"Meet the Author" Night to Include Free Visual Media Presentation on "Living with the Whales  Down Under" by Pacific  Whale Foundation's Founder, Greg Kaufman

Pacific Whale Foundation
NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
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MA'ALAEA, HI  - The public is invited to a free evening event at the Wailea Beach Marriott Resort and Spa to meet author, researcher and Pacific Whale Foundation founder Greg Kaufman, and to view a thrilling visual media presentation narrated by Kaufman on his extraordinary 2009 journey along Australia's eastern coast in search of new knowledge about humpback whales.

The event will take place on Saturday, February 6 at the Wailea Beach Marriott’s Lokelani Ballroom, with no-host cocktails at 6:00 p.m., followed by the free presentation at 6:30 p.m. A book signing of Kaufman's 2009 book, Humpbacks of Hawaii, the Long Journey Back, will occur immediately after the presentation.

Greg Kaufman has studied humpback whales throughout the Pacific for more than 30 years. He is the Founder and Executive Director of the non-profit Pacific Whale Foundation, Maui's oldest and largest organization dedicated to protecting whales and their habitats, and the author of four books about whales, including the 2009 book, Humpbacks of Hawaii, the Long Journey Back.

Kaufman spent nearly four months in Australia in late summer and fall with researcher Annie Macie. From August through October 2009, the research team covered 6,000 miles of road and 3,000 miles of open ocean along the east coast of Australia.

The team began their studies in Port Douglas, Australia, an area located near the famed Great Barrier Reef. Here they were hoping to locate previously unidentified areas where humpback whales are mating, giving birth and caring for their young.

Data gathered previously by Pacific Whale Foundation along the eastern Australia coast had indicated that a subset of humpback whales appeared to be going to one or more breeding areas that had not yet been formally identified by researchers. During the 2009 research season, Kaufman and Macie hoped to find out if the whales were mating and calving near the Great Barrier Reef.

"Our research endeavored to locate new areas where the whales are breeding," says Kaufman. "This is very important from the perspective of managing and protecting the population of Southern Ocean humpback whales."

Later, the team moved south to Hervey Bay, Australia, a critical habitat for humpback whale mothers and calves during their annual migration from their mating and calving areas to their feeding areas. They gathered photoidentification data on whales in this area.

Finally, the team traveled to the cold waters off the coast of Eden, located near the southeasternmost part of Australia. It is one of the few known places in the Southern Pacific where humpback whales can be observed feeding near land.

Here, they gathered photoidentification data of these humpback whales, adding to Pacific Whale Foundation's database of 4,200 individually indentified humpback whales.

"We choose these three locations to let us gather data from three points along the migratory route -- a possible breeding area, a feeding area and a bay where whales stop during their migration," says Kaufman. "Gathering data from these areas is helping us form a clearer picture of the migratory patterns of the humpback whales along Australia's eastern coast."

"This was the largest single season research effort ever undertaken on humpback whales off eastern Australia," commented Greg Kaufman. "It was an extraordinary effort to piece together three important parts of the humpback whale's life cycle ' breeding, feeding and migrating - all in one research season."

"The 2009 field research season was unprecedented in scope and success," says Kaufman.

Pacific Whale Foundation has been studying humpback whales along Australia's east coast since 1984.

Data collected by Pacific Whale Foundation's researchers is critical in efforts to protect the South Ocean humpback whales, the population that would likely be targeted by Japanese whaling ships, if the ban on commercial whaling were to be lifted.

"Through our work we hope to refine our knowledge of the rate of population interchange between Australia and Oceania," says Kaufman. "Perhaps most importantly, our data adds to the understanding of the potential ramifications of resumed whaling activity on some of the outlying populations, which are at critically low levels."

Research on southern hemisphere whales like that carried out by Pacific Whale Foundation is especially important at this time. Japan currently exploits a loophole in the International Whaling Commission (IWC) moratorium on commercial whaling that allows for lethal "scientific" whaling. Pacific Whale Foundation and other members of the Southern Ocean Research Partnership use modern, non-lethal, scientific research methods to provide data necessary to most effectively conserve and manage Southern Ocean whales, to contest the Japanese whaling industry's insistence on the importance of lethal whaling, and to preserve the moratorium on commercial whaling.

Pacific Whale Foundation also contributes data to the world's largest database of South Pacific humpback whales, and provides information to governing bodies to enable effective management of Southern Pacific Ocean humpback whale populations.

"This presentation will highlight the critical importance of our research in ongoing efforts to protect and preserve the Southern Pacific Ocean humpback whale populations," says Kaufman. "It will also give whale enthusiasts a unique opportunity to experience the journey and adventures of an amazing field research season firsthand through video and digital images of whales and Australia's incredible natural resources."

"You'll feel like you're "down under" with us," adds Kaufman, "Out on the water, braving the elements and reveling in unusual and rare encounters. You’ll even see previously un-released footage of our encounter with Migaloo, the planet's only known all-white humpback whale."

The talk will take place in the Lokelani Ballroom at the Wailea Beach Marriott Resort and Spa. No host cocktails will start at 6:00 p.m., and the talk will start at 6:30 p.m. A book signing will follow immediately. This event is free and open to the public; however, seating is limited, so advance reservations are highly recommended.

For information or to make a reservation, call (808) 249-8811 ext. 1 (1-800-942-5311 ext. 1 from the neighbor islands), or visit www.mauiwhalefestival.org.

This event is part of Pacific Whale Foundation's 2010 Maui Whale Festival.