The podcast episode with Dr. Joe Roman, featured on the WeWhale Pod, explores his journey as a conservation biologist, focusing especially on marine ecology, whales, and their ecological importance. The discussion covers his unique research on whale feces—how it recycles nutrients in the ocean through the "whale pump"—and shares anecdotes from his global search for whale poop. The conversation also touches on his books Eat, Poop, Die and Whale, highlighting both the ecological rol...

Our guest in this WeWhale Pod episode is Dan Jarvis, Director of Welfare and Conservation with British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR). Dan talks about moving to Cornwall and how this influenced his interests and career. He also explains the origins of BDMLR and how it expanded from focusing on seal rescues in its early days to also coming to the aid of stranded or entangled whales, dolphins and porpoises. The organisation is an NGO and has 2,500 trained volunteers. Dan also share...

This special panel episode of The WeWhale Pod focuses on the problem of ghost gear in our waters and ways to combat it. Our guests are: Harry Dennis and Gavin Parker, co-founders of Waterhaul, a social enterprise based in Cornwall in the UK that recycles abandoned marine nets into high quality productsSophie Lewis, Interim CEO of the World Cetacean AllianceTom Mustill, biologist turned filmmaker and author of How to Speak Whale: A Voyage into the Future of Animal Communications. Tom is also a...

Our guest for this episode of The WeWhale Pod is Patrick Dykstra, wildlife filmmaker and TV presenter, who has for many years travelled the globe, diving with whales and learning more about their behaviours. He tells us how seeing an exhibit of a blue whale at the Smithsonian Museum at the age of 16 inspired his love of whales and the ocean. And how he transited from being a corporate lawyer to becoming a wildlife filmmaker and TV presenter. Patrick also talks about his work as a ci...

Our guest for this episode of The WeWhale Pod is Terry Wolkowicz, Co-Founder and Educational Director of non profit organisation Sound Explorations. Terry, who is based in New Bedford, Massachusetts, talks about the educational mission of the organisation. She also dives into one project in particular, Whales in Motion: A Musical and Sculptural Experience for the Blind and Visually Impaired. It combines tactile sculptures and live performance by musicians to facilitate blind and visually ...

Our guest for this episode of The WeWhale Pod is marine mammal biologist Dr Filipa Samarra, who is also the Founder and Lead Investigator of the Icelandic Orca Project. Filipa shares what brought her from her native Portugal to Iceland and talks about her journey to becoming a marine biologist. She also describes getting hooked on orca sound communication and chats about why we're so fascinated by orca as a species. Find out more about WeWhale at wewhale.co and follow us ...

Our guest for this episode of The WeWhale Pod is Naomi Rose, senior scientist (marine mammal biology) for the Animal Welfare Institute in Washington D.C. and marine mammal protection advocate. Naomi talks about her path into studying marine mammals and her particular love of orcas. As a co-author of The Case Against Marine Mammals in Captivity report, Naomi explains that the body of science has grown over the years about whales and dolphins, along with other marine mammals, tha...

Our guest for this episode of The WeWhale Pod is David C. Holroyd, dolphin trainer turned animal activist. Manchester-born David shares the unexpected way that he became a dolphin show presenter and, soon after, a trainer in the 1970s. He also talks about the special connection he developed with two bottlenose dolphins, Herbie and Duchess, and why he has been campaigning for many years to make sure whale and dolphin shows around the world are shut down forever. He also explains ...

Our guest for this episode of The WeWhale Pod is Billy Heaney, zoologist, wildlife presenter and filmmaker. Billy talks about his path to becoming a zoologist, his time spent researching grey seals in Cornwall, and his film 'In Search of the Killer Whale' which captures a pretty spontaneous trip he and two friends made to see orcas in the wild in Iceland. He also chats about his work with Whale and Dolphin Conservation's campaign 'EndCaptivityForever'. While dolphinariums have b...

