Students in Marsha Green's Interim class in Hawaii track the behaviors of humpback whales.

Using a theodolite and binoculars to view whales are: (l to r) Andrew Dankel ’04, Megan LeFevre ’05, Sharon Cohen ’05, Kelly Losito ’05 and Kapria White (team leader).

Maui, Hawaii

photos: Christine Iannicelli

Two-thirds of the North Pacific’s population of humpback whales come to Maui each winter to mate and give birth. That’s why the effects of boats on these endangered species mean so much to Marsha Green, Ph.D., professor of psychology and head of the Ocean Mammal Institute in Hawaii.

Since 1986, Green has taken students to Hawaii during Interim to participate in an ongoing field study on the Hawaiian humpback whale. The course, which counts as a general studies lab science, also explores five major marine environmental concerns: whaling, global warming, chemical pollution, noise pollution and over fishing. “I think for a lot of people it’s a real eye opener,” says Green.

Classes are held each night, and during the day, students worked in teams on their field research. Out on a cliff that overlooks the ocean, they used binoculars and a theodolite, a surveyor’s instrument with a thirty-power telescope, to view a pod of whales that was undisturbed, with no boats around them. They then recorded the whales’ behaviors, such as how many times the whales surfaced and how long they stayed below the water. Once a boat came by, the whales’ behaviors would be recorded once again. “It’s clear that boats have an effect on whales,” says Green. “After the boats leave the whales stay down longer. It’s called vertical avoidance…as if they are hiding. They’d stay down there twice as long as they normally do.”

Psychology major Christine Iannicelli ’06 says her data definitely showed that boats have an effect on whales. “When the boats weren’t there we saw lots of behavior from the whales. But when the boats came by, most of them would try to get away and it was really hard to find them again.”

During Green’s 1989 trip, the research her students collected even helped pass a law banning parasail boats from December 15 to May 15, the time when whales are in the area. At the time, residents complained that because of parasail boats the whales were no longer coming close to shore, the area where the mothers generally rest. After finding that parasail boats did in fact have a big impact on the whales, Green presented the data to the Hawaii state legislature and the law was passed.

“The parasail people are still trying to get that reversed,” says Green.

Iannicelli, who says she’s never been an “outdoorsy” type of person, says the best part of the experience was being able to connect to nature. “It’s so calm and peaceful there,” she says. “I want to be a therapist. The trip really made me think about how being in nature can help people.” Iannicelli says that she and Green are currently looking into the possibility of a project on people with eating disorders and how nature can help them.

“It (the trip) really changed me in a lot of ways.”