The Wood Award is given in honour of F. G. Wood, one of the founders of the Society for Marine Mammalogy. The Award is presented to the first author of the best student paper submitted to Marine Mammal Science, every biennium. The winner is invited to present their work as a Plenary Talk at the Society of Marine Mammalogy’s Biennial Conference. All costs associated with attending the conference are provided by the society. This year’s winner is Matus Hodul from the University of Ottawa, Canada, where he is conducting his Ph.D. on the use of satellites to observe whales and other marine megafauna. His thesis focuses on the use of very-high-resolution satellite images to detect and monitor North Atlantic right whales, and distinguish this endangered species from other whales in the imagery.
Matus received his undergraduate degree at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, and his M.Sc. at the University of Ottawa studying the use of satellite imaging to measure water depth in arctic waterways.
Matus’ award winning paper focuses on the North Atlantic right whale which is critically endangered, with only 336 individuals remaining. Currently, efforts to protect and monitor these whales use visual and acoustic detection methods from both vessel and aerial platforms. Matus’ and his co-authors demonstrated that satellite imagery can also confirm the presence of North Atlantic right whales. High resolution satellite imagery was used to detect 25 right whales in Cape Cod Bay, using the whales’ callosities to unambiguously identify this species. While the images weren’t detailed enough to identify individual whales by these features, one whale with distinct markings was identified. The authors conclude that in addition to visual and acoustic monitoring, satellite imaging can be a valuable tool for tracking Nort Atlantic right whales, especially in areas not covered by traditional methods.
Congratulations Matus!
Full reference paper:
Hodul, M., Knudby, A., McKenna, B., James, A., Mayo, C., Brown, M., Durette‐Morin, D. and Bird, S., 2023. Individual North Atlantic right whales identified from space. Marine Mammal Science, 39(1), pp.220-231.
