Orca - Photo from ORCA archive
Steve, tell me a little bit about ORCA: what is the purpose of the organization, and what is the organization’s connection to expedition cruising industry?
We are a UK based whale and dolphin charity. We have been around since 2001 but we have had volunteers going out to collect data all the way back to mid-90s. We monitor whales and dolphins using citizen science, so we train ordinary members of public to collect scientific data using cruise ships and ferries and other platforms. Dedicated research can be quite expensive, so by collecting data in this way we can do it in a more cost effective and efficient way, and it also allows us much more coverage than we would be able to access otherwise, and we have now data going back 25 years.
Alongside data collection, education and inspiring people about whales and dolphins is another big part of what we do. We teach them about the threats the cetaceans face, about the work people can do to protect marine environment and how to safeguard it. This spawned our connection to the cruise industry, and the expedition cruise industry in particular. We now place Ocean Conservationists onboard the ships going all over the world, who are there to collect scientific data and to also teach the guests onboard about the work we do and about the whales and dolphins that they are seeing. This is great because everyone wins: we get loads of wonderful data, the guests are having a great time and learning from professional conservationists onboard, expedition cruising brands are happy because their clients are satisfied, and ultimately, and most importantly, the whales and dolphins are winning too because we are collecting data that helps us understand them better and to identify important habitats around the world to protect them.
What are the geographical regions ORCA’s volunteers cover for data collection?
Historically, we were always focused on UK and European waters because most of our work was done on ferries and cruise ships operating out of UK. In the last few years, however, our Ocean Conservationist program has grown, and we built strong relationships within the sector, so we now have a global reach, and we collect data from all five oceans using all sorts of different platforms. The place we spend most of the time is still in the Atlantic, and we do a lot in Antarctica, looking at some of the threats to whales down there. We are also doing an increasing amount of work in the Pacific as well, especially in Alaska. Next year particularly, we will be even more global and will be collecting data all over the world in some very remote and crazy places we never thought we had a chance to go to. Our geographical remit has certainly changed in the last couple of years.
What does it take to become an Ocean Conservationist?
Ocean Conservationists with ship guests on the deck looking out for whales and dolphins
The great thing about ORCA is that it doesn’t take any background at all to become ocean conservationist- our mission is to give anyone who cares about whales and dolphins an active role in safeguarding their future. Many of our volunteers do not have an MSc Degree or scientific training. To become an Ocean Conservationist, we ask two things: you must care about protecting the marine environment and have passion and dedication to put the work in to make it happen.
The role ultimately consists of two parts: one of them is data collection and scientific research, and the other part is science communication and education and inspiration. The applicants must be passionate, dedicated, and willing to learn scientific protocols which are not complicated but they are rigorous – we collect our data to the highest possible level, and we are very proud of it. They also need to be willing to go out there to the world and tell the people how amazing whales and dolphins are and inspire them to play their part in protecting them. Those are really the only qualifications they need.
Every year, we offer a training course for our future Ocean Conservationists, and we currently have a group of thirty going through the training program. By the time we finish, we will have a network of around a hundred of them based all over the world. For many, this is a dream job so each year, we receive hundreds of applications. Once they complete our bespoke, four months long online course, and if it’s all still fitting together, they get to go out with us on the ship for a week and we spend a week with them on a ship, teaching them how to do the job in practice, letting them loose on a few guests and speak to them, and do some presentations and have some fun. Our training program is quite rigorous but by the end of it they are qualified, and we can put them on ships across the world. Some people will work with us for a couple of weeks a year and some others work for us full time. It depends on their availability, and it depends if we have spots available as well. But it means it’s an approachable program that anyone can get involved.
A big part of what you do as an organization is data collection – why is it so important? What are the biggest challenges facing cetaceans that ORCA aims to address through Citizen Science projects onboard the ships?
That’s a great question. Ultimately, you cannot protect something if you don’t understand it. And if you don’t know where it is and what time of the year it is in those places, it is really hard to put in place effective measures. The data collection is fundamental to everything we do because it helps us understand the movement of those whales and dolphins, changes in their range and distribution, what habitats they are using and when they are using them, what risks those habitats might be at, and what impact it may have on those populations. Once the data has been collected, we then do some data checking in the team to make sure it meets rigorous scientific standards, it then gets added to our data portal and we then look at ways to share it with our various stakeholders. We share a lot with UK government, European Union, and with couple of national governments in Europe. We also share with other statutory agencies overseas and other NGOs. We also share it with the researchers working in other institutions.
Ultimately, we want our data to be used as widely as possible to make sure as many people know what we are finding about whales and dolphins and to continue to monitor that the protections we have in place are where they are needed.
