Whale Science

When I was in Antarctica a few years back one of the most interesting - not to mention most important - projects that I worked on was spending some time documenting the dedication of the Australian Antarctic Division scientists, Elanor Bell and Mike Double, as they worked to tag Antarctic minke whales - in support of the work that the incredible Dr. Ari Friedlaender does, a whale ecologist and National Geographic Explorer.

Over the course of much of my time on our ship, these three would spend their days zig-zagging across the Antarctic Peninsula trying to find both humpback and minke whales to apply their non-invasive tags - which provides valuable data on whale behaviour and movements.

Mike from the Antarctic Australian Division had the nerve-wracking task of "shooting" the tags onto the minkes. Talk about nerves of steal. If the minke is not in the absolute perfect position, Mike wouldn't pull the trigger.

Time after time we would get alongside a minke at highspeed and he wouldn't deploy the tag. I finally asked him why he wasn't shooting. He said something to the effect of "It has to be perfect to minimize the disruption to the whale".

Finally, after what seemed like countless opportunities, Mike fired. Perfectly, of course. And landed one of the rare successful deployments of a tag on an Antarctic minke whale. Emotions were high in the zodiac that day

I'm honoured to have my work be used by both the Australian Antarctic Division and the WWF in their educational efforts to share the important work of these remarkable people.

I was deeply honoured when a while after this momentous day, the Australian Antarctic Society asked if my image could be the cover of their annual magazine: