American Cetacean Society of San Diego

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American Cetacean Society of San Diego

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The ACS protects whales, dolphins, porpoises, and their habitats through public public education.

10/06/2026

🐋🦴 Join ACS San Diego for our October Chapter Meeting! 🦴🐋

We’re excited to welcome Dr. Margaret Morris of Scripps Institution of Oceanography for:

✨ Tales and Tones of Baleen Whale Bones ✨

📅 Wednesday, October 14, 2026
⏰ 7:00 PM
📍 Point Loma Nazarene University — Latter Hall 101
💻 Attend in person or via Zoom!

Dr. Morris will share how baleen whale bones can help us better understand these incredible animals — from the excavation of a young gray whale and a ship-struck fin whale in San Diego to research exploring how vibrations travel through whale skulls and contribute to their ability to hear low-frequency sounds. 🐋🎶

Margaret is a postdoctoral researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, where she combines physics, anatomy, and marine science to investigate how baleen whales hear and uses recovered whale skeletons to help educate the public.

🍽️ Come early and join us for dinner/happy hour!
📍 The Fish Shop — Point Loma
🕓 4:45 PM
1110 Rosecrans St #100, San Diego

💻 Zoom registration:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/NxZPVRAeSgy5zTxLhl0ebA

Meeting ID: 860 5154 0692

We hope to see you there! 🐋💙

09/08/2026

🌊🐋 Volunteers Needed for Walter Munk Day! 🐋🌊

Join ACS San Diego as we celebrate the incredible legacy of Walter Munk and help share our passion for cetaceans, ocean conservation, and marine education with the community! 💙

📅 Saturday, October 3, 2026
⏰ 9:30 AM–4:00 PM — various 2.5-hour volunteer shifts available
📍 Kellogg Park, La Jolla Shores

ACS San Diego will have a chapter table at Walter Munk Day: “Celebrate Our Oceans,” a FREE day of ocean discovery featuring 70+ ocean-related exhibits, interactive activities, marine science, art, music, food trucks, and more! 🌊🤿🐠

Want to volunteer with us?
📧 Email [email protected] with the subject line “Volunteer Munk Day” and our community outreach team will be in touch.

Come help us inspire the next generation of ocean advocates while celebrating Walter Munk’s remarkable legacy of exploration, science, education, and conservation! 🐬💙

09/06/2026

🐋✨ RESCHEDULED! JOIN US SEPTEMBER 9! ✨🐋

We’re excited to welcome Dr. Ted Cheeseman, co-founder and director of Happywhale, for a special ACS San Diego presentation:

🌊 North Pacific Humpback Whale Conservation Science Through the Stories of Five Whales with Happywhale

Follow the stories of Big Mama, Fran, Old Timer, and other individual humpbacks as Ted shares how photo-ID, AI, and citizen science are helping researchers better understand whale populations, behavior, culture, and conservation across the North Pacific. 📸🐋

💻 Ted will be presenting LIVE via Zoom
👀 Want to watch with us? Join our Watch Party at PLNU!

📅 Wednesday, September 9, 2026
⏰ 7:00 PM
📍 Point Loma Nazarene University — Latter Hall 101

🍻 Come hang out with us beforehand!
📍 The Fish Shop, Point Loma
⏰ 4:45 PM

💻 Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85774341084
Meeting ID: 513 147 5168

From following individual whales across decades to uncovering major population changes, this is one you won’t want to miss. 💙🌊

08/07/2026

🐋🎶 Join the American Cetacean Society – San Diego Chapter for our August meeting!

We’re excited to welcome Alexa Manley for her presentation:

“Vocal Matching and Changes in Beluga Vocalizations with and without Human-Generated Signals”

📅 Wednesday, August 12
⏰ 7:00 PM
📍 Point Loma Nazarene University — Latter 101

Alexa earned her B.S. in Biology with a concentration in Marine Science from the University of Tampa and recently completed her M.S. in Environmental and Ocean Sciences at the University of San Diego. For her master’s thesis, Alexa studied beluga whale communication, investigating how belugas vocalize, the contexts surrounding their vocal behaviors, and how their vocalizations may change in the presence of human-generated signals.