There are various challenges facing whales and dolphins in the 21st century, more than there were ever in modern history. By understanding the populations, we can then understand how they intersect with the shipping traffic and other human activity. We can then reduce ship strike risk, we can understand whether there is an increased risk for bycatch, and we can understand how whale watching is done and the risk of harassment for particular populations. We also try to understand changes in some of these populations and the habitats they are using that might signpost us towards threats we don’t know yet about. It really is fundamental, and we have helped in the past to create Marine Protected Areas through data collection.
How do expedition cruise passengers get involved in data collection onboard participating expedition cruising ships and how does this data get used?
The great thing is, they don’t have to do much - they just need to come out on the deck with our Ocean Conservationists. We place Ocean Conservationists onboard participating expedition ships as part of their expedition team. They work onboard as any other expedition team member, but the only difference is that they work for ORCA and when they out on deck they are collecting data using our ORCA OceanWatchers app.
Guests help us spot whales and dolphins: one Ocean Conservationist has two eyes, if there are fifty guests onboard watching as well, we have hundred eyes that we can borrow, and we don’t want to turn down the freebie! So we will always ask the guests to come out with us on deck, we will talk to them about few simple signs that they should be looking out for in the animals and then shout once they see one! We will come over, help them identify it, try and understand what we are seeing. This is one simple way we get the guests onboard involved and it is one of the most successful ways we have to teach people about whales and dolphins. When they get involved, they understand the process a lot better and there is no better way to inspire people than to show someone an animal and how they might contribute to protecting it.
We also do workshops onboard and we have a version of our app called ‘I-Spy at Sea’ that anyone can download for free, and although data does not get submitted, the guests can download it and use it themselves, giving them a chance to have a taste of what we do. We also offer in depth workshops how to identify individual species as well as on threats and other issues that whales and dolphins are facing so plenty of opportunity for guests onboard the ships to learn about whales and dolphins with us.
Could you name some projects where the data collected by volunteers has been already used?
The best example is in the southern part of North Sea: there is a Special Area of Conservation which is a type of marine protected area and that has been put in place for Harbour Porpoises because there are a lot of Harbour Porpoises in North Sea. A lot of the data that was used to designate that area originated from ORCA volunteers and our Ocean Conservationists over the years, so that is a great example of an impact our data may have.
We work on so many different projects: we target our data collection to highlight particularly data deficient areas or to monitor existing known hotspots in effort to see what changes we may be seeing. If there are measures already in place we monitor them to make sure they are still in the right place, and that the whales haven’t gone 100 miles north and all of the sudden we are protecting an area where the animals aren’t found anymore.
Citizen Science projects are popular onboard expedition ships – besides helping various organizations to achieve their goals, what value do you think they add to participating expedition cruising brands and their passengers?
The obvious benefit to expedition cruising brands of having us onboard is that guests enjoy the experience, and it is always desirable to have satisfied clients onboard the ships. Saying this, and in my experience, the decision to work with us is probably less pragmatic than that. I spend my entire day talking to expedition cruising companies and other shipping companies, and it is not about necessarily increasing guest satisfaction, it is more about the opportunity to make the difference and be the custodians of the ocean.
What I have found is that people who live and work at sea are the most passionate about protecting it. They are the ones who understand the value - they spend months onboard the ship, staring at the ocean, and appreciating how amazing it is.
They are seeing the whales; they are understanding the threats in a way that guests coming onboard the ship for couple of weeks will never be able to do.
I think Citizen Science projects give companies a mechanism to contribute back into the conservation of something that they really care about in a way that still fits in the operational limitations: anyone who has ever been on expedition ship will know operationally intense it is. They do not necessarily have the time to launch big, long, complicated projects, but if there is a project they can pick up and do it with the guests and know that guests can participate in that, there is nothing more impactful in that and it gives them a sense of knowing that they have invested in the future of whatever conservation project they’ve been working in and given the guests that narrative as well. I think there is a big part of it is about giving the expedition cruising brands to feed back into ocean conservation directly.
What is your personal story leading to ORCA? How did you get involved and what keeps you excited about working for the charity?
In some ways, I am a very atypical conservation person, but a very typical ORCA person. Before I started working for ORCA six years ago, I never saw a whale or a dolphin in my life and my background was working in commercial sector. I worked in hospitality, events, sales, and sports, and few years ago, I was the trustee of a small charity. As a chair of that charity, I found it very rewarding and fulfilling, and so I decided to I wanted to go pro and I started looking for opportunities within charity sector and in particular in conservation because I always loved wildlife. ORCA had a role advertised and somehow I managed to convince our director Sally that I could do the job, and I’ve got it and I’ve been with ORCA for over six years now. The reason I stuck with ORCA is this is one of the few times in my life where I honestly feel surprised everyday that I get to do the job that I have – I honestly feel like I’ve got the best job in the world. I get to talk all day to people about whales and dolphins, but more importantly, I get to make an impact in terms of conservation that there few people have a chance to do, and particularly not the people with my background.
