Free Webinar “Catch and Release: Large Whale Entanglement Response in Hawaiʻi” Oct. 1

The Maui Nui Marine Resource Council (MNMRC) will host the October edition of its “Know Your Ocean Speaker Series” featuring Maria Harvey, on Wednesday, Oct. 2 at 5:30 p.m. via Zoom.

Entanglement is one of the leading causes of mortality in large whales. In her talk, Harvey, the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary’s (HIHWNMS) Large Whale Resource Protection, Rescue, and Monitoring Assistant will share stories, dive into the history of response efforts, and share strategies used by authorized entanglement responders. She will also share ways individuals can help in entanglement situations and what the future for large whale disentanglement looks like in the Hawaiian Islands.

Harvey earned her B.A. in Marine Science from the University of Hawaiʻi in 2009 and is currently working on her graduate degree in Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology. She has worked as a Captain, naturalist, expedition guide, assistant researcher, and a level-4 marine animal disentanglement specialist. Her work and studies have encompassed a variety of species, including spinner dolphins, humpback whales, right whales, leatherback turtles, and whale sharks.

In recent years, Harvey formed Hawai‛i Uncharted Research Collective, a research nonprofit, that provides an avenue to couple her research and education background with her love for the Hawaiian Islands, ocean conservation, and the charismatic whale sharks that inhabit the deep blue waters of the Pacific. Her educational background and professional experience brought her to Lynker in support of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary and their large whale health monitoring and disentanglement efforts.

Registration for the talk is free and can be completed at https://bit.ly/KYOMHOCT24.