2016: the year in review

A message from CEO Dr. Iain Kerr
2016 has been a most productive year for Ocean Alliance. If you go to our website (whale.org) you will find blogs and videos about our work with: SnotBot, STEAM initiatives, right whales, blue whales, ocean plastics and climate change. You will also find expressions of interest in our work from Secretary of State John Kerry as well as from students of the Parley Ocean School in Jamaica.
You know what a solid bang for the buck we provide: when I told commercial drone operators at the Drone World Expo the cost of a SnotBot expedition they said they didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, given how much we do for so little.
Most charities raise up to 40% of their funding in November and December; we hope that you will confirm your continued belief in the work we do by making a donation or buying some SnotBot swag in our store or adopting a whale.
From continued development of benign research tools such as SnotBot; data collection for the 48th consecutive season of our Southern right whale program (the longest continuous study of a great whale behavior on the planet) and our STEM and STEAM education initiatives. Our vision is an ocean that is healthy for whales and humans.
Please help us turn that dream into a reality.
Highlights from 2016
• January: Extended SnotBot interview with Sir Patrick Stewart posted on our website.
• February: CEO Iain Kerr was asked to join the Advisory Board of Drone World Expo, where “thought leaders, industry experts and end-users gather in the heart of Silicon Valley to present real-world solutions to business and environmental challenges.”
• March 25-April 6: Our second SnotBot Expedition was launched to Baja California. Our team visited two different locations, collecting respiratory or “blow” samples from gray whales in San Ignacio Lagoon and blue and humpback whales in Bahia La Paz, where we were visited by a film crew from drone manufacturer DJI. The expedition was an enormous success.

• April: Ocean Alliance was a consultant for Sonic Sea, a documentary on sound pollution in our oceans. We also provided whale recordings for Sonic Seas.
• May 30: The 4-minute video produced by DJI during our SnotBot Baja California expedition went live. This incredibly well made video, created by award winning cameraman Tom Fitz and producer Adrienne Hall, has already been viewed more than 130,000 times on YouTube.
• June 4: At the International Whaling Commission meeting in Slovenia. Dr. Mariano Sironi, one of our partners at the Instituto de Conservacion de Ballenas (ICB) in Argentina presented a report about our Southern right whale program.
• June 8: SnotBot is labelled one of the top 8 breakthroughs saving our oceans by Matthew Mulrennan, the manager of the XPRIZE Ocean Initiative.
• June 15: The Big G Foundation supported the development of EarBot. This gave us a prototype to take to Alaska during our third SnotBot Expedition for trials.
• June 18: Ocean Alliance collaborated with the North Shore Arts Association for an exhibit and fundraiser that lasted over a month. This show included a series of talks including one by Iain Kerr and a performance of “Sea Change” by Roger Payne and Lisa Harrow. Local artists painted on old slates from one of the Paint Factory buildings; these unique and historical pieces of art were then put up for auction. Over $9,000 was raised and shared between Ocean Alliance and NSAA.

