Our Team - Wild Ocean Whale Society (WOWs)

WOWs dedicated team is based on volunteers who share the load. All Directorship is volunteer only, and we currently have only two part-time paid staff. There are many more volunteers who help out with on the ground work assisting with our information tables, fundraising needs, at presentations, and rescues. Please check under the Join menu for any upcoming positions.

Susan MacKay - Founder / Director

Susan MacKay‘s passion for recording the lives of whales and dolphins began many years ago. She and her husband, Grant, travelled the waters of B.C. from the lower Georgia Strait to Alaska capturing sounds and images of the coast and its wildlife. Susan relocated to Powell River from Savary Island after Grant’s passing, and in 2010 founded the website Whales and Dolphins BC. Documenting and recording the wildlife she saw was a way to engage and educate the public by sharing her love of these amazing animals. This evolved into our collaborative sightings network with whale watching boats, researchers, and the public contributing to this valuable data. Her goal in establishing Wild Ocean Whale Society in 2013 was to create a non-profit platform through which this work could be funded sustainably and collaboratively with like minded individuals to continue this important work.

Judy Brant - Director

Judy Brant has lived in the Powell River area for many years, yet had barely noticed the whales in her front yard until her then new neighbour, Susan MacKay pointed them out. Once out on the water with Susan and seeing these magnificent whales and dolphins, Judy was hooked for good. She is a valuable asset to WOWs, coordinating local personnel to staff our fundraising events and outreach information tables and booths as well as dealing with many other aspects of WOWs general functioning.

Ivan Ng - Director / Editor / Publisher

Ivan Ng started volunteering with WOWs in 2015 during the start of our mapping system. He has had a life-long interest in cetaceans after reading some books by Jacques Cousteau at a very young age. In addition to work as Editor / Publisher of our Whales and Dolphins BC Sightings Reports and Maps, Ivan is a high school Science Teacher, primarily teaching biology and chemistry. When he finds time between his work and his family, he enjoys playing football, reading books about military history, and building model warships. His ability to share information about cetaceans in our report preambles and meticulous editing contributes immensely to our published reports and data.

Emily Browne - Director / Editor

Emily Browne started with WOWs in 2019. Our newest member to the Board, she became interested in marine mammals after a whale watching trip to Telegraph Cove when she was 12. Emily went on to complete a Bachelors of Science in Biology. Most of her summers are spent visiting her Dad on Savary Island and bobbing around in his boat looking for or at whales. Her other love in life is howler monkeys and she has spent many months volunteering at a rescue centre in Costa Rica helping to rehabilitate howler monkeys back into the wild. Emily works to coordinate our marine mammal rescue volunteers as well as working in many other capacities with WOWs. Always ready with a smile, she’s very good at changing work hats in her various roles, as and when needed.

Myrt Brewster - Analyst / Webcam Manager

Myrt Brewster started with WOWS as a Sightings Analyst in 2016 and has been responsible for the technical side of the RTM (Real Time Monitoring) system for a number of those years. She is a retired Network Administrator with a Diploma in Computer Systems from N.A.I.T. (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology). Living now in Powell River, after spending the rest of their lives in Alberta, Myrt and her husband love being near the ocean where on a good day they might get to see whales, dolphins, sea lions and other fascinating sea life. After a career in the Information Technology field, which is now one of her hobbies, she spends time gardening, quilting, biking and travelling in their motor home.

Shauna Corr - Analyst / Media Editor

Shauna Corr joined WOWs as a Sightings Analyst in 2018 while in Vancouver, and continues to volunteer as a Media Editor from England. A move to British Columbia in 2016 inspired her love of cetaceans, with a trip to Powell River for our two day World of Whales workshop being one of the highlights! The short trip around Harwood Island included seeing orca, humpbacks, and even getting splashed by a sealion hiding from the orca. Having completed her Masters in Marine Biology at the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth, England, where she studied the population dynamics and human-based risks imposed on the resident pod of bottlenose dolphins around the South Coast of England she is now embarking on a PhD in Marine Chemical Ecology. She spends her spare time knitting and hiking around rural Devon, England!

