Baleen whales exhale with loud, conspicuous “semi-explosive” spouts when they return to the surface to breathe. Modern behavioral research makes extensive use of these sounds to detect and track animals, as well as infer dive depths, oxygen consumption and disturbance. In contrast, the acoustic features of spouts have received far less attention. We will review these understudied aerial sounds: (normal blows, wheezed blows and trumpet blasts) and discuss their connection to whale behavior. We also describe several new blowhole sounds (pew, hoot, thrum and gargle) that were documented during the previous summer’s research at Five Finger Lighthouse in SE Alaska. We are also examining the conservation applications of whale spouts, including their use in censusing, distance estimation, and disentangling. One additional intriguing aspect of this work is the link to Astrobiology. It is not surprising that we struggle to detect life in the universe, given that thus far we have barely acknowledged the potential complexity imbedded in whale breathing sounds. We will reflect on the notion of missed signals, the Fermi Paradox and its implications for the study of life in the universe.

Fred Sharpe has been studying the foraging ecology of humpback whales in SE Alaska since 1987. He received his Ph.D. from Simon Fraser University and is currently a Co-Investigator with the WhaleSETI Research Team. He is a co-founder of the Alaska Whale Foundation and currently serves as AWF’s stranding coordinator and as a volunteer with NOAA’s Large Whale Disentanglement Response. His research interests include paralinguistic communication (aerial sounds) at Five Finger Lighthouse in Frederick Sound, Alaska. Fred’s interest in conservation biology has led him to Hawaiian to investigate Polynesian Traditional Ecological Knowledge and impacts to Hawaii’s baleen whales from commercial whaling. He has been awarded the Fairfield Award for Innovative Marine Mammal Research and the Society for Marine Mammology’s Award for Excellence in Scientific Communication. He is a naturalist in the classical tradition and enjoys botanizing and conserving native grasslands. During his botany undergraduate days (University of Washington) he co-authored and illustrated Wild Plants of the San Juan Islands. After graduation, he continued his work in the archipelago and co-authored and illustrated Birding in the San Juan Islands.

Rachel Meade is an early-career marine mammalogist dedicated to understanding and conserving marine mammal behavior and culture through hands-on field research, bioacoustic analysis, scientific collaboration and public engagement. She holds a B.S. in Marine and Coastal Science from Western Washington University and is a key researcher on humpback whale non-vocal sounds. Her work includes field seasons in Southeast Alaska and the San Juan Islands, bioacoustic analysis, marine mammal rehabilitation, and public outreach to bridge science and conservation. Rachel has experience in marine mammal rehabilitation, stranding response, and necropsies, working with organizations such as SR3 and the San Juan County Marine Mammal Stranding Network. She is also an AAUS Scientific Diver, a Level 1 Large Whale Entanglement Response Responder, and presented this research at the Society for Marine Mammalogy Conference (SMM 2024) and is currently working towards publication on the team's humpback whale bioacoustic research.

Join Dr. Anais Remili for an in-depth look at how molecular ecology is transforming our understanding of killer whale diets. Using lipids from blubber biopsies, researchers can now reconstruct what these top predators eat over the long term—without the need for continuous monitoring. This technique has been applied to multiple North Atlantic populations and is now being used to predict the diet of endangered Southern Resident killer whales. We will also explore how dietary preferences influence the accumulation of harmful contaminants like PCBs and other "forever chemicals," and the implications for the health of some killer whale populations.

Anaïs Remili is a postdoctoral fellow at Simon Fraser University (Vancouver, Canada), studying ecotoxicology (contaminants and diets) in marine mammals, with a focus on killer whales. She is also the editor-in-chief of Whale Scientists, a marine mammal website by early-career researchers.