address all of those simultaneously to know where we can improve things for the whales.

"We believe that artificial intelligence has incredible potential to accelerate efforts to conserve our planet,” said Bonnie Lei, project manager of Microsoft’s AI for Earth program. “We started AI for Earth to get AI tools and training into the hands of people around the world tackling environmental challenges. The SeaDoc Society has long worked to protect the health of marine wildlife and ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest, and we are pleased to award them a grant to use AI tools to better track and protect endangered whale populations."

We’re excited about this opportunity to further our killer whale health work, and we thank Microsoft for making these powerful tools available to us.