Coastside Buzz Calendar ~ All the Music, Food and Community on the Coast
- This event has passed.
Bay Nature Talks: Coexistence? Humpback Whales and Dungeness Crabbers
April 26th, 2023 @ 4:00pm - 5:00pm
Join us online for a Bay Nature Talk on Wednesday, April 26 from 4-5:00 pm with humpback whale scientist John Calambokidis, commercial fisherman Dick Ogg, and science journalist Anne Marshall-Chalmers.
This webinar will be a fascinating discussion building on the Spring 2023 Bay Nature story, “As Whale Populations Grow, Dungeness Crabbers Foresee Their Own Demise.”
The recently announced April 15, 2023 closure of the crabbing season makes this a relevant time to understand the challenges and potential solutions to the issue.
Humpback whales are inhabiting waters off California in steadily rising numbers, and the Dungeness crab fishery must make room.
Register
You’ll learn about the conservation successes of the past 50 years that have enabled humpback whale populations to recover. We’ll also discuss the climate effects pushing these same endangered whales towards shore—increasing the potential for conflicts with humans in the form of ship strikes, underwater noise pollution, and, in recent years, a spike in the number of whales entangled in crabbing gear. This has California’s iconic and highly profitable Dungeness crab fishery, which routinely earns crabbers $80 million for a season’s catch, facing an uncertain future.
John, Dick, and Anne will be joined by Victoria Schlesinger, Bay Nature editor in chief, who will lead a lively and informative conversation, followed by a Q&A with listeners.
The event is free and open to all with a suggested (but not required) donation of $20. After registering, you’ll receive instructions on how to access the webinar, which will be recorded.
About the speakers
John Calambokidis is the senior research biologist of Cascadia Research Collective. He has been studying whales for 40 years and is widely regarded as the humpback expert. His primary interests are the biology of marine mammals and the impacts of humans.
Dick Ogg has been crabbing commercially in Northern California for at least two decades.
Anne Marshall-Chalmers is a freelance journalist who grew up in the Bay Area. Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Atlas Obscura, on NPR, in Inside Climate News, and in other media outlets. She reports on climate change, agriculture, public health, injustice, and the spaces where these topics intersect. She is a graduate of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.
You can subscribe to Bay Nature magazine here!
Logging onto a Zoom webinar can be a frustrating experience, and we at Bay Nature apologize in advance if you have any trouble. Please update your Zoom software prior to the event. We also recommend signing in 5-10 minutes before the start in case you run into any obstacles and encourage you to have your Eventbrite username and password handy. If you still have trouble, please email christina@baynature.org.
Registering for this event automatically subscribes you to Bay Nature email communications. You can unsubscribe at any time. Bay Nature is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (tax ID 76-0744881) and the $20 suggested donation is tax deductible.
Photo by Andre Estevez via Pexels.
