Green Giving Holiday Challenge
The holiday season is upon us. It is a time for generosity and thankfulness, which often takes the form of gift giving between our loved ones. However, this generous spirit can also lead to massive consumption and waste. Waste in the U.S. increases 25% between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. That means an additional 1…
Read More »Inspiring the Next Generation of Ocean Stewards
Dedicated to inspiring future ocean stewards, Pacific Whale Foundation has been engaging the Hawaii community with our Keiki Whalewatch program for over 30 years now, encouraging local schoolchildren to learn about our oceans by getting a closer look at whales and other marine animals, each participating onboard our floating classroom vessels, as well as customized…
Read More »Research in Australia 2018 Field Report
Our research team has finished up data collection from the 2018 field season, and what a season it was! Pacific Whale Foundation has been studying humpback whales in Hervey Bay for over 30 years, providing us with long-term sightings data in the form of our South Pacific Humpback Whale Catalogue. In 2018, we took over…
Read More »Whales divided: how adults and calves use Hervey Bay differently
If you go whalewatching in Hervey Bay after mid-September, you may notice that there is a calf in nearly every pod you see. Mothers with calves are typically the last to arrive in the bay, and they may be the group that benefits most from the shallow, protected waters near Fraser Island. Our research on…
Read More »How can you tell a male and female humpback whale apart?
In many animals, different sexes have different appearances, with males often being larger, showier, or both: think of brightly colored male songbirds or male lions with their luscious manes. For humpback whales, however, this is not the case. Apart from females being slightly larger than males on average, humpback whale males and females look very…
Read More »Southern right whales in Hervey Bay
This season, humpback whales haven’t been the only large baleen whale sighted in Hervey Bay. We have also had several sightings of mother-calf pairs of southern right whales, a rare species for this area. The first pair was seen in July, and there have been many additional sightings over the past several weeks, much to…
Read More »The Making of a Marine Naturalist: Meet Sarah Bonneson
A few weeks ago we introduced you to one of our Marine Naturalists at Pacific Whale Foundation, Erin Hord. We’re back again and excited to introduce you to another crew member, the charismatic Sarah Bonneson. Let’s dive deeper into her passion for the ocean, and find out what brought her on this journey towards working…
Read More »Still Australia's Best Kept Secret
Hervey Bay, Australia’s best keep secret, is a coastal city in southern Queensland approximately 180 miles north of Brisbane. From June to October this otherwise quaint fishing community has ostentatious visitors that create quite the excitement; south pacific humpback whales come to the Platypus Bay to rest and build up energy for their migration back…
Read More »The Elusive False Killer Whale
In 2013, Jens Currie came to Pacific Whale Foundation as a data analyst from Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans. With an ambition to explore more robust statistical methods of potential anthropogenic impacts on cetacean populations, Jens is now Senior Research Analyst. Here, he lends a helping hand for those of us that are new…
Read More »The Making of a Marine Naturalist: Meet Erin Hord
Our Marine Naturalists at Pacific Whale Foundation are so much more than boat crew. Each member of our marine education team has a unique background and brings a variety of knowledge and experiences. We love highlighting the uniqueness that each of our Naturalists brings to the boat, and diving deeper into their passion for the ocean. We’ll be highlighting a new crew member each month. As our whalewatching season continues in full swing here in Hervey Bay, we’re thrilled to introduce Erin Hord.
Hi Erin! Whereabouts are you from?
I was born in Miami, Florida, but I have lived the majority of my life thus far in Madison, Ohio.
What is your first memory of the ocean?
I think my first vivid memory of the ocean was when I was 8 years old and the ocean was flooding the street outside my family’s apartment building because of a tropical storm. That obviously didn’t deter me from ending up in a Marine Biology career though!
What drew you to work for Pacific Whale Foundation?
What experiences and education prepared you for your journey to becoming a Marine Naturalist?
I went to a small liberal arts college where the opportunities to get involved in my future career were endless. I received my Bachelor’s degree in Biology and Marine Science, and I was able to study at the Duke University Marine Lab and have immersive marine science courses in the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and St. Croix. I think the experience that helped most with my journey to becoming a Marine Naturalist was my summer internship with the Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation, based in New Hampshire. I was an education and research intern aboard whale watch vessels, which really helped ignite my passion for marine mammal conservation.