When I talk to expedition cruise companies, I talk about opportunities we have for data collection and about Ocean Conservationist program. This is one part of my job, but another big part of it is also talking to the companies about how their operations can change to better protect whales and dolphins and to answer their questions on difficult topics. We talk a lot about Faroe islands, about visits to whaling nations, and we talk about captivity. These are quite complex topics for tourism sector to navigate and we give them an honest, open, and frank advice of what we think they should do and help them navigate those pathways. This is what I call corporate conservation - helping companies to see place where they can make positive changes. Sometimes, if we can just get companies to agree to do things in slightly different way, that still works with their operations but also allows us to better protect whales and dolphins, we can see really big wins. Speed restriction in Antarctica is a really good example of that as an industry led initiative. We work with companies, we explain them the impact their operations can have, and offer some solutions. 99 times out of 100 they will be happy to make those changes, and that’s my favourite part of my job and I really love it.
Have you had a chance to join an expedition ship? If so, where was it and what did you learn from the experience?
I was on an expedition ship for the first time just before Covid pandemic started. As someone who has travelled quite a lot on other types of ships, such as ferries or large cruise ships, I was really struck by the intimate nature of these voyages. Travelling onboard an expedition ship feels intimate, welcoming, and as if there is a small community onboard in a way that a bigger ship with more people perhaps cannot give you. I love the idea that there is the expedition team onboard whose members have those different expertise and disciplines, and they bring it all together in a cohesive program so that you really do get an amazing insight into all different facets of the destination. I know when I travel, I want to learn about nature, I don’t always realise I also want to learn about history or geology, or ice, because I don’t know anything about those things. On the expedition ship, I have someone explaining me all those things, and telling me how amazing they are, and all of a the sudden I want to be a glaciologist, because isn’t glacier an amazing thing? And I think it’s that journey of discovery that expedition gives you and that sense of a community. You feel like an extended part of the expedition team, like if you are all doing this together rather than someone standing there and telling you, they are bringing you on the journey with them. And I find this really rewarding. I’ve been really lucky that I‘ve got to spend time on expedition ships since, and I always love going on them. So far, I have spent some time in Norway and UK, amazing places like St Kilda or seeing Northern Lights in Norway onboard expedition ships.
What is your most memorable encounter with a whale or a dolphin?
I have been very lucky, and I’ve been out on lots of different ships and I seem to have a sprinkle of fairy dust with me because the whales and dolphins do tend to show up when I am onboard. Picking one particular encounter is really tricky. One that comes to mind is when I was onboard a ship in Bay of Biscay, and we saw True’s beaked whale. We had an amazing encounter and had a really close views of the species that have only been reported a handful of times in the North Atlantic. The photos that some of the guests onboard took were some of the best photos ever taken and they showed teeth that were never recorded in the species before. That was a very cool encounter.
I was also sailing from the Azores up to Iceland and about a day out of Reykjavik, as the sun went down, we had this amazing evening where there were the sperm whales everywhere, logging, and with sun going down, couple of orcas showed up in the horizon and that was very special. Also, I love Alaska. I spent time in places like Seward and Resurrection Bay and once we saw a pod of orcas about eight feet away. We just sat there idling in the boat as they swam under the bow.
I’ve been very lucky, and I had some great encounters. And you don’t have to go to these distant places to have them. We are very lucky to have the wildlife on our doorstop around the UK and maybe we don’t celebrate it enough. Going out to Irish sea, and up to the Hebrides, we had some fantastic experiences. We were sailing to Fingal’s Cave, and a pod of about twenty bottlenose dolphins joined us, they spent about two hours just swimming around the ship, playing and bow riding, and that was a very special place to be.
If an expedition cruise brand wanted to get involved with ORCA, what is the best way to do that?
They can drop me an email to steve@orca.org.uk . What we normally do is sit down with the company and try to understand what they want to achieve. We have all sorts of programs beside Ocean Conservationists- we also do bridge crew training on whale strike mitigation, we do responsible whale watching training for expedition teams and boat drivers and plenty more so there are great options no matter what the company is trying to achieve.
We also talk about identifying high risk areas that they are travelling through, so we can help people from the itinerary planning perspective, and help companies create marine mammal mitigation strategies to avoid high risk areas or go through them at a slow speed or during particular time of the day. There is a huge range of things we do in the industry; we are aiming to be a one stop shop for everything whale and dolphin if you work in shipping industry. A lot of these programs are for free, particularly training and advice. Of course, we are always happy to receive a donation, but it doesn’t mean that there is this big invoice coming at the end of it necessarily. We want to have this universal coverage to make sure there is as much awareness raised about whales and dolphins in the industry.
Thank you, Steve.
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