Wild Ocean Whale Society (WOWs)
Respect, Observe, Preserve
Research & Monitoring
Cetacean movements have changed drastically over the years which is evidenced through our documented research and monitoring. Research and monitoring extends to individual whale identification, where possible, in addition to mapping travels of specific identified animals and notes on their behaviour.
Research & Monitoring programs overlap to our other programs for the purpose of education and awareness. The programs provide the information in public reports and data for additional research utilized by Universities, not only in British Columbia, but from across Canada and the U.S., as well as the Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans and other researchers.
RESEARCH:
Our archived dataset has approximately 30,000 cetacean sightings reports documented and mapped as far back as 2013. The unmapped reports covering 2010-2012 remain viewable on our website. Data is updated and published year round from all submitted reports.
Data for Research:
This data is available by request in a downloadable csv / spreadsheet file format for specific use in research, technical analysis, or papers. Please use our data request form or contact us with questions.
Data for General Education and Interest:
Please use our map filters in our published reports, which allow for sorting by timeframe, species and locations.
MONITORING:
Monitoring is done in real time whenever possible and is a requirement when animals are in distress.
Every sightings report provides valuable data on species and their movements. All sightings reports are retained as part of our database.
To assist the public in providing this monitoring data, WOWs installed a live streaming PTZ web camera viewable through our YouTube channel.
And, in partnership with the City and District of Powell River (qathet) public use binoculars, as well as interpretive signage were installed in key shore based locations to help identify species.