Whales as Individuals

This project builds upon the SPLASH (Structure of Populations, Levels of Abundance and Status of Humpbacks) project where 7,971 unique Humpback Whale individuals were identified. SPLASH represents one of the largest international collaborative studies of any whale population ever conducted. It was designed to determine the abundance, trends, movements, and population structure of humpback whales throughout the North Pacific and to examine human impacts on this population.

The SPLASH study involved over 50 research groups and more than 400 researchers in 10 countries. It was managed by Cascadia Research Collective (a collaborator on this project) and supported by a number of agencies and organizations including the National Marine Fisheries Service, the National Marine Sanctuary Program, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Pacific Life Foundation, Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and Commission for Environmental Cooperation with additional support from a number of other organizations and governments for effort in specific regions. More information about the project is available via a NOAA podcast and the SPLASH final report.

Results from Zooniverse volunteer classifications:
January 16, 2016. We have just been looking at fluke pigment categories, comparing the coloration that volunteers assigned to 2500 images where scientists categorized the same flukes. Results are great! Over 50% of results are within 0.2 categories of what scientists said (basically exact), 91% of results are within 1 category, and if I look at the most different, those that are > 2 categories different, the majority of these are from errors in the data from scientists. Here's an example: The photo below, of 'CRC-15599', was categorized by scientists as a 5, meaning all dark. This is obviously a data error, fixed thanks to Zooniverse volunteers. Keep up the great work! 😃