What's New

Schedule of Events and Benefit Whale Watch Schedule Announced!

Whale Trust Annual Golf Tournament – January 28th, 2012


Register Now to Win A Free Mercedes

Whale Trust Receives Multiple Grants

Mahalo to National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditons!

Meagan Jones Receives Switzer Leadership Grant

What's New at Whale Trust

 

Register Now for Whale Trust Annual Golf Tournament

Mercedes-Benz of Maui is a proud sponsor of this year’s Whale Trust Annual Golf Tournament. All participants will have a chance to win a Mercedes-Benz at this year’s event.

Download Golf Tournament entry form here.

Mahalo to National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions!

We are grateful to National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions for generously donating one of their prestigious trips for 2 to Baja this March! Tom and Jan Savidge, loyal friends and supporters of Whale Trust, were the lucky winners. This is the Savidge's second National Geographic Expedition. They also won a trip to Antarctica a few years ago! Thanks to everyone for helping make this trip happen and allowing all proceeds to support our research and education programs.

Meagan Jones Awarded Switzer Leadership Grant for Second Year!

The Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation recently announced that they had awarded Meagan Jones, Whale Trust co-founder and ED, a 2012 leadership grant to continue to serve as full-time Executive Director for Whale Trust. Meagan has been a Switzer fellow since 2002 when she received an academic fellowship for her doctoral work. Last year, she received a leadership grant to return as Whale Trust Executive Director and that funding has been extended for a second year.

The Robert & Patricia Switzer Foundation is a non-profit organization that identifies and nurtures environmental leaders who have the ability and determination to make a significant impact, and supports initiatives that will have direct and measurable results to improve environmental quality. The Foundation accomplishes this by awarding academic fellowships and project grants, sponsoring professional development activities, and fostering a growing network of Switzer Fellows, environmental practitioners, and organizations.

Jim Darling Receives Grant from National Geographic Society for Humpback Whale Song Project

A grant from the Committee for Research and Exploration of National Geographic Society will support Dr. Jim Darling's research into the social function of humpback whale song. The research began in December 2011 and focuses on playing back recordings of humpback whale songs that vary in composition (similar to dissimilar) to male singers on the Hawaiian breeding/calving grounds. Previous studies led by Dr. Darling (2005-2008) using this same technique, found that singers were attracted to recordings of song similar to their own song, but not to songs that were totally different from their song's composition. This next phase of the study will examine the impact of smaller differences in composition of the song. For example, the playback songs may have just one theme, or even one unit (one sound) that is different from the singer's current song. The purpose of the playback study is to determine if the composition of the song determines how individual males interact with each other on the breeding grounds.

Whale Trust Receives Grant from The Atherton Family Foundation

Whale Trust recently received a capacity building grant from the Atherton Family Foundation. As part of the grant, Whale Trust will continue working with Monica Grant, Senior Director of Development from UC Santa Cruz, to begin implementing the fund development plan we created with Monica's help in 2011.

Flip Nicklin Named Outstanding Photographer Of The Year In 2012

The North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA) is bestowing one of its highest honors to Flip Nicklin, a National Geographic contributing photographer and co-founder of Whale Trust who is best known for capturing the world’s best images of whales and other underwater life. The award will be presented at the 2012 Nature Photography Summit presented by NANPA, to be held February 29-March 3, 2012, in Jacksonville, Florida. Flip will be one of the headlining keynote speakers at the event.

NANPA’s Outstanding Photography of the Year award goes to an individual who has demonstrated unquestioned skill as a nature photographer. Although length of career may be a factor, more important are the individual's accomplishments and body of photographic work. By receiving this honor, Flip joins the elite ranks of other NANPA Outstanding Photographers of the Year, including Jack Dykinga, Joel Sartore, Tim Laman, James Balog, Kevin Schafer, Patricio Robles Gil, Tui De Roy, Norbert Wu, Gary Braasch, Michael Nichols, Robert Glenn Ketchum, Tom Mangelsen, Frans Lanting, Art Wolfe and John Shaw.