Point Arena Lighthouse Lecture Series: Large Baleen Whales of the Local Coast

On Saturday, June 15 at 5pm, Scott Mercer will present: “Large Baleen Whales of the Local Coast” as part of the Lighthouse Lecture Series.

Tickets are $5 per person and can be purchased at the Gift Store counter on arrival. All seating is first-come, first-served in the Lighthouse Museum (Fog Signal Building). Please join us!

About the Lecture: 
This talk takes a close look at the common Large Baleen Whales of the Local Coast: humpback, finback, and blue whale, with a special emphasis on the ecology of the gray whale and the 2019 census. For each species we will look at their overall dimensions, populations, geographic range, food preferences, and feeding strategies. We will give extra emphasis to the ecology of the gray whale and report the results of our sixth annual gray whale census and mother/calf pairs.

About the Presenter: 
Scott began studying marine mammals in 1974 with a lengthy feeding study of the sea otter in Monterey Bay. In 1978, he founded New England Whale Watch Inc, operating the business until 1990, affording him as many as 165 days at sea each year. During the off-season, Scott co-founded a research station in Nova Scotia, Canada, studied humpback whales in Newfoundland, Canada, served on a research vessel from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, and led ecotourism expeditions in the Caribbean. Scott taught a marine mammal class for 14 years at the University of New Hampshire, as well as marine related classes and shipboard courses. He has published three books, including The Great Whale Book and Whalehead Nation.