Naturalist, author, conservationist, researcher
Rare, threatened subspecies of dolphins and porpoises live in the Black Sea along Ukraine’s coast. They are also victims of war, along with the researchers who study them. Last year, I worked closely with 20 scientists including both Ukrainian and Russian colleagues to identify dolphin and porpoise habitats in the Black Sea. Following our five-day […]
2021 is the 22nd year for the Far East Russia Orca Project (FEROP). Along with Alexander Burdin and Hal Sato, I co-founded the project in 1999 and have stayed on as co-Director. These days Olga Filatova and Tanya Ivkovich lead the field teams. I am pleased to say that the FEROP team has managed to visit […]
From 22-26 February, eight of us within the IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force prepared and conducted Zoom sessions with scientists that have now resulted in the identification of 23 new candidate Important Marine Mammal Areas (cIMMAs). Participants included more than 25 scientists from 12 countries, from Turkey to Turkmenistan, who research marine mammals […]
4 July 2020. Anyone watching blue, humpback or sperm whales can clearly see and hear the power-packed spout that comes just before they suck in a deep breath. Are whales and dolphins noticing that the air is cleaner these days since the coronavirus lockdown? Do they sense there is less ship traffic as economies almost […]
Talking whales, MPAs, important marine mammal areas (IMMAs) and more I’ve been busy doing podcasts the past 2 weeks.• with Chris Parsons, based in Washington, D.C., for Marine Mammal Science: https://bit.ly/MMSpodcastParsons_Hoyt• with Charlie Moores, from War on Wildlife, in England: http://waronwildlife.co.uk/…/04/08/checking-in-erich-hoyt-…/• with Mark Leiren-Young & Skaana in British Columbia, Canada, a 2 parter: https://bit.ly/podcast_Skaana_Hoyt_part_1https://bit.ly/podcast_Skaana_Hoyt_part_2 Mostly I talk about […]
25 February 2020. I’m just back from Perth, Australia, where our team worked with 30 experts to identify an impressive total of 45 candidate important marine mammal areas, or cIMMAs in the waters around Australia, New Zealand and the southeast Indian Ocean. Several of the cIMMAs extend well into offshore high seas, outside of the […]