PHILLIP j. CLAPHAM

Phil Clapham (not his real name) is currently affiliated with the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, the Smithsonian Institution and the Witness Protection Program. The latter has him sequestered somewhere in the northeastern U.S. in a small town whose principal features include not enough bars and half a dozen families who have all been breeding together for far too many generations. Phil's research interests have focused on the behavioral ecology and population biology of large whales, notably humpback and right whales, although he occasionally stoops to working with lesser forms of life (like odontocetes). He has published a couple of books and a large bunch of scientific papers, about three of which are actually worth reading. After awaking from a gin-induced haze some years ago he found that he had been appointed to the Board of Governors for the Society for Marine Mammalogy. Worse, as punishment for some undisclosed but apparently pretty dreadful sin in a past life, he was made a member of the U.S. delegation to the International Whaling Commission's Scientific Committee. Phil currently lives with his wife Karen and daughter Genia in an old house which they share with a large dog, two worthless cats and a ghost named Abigail.

ABSTRACT

WHERE WHALES LAY THEIR EGGS AND OTHER MYSTERIES EXPLAINED: THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATING THE PUBLIC ABOUT MARINE MAMMALS... Having been exposed to the general public for many years through my erstwhile career as a whalewatch naturalist, I can attest to the importance of scientists and other marine mammal professionals acting as educators whenever the opportunity arises. Here, I provide stories from my whalewatching past to illustrate why the public desperately needs such education. I suggest that said public can be broadly divided on the basis of their attitudes into seven basic categories: educated/interested, educated/uninterested, uneducated/uninterested, seniors, kids, and fruit loops. The degree to which each of these groups is educationally redeemable varies from reasonably high to utterly hopeless. On the basis of this review, I argue that those of us working with marine mammals should invest our educational efforts disproportionately in children, who represent the group with the greatest potential future return.

In addition to speaking, Phil Clapham brought his latest books, Whales of the World, and The National Audubon Guide to Marine Mammals of the World (with Pieter Folkens) to the booksigning at our 35th Birthday Celebration.

We were also lucky enough to have Phil join us at the 2000 Conference in Monterey - Whales 2000.

ABSTRACT from 2000 Conference program

RIGHTS AND WRONGS: THE PLIGHT OF NORTHERN RIGHT WHALES. Right whales in the North Atlantic (Eubalaena glacialis) and the North Pacific (E. japonica) are among the world's most endangered cetaceans. The eastern North Atlantic population is effectively extinct; the western stock numbers about 300 and is declining, largely as a result of human impacts (entanglement and ship strikes). The eastern North Pacific population was heavily damaged by illegal Soviet catches in the 1960s, is clearly very small and has had no documented reproduction in decades. The western North Pacific stock may number in the low hundreds, but its status is unclear. Northern right whales should be among the highest priorities in cetacean conservation efforts for the 21st century.