Our guest for this episode of The WeWhale Pod is Dr Vanessa Pirotta, wildlife scientist and science communicator. Vanessa talks about how the film Free Willy inspired her (and a generation of marine scientists) to get involved in working with whales. She also chats about the work she does with a citizen science marine programme in Australia and her fascinating research work focusing on whale snot and using drones. The conversation also delves into southern right whales an...

Our guest for this episode of The WeWhale Pod is Finn van der Aar. She is a marine scientist, sustainability expert and bestselling author. Finn tells us about growing up close to the ocean in Ireland, her love of surfing (including an epic experience when a bottlenose dolphin surfed alongside!) and why she thinks we connect so deeply with whales and dolphins. She also talks to us about research into marine noise pollution and what can be done to reduce the noise, for the health...

Our guest for this episode of The WeWhale Pod is Hanne Strager, biologist, whale researcher and author of the recently published book The Killer Whale Journals: Our Love and Fear of Orcas Hanne tells us about her early interest in animals and also how she ended up volunteering to cook on a small fishing boat in northern Norway and how that decided what the rest of her life would be about. She also shares some of the insights and impressions she gained on her travels over the yea...

Our guest for this episode of The WeWhale Pod is Nadea Nabilla, Co-founder of Azura Indonesia. The initiative focuses on converting traditional Indonesian fishing boats to being 100% solar powered, which is more sustainable, environmentally friendly and cost effective than using combustible engines. Nadea, who first studied electronic engineering, is also a passionate advocate for our ocean, and has a huge love of scuba diving. You can find out more about Nadea's work on Instagr...

Our guest for this episode of The WeWhale Pod is Jennifer Lonsdale. Jennifer is a co-founder of the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), an international NGO that investigates and campaigns against environmental crime and abuse. Jennifer has close to 40 years’ experience working in the field, particularly focused on and leading the organisation’s Ocean Campaign. In 2016, she was awarded an OBE for services to the environment, particularly the protection of whales and dolphins. Amon...

Our guest for this episode of The WeWhale Pod is Alex Lewis. Alex is a co-founder of Fins and Fluke, a cetacean advocacy non-profit established in 2012 which particularly focuses attention on the plight of captive whales and dolphins. Amongst the topics, Alex talks about how watching the documentary The Cove moved her to become an anti captivity activist for whales and dolphins and how social media is a valuable tool to spread the word about the plight of captive cetaceans. ...

Our guest for this episode of The WeWhale Pod is Femke den Haas, Indonesia Campaign Director for Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project. Amongst the topics, Femke talks about being fascinated by dolphins and any creatures living in the ocean whilst growing up, her work with wildlife rescue groups around the world and the important rehabilitation and rescue work for dolphins taking place in Indonesia. You can find out more about Femke and her colleagues' work on the Dolphin Project website.&nbs...

Our guest for this episode of The WeWhale Pod is Dr Mariano Sironi, Scientific Director of the Instituto de Conservación de Ballenas (ICB) and marine biologist. The Instituto is a non-profit organisation headquartered in Argentina with the purpose of protecting whales and their environment through research and education. Amongst the topics, Mariano talks about the Southern Right Whale research programme that began in the Peninsula Valdes in 1971, what drew him to working with w...

Marine biologist and science communicator Áine-lisa Shannon joins us for a chat in this episode of The WeWhale Pod. Amongst the topics, Áine-lisa talks about how she connected with the ocean growing up in the West of Ireland and how there has definitely been a lot more public awareness of ocean sustainability and cetaceans in the last few years. And why you'll always find her by the sea, whether that's scuba diving, kayaking, surfing (which she says she isn't great at but enjoys...

Harry Eckman, CEO of the World Cetacean Alliance, joins us for a chat for the first episode of the WeWhale Pod. Harry is an international animal welfare specialist with more than 20 years' experience and has been CEO Of the World Cetacean Alliance (WCA) since May 2021. The WCA is a non-profit organisation whose vision is "a world where cetaceans are free, where oceans thrive, and where communities care." Amongst the topics, Harry talks to us about his path into working in...