A lifetime studying and advocating for cetaceans: Interview with Paul Spong

Paul Spong, 87, has studied orcas since 1967, when he worked with a captive orca named Skana at the Vancouver Aquarium before advocating unsuccessfully for her release; she remained captive until her death in 1980. In 1970 he founded what became OrcaLab on Hanson Island, British Columbia, pioneering a hands-off research method using hydrophones and cameras rather than boats or tagging, after witnessing a crowd of boats surround a mother orca and newborn in the early 1980s.

Spong became involved with Greenpeace's early anti-whaling campaigns and attended his first International Whaling Commission meeting in 1975 by sneaking past security with a found delegate badge. He credits the IWC's 1982 global moratorium on commercial whaling, which he believes will never be overturned, as a transformation of a body he once called 'little more than a whalers' club.'

Spong and his wife Helena Symonds, OrcaLab's co-directors, attended the IWC's 70th meeting in Hobart, Tasmania in late September and early October, which they've announced will be their last as they pass responsibilities to younger colleagues.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.