Alan Chang - Editor / Analyst

Alan Chang joined WOWs as a sighting analyst January 2019. He has a Bachelors degree in Ecology and Biodiversity from the University of Hong Kong. His interest in whales began from a marine mammal field course in the Philippines during his undergraduate studies. Since then, he has participated in a variety of cetacean research projects and labs, especially in photo identification and population analysis. In early 2020, he finished a thesis about the diurnal movement of bottlenose dolphins during a research internship at the Bottlenose Dolphin Research Institute in Spain. Currently, Alan works with DFO working with the freshwater fisheries in Saskatchewan while volunteering online with us. He misses the diversity of marine mammals in the Salish Sea which always amaze him! His hobbies include wildlife and landscape photography, hiking, traveling, and exploring local parks and the outdoors.

Jill Healey - Analyst

Jill Healey spent most of her life in the Interior of BC. Jill’s dream of living near the ocean came true in early 2019 when she moved with her husband and 2 Golden Retrievers to Vancouver Island. Any opportunity to hike, camp, or travel near the water always meant a constant watch out towards the sea for any and all cetaceans. Taking this search to the Internet for sightings reports is what led Jill to WOWs and the opportunity to participate with a fantastic team of like minded people with a passion for marine conservation. Along with hiking, camping, fishing, and now sea kayaking, Jill is a self-taught seamstress who has been slowly working on a self-made wardrobe. A quirky fact about Jill, she has a secret love of tug boats and never misses an opportunity to grab a photo.

Tanita Sandana - Analyst

Tanita Sandana spent her childhood summers living on a converted fishing boat with her family exploring the B.C coast and sharing many moments with porpoise, orca and whales. The ocean shaped much of who Tanita is today. Although eventually settling down in Kelowna, she has spent a few years traveling to Hawaii to explore the oceans there as much as she could. After becoming a Mom 9 years ago, Tanita began to look at things differently. The oceans that she once enjoyed so much were beginning to change. She began learning about the issues her underwater animal friends were facing and knew she had to do something to protect them for all future generations of species, including humans. Becoming involved with WOWs is a great way to contribute to an awesome group as well as share the information that is collected with anyone who is hoping to explore the B.C coast or wanting to learn more about our coastal species.

Brenda Currie - Texada Feral Cat Initiative - Rescue & Response

Brenda works tirelessly with our Texada Feral Cat Initiative to ensure the cats within the colonies are spayed and neutered. She works on helping us raise the funds needed for veterinary costs, transportation and other direct costs associated with this initiative as well as coordinating the trapping, holding (in a containment area her partner Roger built) and transporting cats, food, and other needs to and from Texada Island. She is WOWs on the ground lead.

Micheline Macauley - Texada Feral Cat Initiative - Rescue & Response

Micheline Macauley has helped with WOWs' Rescue and Response numerous times on Texada Island. With her goal to help all animals in need, joining our Texada Feral Cat Initiative was an obvious fit. She has not only adopted a couple of the initial batch of feral kittens, she also fosters some of our rescued kittens when needed. Mich lived in Powell River from 1965 till 1992, and has lived on Texada Island since. She is an avid hiker and kayaker frequently reporting to our whale, dolphin and porpoise sightings and taking photos when possible.

Sean Antrim - Volunteer

Sean Antrim first fell in love with the sea in tide-pools as a young kid. As soon as he was old enough, he started volunteering with the Vancouver Aquarium, learning about and interpreting wildlife with the public on topics ranging from microscopic invertebrates to massive baleen whales. He started volunteering with WOWS after attending a Wild Ocean Whale Society two day World of Whales conference in Powell River in 2018. In his free time, he walks the seawall and beaches near his home in Nanaimo, and spends as much time as possible sailing the Salish Sea with at least one eye open for any blows off in the distance.

Eric Schwartz - IT

Eric Schwartz worked primarily in a volunteer capacity with WOWs from 2013 to 2019. Eric volunteered his time, effort, and skill to develop our sightings publication and implement the Google Cloud based systems our volunteers use to track, monitor, store and publish the cetacean research data we collect for our programs and additional research.
It is through his efforts and dedication to this work we felt he could not be omitted from Our Team page. We wish him well in all his endeavours.

Wild Ocean Whale Society (WOWs)