Northern Right Whale Monitoring Program

Julie Albert to Discuss Right Whales at April General Meeting

Report From Florida Ornithological Society Meeting

Birding British Columbia’s and Point Robert’s Boundary Bay for Arctic Visitors

Colors of Nature, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

Welcome New Members

Children and Birds

Auction Items Needed

Meeting Program and Field Trip Schedule

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Julie Albert to Discuss Right Whales at April General Meeting

Julie A. Albert, the Principal Investigator and Right Whale Program Coordinator from the Marine Resources Council, will be our guest speaker at our general meeting on April 15, at 7:30 p.m.

Julie Albert earned her Bachelor of Science in marine biology at Texas A&M University at Galveston in 1995. For five years she was an active volunteer in the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network assisting with marine mammal strandings and necropsies. From 1995 through 1998 Julie worked as an aquaculture lab assistant for the National Resource Center for Cephalopods in Galveston. In 1999 Julie started volunteering for the Florida Marine Research Institute in Melbourne (now the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission). She secured her job as Program Coordinator of MRC’s right whale program in 1999.

Over the last six years Julie has:

  • Coordinated 850 volunteers into the Nation’s largest endangered species monitoring network.
  • Photo-documented right whales for individual ID in areas where aerial surveys do not regularly take place
  • Conducted numerous public education classes on the plight of North Atlantic right whales
  • Designed and distributed educational materials for the public
  • Documented right whales along the East coast of Florida (including photographing whales)
  • Authored the semi-annual 8 to 12 page newsletter to right whale volunteers to disseminate information regarding right whale injuries, entanglements, and those seen in the calving ground through the course of a season, etc.
  • Operated the toll-free hotline for right whale sightings (1-888-97-WHALE), which is available to the public from November through April.
  • Overseen the phone tree that keeps the volunteers updated and enthusiastic about their work.
  • Been responsible for the financial stability of MRC’s right whale program and the growth of the volunteer network by 40% over the last five years
  • Initiated several fundraising projects currently in use

Please join us for this exciting and informative presentation.