People Who Help Cetaceans

In the new year many people have new ideas and seek new opportunities. We'd like to share with you a superb example of someone who took his interests, abilities and expertise and created WhaleNet, arguably the best cetacean resource on the Internet.

J. Michael Williamson is an Associate Professor of Science at Wheelock College, Boston, co-founder of the Mingan Island Cetacean Study (MICS), and Director of WhaleNet (http://whale.wheelock.edu/). WhaleNet, with over 65 awards and past exhibits at the Smithsonian and the US Pavilion at the Expo '98 in Lisbon, is internationally recognized as one of the preeminent web sites on whale research and education. Its primary function is to "enhance interest in science, math, the environment and technology." Students can track whales, and other marine life such as porpoises and seals, in real-time with satellite monitoring of marine animals that have been specially tagged for tracking populations, and revealing information about habitat use and migratory patterns. The site began with an idea, and has grown so fast that Mike now spends more time on the computer than on the water.

Mike never made a conscious decision to study whales and had seen the ocean only 5 times before he was a senior in college. About 30 years ago, with an undergraduate degree in physical science, he was hired by a school to develop a science curriculum for grade 1 through 6. He developed some units around fish, sharks, whales, seals, and the coastal environments, because "it only made sense to use the local resources". The ocean intrigued him, so he set off on a personal voyage through numerous marine sciences graduate courses. By 1976, "I ended up on the Regina Maris, a 146 barkentine, conducting a whale census around Newfoundland and Labrador. When I returned people began asking me to do things, give lectures, run whale watches, etc."

He met Richard Sears on Mt. Desert Island (actually a very large rock) lighthouse and the Mingan Island Cetacean Study (MICS) was soon conceived. MICS is now the longest running blue whale research program.

30 years into a unique career, after teaching at every level except seventh-grade, and helping to establish a research center in Canada, Mike teaches future elementary school teachers at Wheelock College in Boston. He chose Wheelock to make a difference, to improve science teaching in elementary schools by influencing future educators before they hit the classrooms. Ten years ago he was asked by two Simmons College professors to help with an oceanographic electronic bulletin board, and with support from the National Science Foundation, WhaleNet was born. "As Jimmy Buffett says `every place you stop is a place to start.' If you want to do something new, just do it."