• July 22: We were given a 30-foot Bertram vessel called Double Header. This is the perfect boat for our regional SnotBot and toxicology programs. We have named the vessel Cachalot, after the French/Spanish name for sperm whale.
• July 26: We hosted a successful Harbor Cruise fundraiser with the generous help of our partners at Seven Seas Whale Watch and their vessel the Privateer IV. We raised over $4,000 which, for a first event, is a success. We intend to make this an annual event. http://whale.org/gloucester-harbor-cruise/
• August 10: Ocean Alliance launched —this one to Frederick Sound, Alaska. third SnotBot expedition —this one to Frederick Sound, Alaska. The trip achieved solid advances in SnotBot methodology and we were able to collect significantly more samples than our original goal. We also made the first tests of ‘EarBot’ (for listening to whales underwater) and ‘FLIRBot’ (a drone equipped with an InfraRed camera for studying/detecting whales at night/in lowlight conditions) and collected some exceptional footage of whales.
• Stories on SnotBot exceeded 400 press articles worldwide! This includes two facebook videos that combined have gotten over 2 MILLION views!
https://www.facebook.com/PlayGroundMag/videos/1228292177210656/
https://www.facebook.com/thedodosite/videos/911934465607896/
• August: SnotBot is to be a kids book! We are working with the publishers Houghton Mifflin to create a “high interest reading” book for Pre-K through Grade 6, that will be released in 2017! The book is being produced as part of a Pinnell Classroom Literacy project, a high-interest reading and literacy program.
• September 3 – 5: we held an open house and art exhibition on our site at the Gloucester Paint Manufactory in association with the Trident Gallery, called The Deep Sea Has Its Stars. Over 1,000 people visited the site, which was wonderful exposure for us in the city of Gloucester, and we raised over $4,000. The success of this event means that we will also make it an annual event. Board members Linde McNamara and her husband, Mac, volunteered at the event.
• September 7: Roger Payne joined Paul Winter in Nantucket for a “Whales Alive” concert.
• September 11: John Atkinson flew down to Argentina to join Vicky Rowntree and the ICB team for the 47 consecutive field season and aerial survey studying the Southern right whales at Peninsula Valdez.
• September 12: Tom Costello from NBC Nightly News visited Ocean Alliance to shoot a story on SnotBot. http://whale.org/nbc-nightly-news-visits-ocean-alliance/
• September 16 – 17: Roger Payne and Andy Rogan attended the Our Oceans Conference in Washington D.C., hosted by the State Department. SnotBot was personally invited to be at the event. Roger and Andy introduced SnotBot to Secretary of State John Kerry, who labelled footage of whales filmed from SnotBot ‘mesmerizing’ and ‘so amazing.’ The conference also included keynote speeches by President Barack Obama and Leonardo DiCaprio. Other exhibition hall presenters included Oceana, SkyTruth/Google, Pew, the US Navy, Seavision, Liquid Robotics, and NASA (all with multimillion-dollar budgest as against Ocean Alliance’s less than $1 million budget).

• September 20: SnotBot is announced as one of three winners of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Innovative Drone Exploration and Application (IDEA) Competition. Award to be presented at Drone World Expo.
• September: Roger Payne’s work was featured in the 2016 Indianapolis Prize Guide to Animal Conservation Giving.
Pages 32 & 33.
• October 14 – 16: Iain Kerr worked with the Parley Ocean School in Jamaica to educate and introduce disadvantaged children to our oceans and the problem of ocean plastics.
• November 7 – 14: Iain Kerr went to the Maldives with Adidas and Parley for the Oceans in a program associated with the new Adidas shoe made from recycled ocean plastic.

• October 14: Our work with the local high school robotics team, the Ipswich Tigers, is reported on by CBS Boston affiliate WBZ-TV. The students made an altimeter for SnotBot that informs the pilot how high the drone is above the whale through an earpiece, a vital piece of equipment. This is the kind of program we love: high school kids making a genuine difference to our primary research program. This was also reported in our local newspaper.
• November 1: Of all the videos made on SnotBot, this is one of the most exciting! The US Department of State made a video on the program that they then shared with their embassies all around the world!
• November 15 – 16: Iain Kerr gave a SnotBot talk at the Drone World Expo in San Jose, and gave a second SnotBot talk as a winner of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Innovative Drone Exploration and Application (IDEA) Competition.

SnotBot makes a splash at Drone World Expo

“It has been an incredibly productive year! We thank you for giving us the opportunity to do what we do best. As we look to 2017 I can tell you that we have some very exciting projects and collaborations on the horizon! We’re excited to take SnotBot to the next level, and formally introduce EarBot, FLIRBot, and other bot’ that are changing the way we do whale research. We’re also looking forward to continuing renovations of our home at the Gloucester Paint Manufactory and our 48th consecutive Southern right whale season. But most of all we are looking forward to sharing some adventures with all of you and continuing to take steps towards protecting whales and the ocean environment in which they swim.”
Roger Payne – Founder and President.