Calls of ecstasy and joy that would have sounded at home in a naughty movie could be heard bouncing off the water in Sitka Sound on Nov. 5.

“Oh my, oh my goodness!”   “It’s sooo big!”  “It’s coming!  It’s coming right at the boat!”

Excited UAS students uttered these exclamations aboard the Whalefest whale-watching cruise.  Why the orgasmic exclamations?  Many were marine biology students new to Alaska and had never seen whales before boarding the Allen Marine catamaran. Now gray and humpback whales were lulling alongside. Others onboard were just in love with whales or had dedicated their academic careers to studying them.

Whalefest brought another elusive mammal to Sitka: marine mammal researchers.

If the whales were the stars in the water, the researchers were the stars in the lecture hall. For students from the UAS Juneau campus, the opportunity to listen to nine presentations by leaders in the field of marine mammal research was as memorable as watching the whales.

The topics covered were diverse and fascinating. How about killer whales traveling thousands of miles to and from Southeast Alaska to Hood Canal, Washington to gorge themselves on harbor seals?

These whales fed exclusively on marine mammals, said researcher Josh London, in his presentation “Mammal Eating Killer Whales in Hood Canal, Washington.”  Two different groups of killer whales showed up in the fjord without ever having been there before, leading to more research questions. Could it be that the whales followed one another from Southeast Alaska? Could it be that the whales are telling each other where to go?   

“Learning about killer whales that showed up in Hood Canal was the most interesting thing that I learned,” said Rekkan Keppinger a student from the UAS Juneau campus. “It is interesting how they went from Southeast Alaska into unknown and unusual places to eat seals.”

Whales are protected, but the exceptions allow whaling to continue. Phillip Clapham illuminated Japan’s whaling practices and the loophole they exploit in the International Whaling Commission’s rules in his talk “Managing Leviathan: Can The Whaling Industry Be Trusted?” The Whaling Commission allows the Japanese to continue killing whales under the guise of “scientific whaling,” even though there is a global ban on whaling. Clapham said this continues even though there are non-lethal methods to research whales that have been used by western researchers for decades.

The students attending the presentations were from the current topics in marine biology class taught by Beth Matthews. This semester the course focuses on Changes in Marine Mammal Populations, preparing them for the conference.

“The current topics class was a great resource for background information on Whalefest.  I felt fully prepared to ask questions because we had read the papers that the speakers were presenting in the class,” said Renee Moseng a senior at the UAS Juneau Campus.

UAS Sitka campus students also attended the lectures for credit.  Students were able to meet with the presenters after the lecture period for a more intimate question and answer series.

“They (the speakers) were good at not making you feel inferior,” said Keppinger. “You felt like you were able to ask questions- even though they have Ph. D.s they didn’t make us feel inferior.”

For those inspired by the lectures to conserve marine life, representatives from the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council and the U.S. Forest Service were present promoting the conservation of marine habitats in Alaska. If you suddenly felt like a career in marine biology, the University of Alaska and Sheldon Jackson University had recruiters at booths ready to help you on your way.

Whalefest hosts many other events and most are fundraisers that keep the symposium going. Why so many fundraisers?  Well, scientists are expensive.  The Marketplace was set up inside of the Sitka ANB Hall featuring artists from Sitka and elsewhere in Southeast selling everything from photographic prints to jewelry to handcrafted beadwork. Booth fees paid by the artists went to Whalefest.  Many of the artists also donated a piece of work to the Whalefest auction to fund next year’s Whalefest festivities. Most of the artwork for sale, and in the auction, was inspired by the muse of the ocean.  Hand beaded starfish pins adorned with salmon teeth, whale tail pendants and earrings and woodblock prints of seascapes,  just to name a few.

The main fundraiser for Whalefest was a banquet on Saturday night. National Geographic photographer Flip Nicklin, who lives in Douglas, was the keynote speaker. Nicklin has the enviable position of being paid to swim with marine life in the world’s most beautiful oceans. He presented photos of his life as a research photographer and photo journalist covering marine science in “National Geographic Whales.”

Attention on Nicklin’s presentation waned a bit when the banquet dinner was served: salmon and crab followed by desserts prepared by a local chocolateer, including a chocolate shaped like a pinto abalone shell, a mollusk found in local Sitka waters.