Dr. "Stormy" Mayo on Right Whales: Stewardship at the Edge of Extinction

A Guild Speaker Presentation–“Right Whales: Stewardship at the Edge of Extinction” with Dr. Charles “Stormy” Mayo, Senior Scientist and Director of the North Atlantic Right Whale Ecology Program at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown. The right whale of the North Atlantic Ocean is the rarest of the great whales, clinging to existence on the very brink of extinction, threatened by entanglement in fishing gear and the insidious effects of climate change.The whales’ story, along with efforts by scientists and conservationists to save them, speaks to the issues of biodiversity, protection of the oceans, the conflict between conservation and economic imperatives, and animal welfare.In this extensively illustrated presentation Dr. Mayo will describe the status of the right whales, their history, the major efforts to understand and protect them, and pose the ultimate question: “As stewards responsible for the vitality of the coastal waters of Cape Cod and the Islands,…