Come learn more about the fascinating acoustic world of beluga whales and what their vocal behavior can teach us about cetacean communication! 🐋🔊🌊

We hope to see you there!

07/13/2026

🐋 Don’t miss The Witness Is a Whale on KPBS!

🗓️Wednesday, July 15 at 9:00 PM
📺 KPBS San Diego

Join filmmaker Cheryl Dean and Nick Dean for this award-winning documentary that uncovers the hidden history of massive illegal whaling by the Soviet Union and Japan—one of the greatest environmental crimes of the 20th century.

Narrated by Sir Jonathan Pryce, The Witness Is a Whale combines breathtaking cinematography, remarkable whale behavior, and environmental detective work to tell a powerful story about whales, conservation, and the health of our oceans.

🏆 Winner of Best Conservation Film at New York WILD, Silver Winner at the Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards, and a Jackson Wild Finalist, the film has been praised as “beautiful and elegant,” “mesmerizing,” and “jaw-dropping.”

Watch the trailer and learn more: https://video.kpbs.org/show/the-witness-is-a-whale/

For upcoming in-person screenings—including La Paloma Theatre in Encinitas on September 5—visit SpindriftImages.com.

07/01/2026

🐋 Join the Pod for our ACS San Diego Summer Whale Watch! 🌊

Experience an unforgettable morning on the water with fellow ocean enthusiasts as we search for whales, dolphins, sea lions, seabirds, and other incredible marine wildlife off the coast of San Diego!

📅 Saturday, July 25
🕘 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM
📍 San Diego Whale Watch
1617 Quivira Road, San Diego, CA 92109

🎟️ Current ACS members: Check your email for your exclusive discount code!

Not a member yet? Join ACS today and receive the member discount while supporting marine mammal conservation, education, and research.

📲 Scan the QR code or visit www.sdwhalewatch.com for tickets and event information.

We can’t wait to see you on the water! 🐬💙

07/01/2026

🐢 Join us next week for our July ACS San Diego Chapter meeting!

We’re excited to welcome Dr. Sheila Madrak for a fascinating presentation on “Sea Turtles in Urbanized Environments.”

Dr. Madrak is a conservation ecologist whose research focuses on marine turtle movement, behavior, and habitat use. For the past 17 years, she has been part of a NOAA collaborative team studying East Pacific green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in San Diego Bay. Her research has advanced our understanding of how these threatened turtles navigate and thrive in one of Southern California’s most urbanized coastal environments.

She earned her Ph.D. through the Joint Doctoral Program in Ecology at San Diego State University and the University of California, Davis, where she investigated the influence of temperature on habitat use by East Pacific green turtles. Throughout her career, she has worked with the United States Geological Survey, the City of San Diego, AECOM, and San Diego Miramar College. She currently serves as the Chief Research and Conservation Officer at the Cayman Turtle Conservation and Education Centre.

Whether you’re passionate about sea turtles, marine conservation, or coastal ecology, you won’t want to miss this engaging presentation!

📅 Wednesday, July 8
🕖 7:00 PM PDT
💻 Zoom only (No in-person meeting)

🔗 Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85774341084
Meeting ID: 857 7434 1084

06/04/2026

Join us for the next American Cetacean Society San Diego meeting!🐬

📍 Point Loma Nazarene University — Latter Hall Room 101
🗓 Wednesday, June 10, 2026
⏰ 7:00 PM PT

💻 Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85774341084
Meeting ID: 857 7434 1084

🌊 “Flashing Red Lights for a Black and White Porpoise: Dall’s Porpoise Declines Along the West Coast of North America”

Dall’s porpoises are among the fastest and most unforgettable cetaceans in the ocean, known for their iconic “rooster tail” spray as they race across the water’s surface. But recent research is raising concerns about apparent declines in the eastern North Pacific population.

Join us as marine mammal scientist Dr. Thomas Jefferson shares findings from his 2025 ACS-funded research investigating evidence for these declines, what may be driving them, and what this means for the future conservation of Dall’s porpoises along the west coast.

About the Speaker:
Dr. Thomas A. Jefferson has studied marine mammals since 1983 and has authored more than 200 books and scientific papers on cetaceans. He is Director of Clymene Enterprises and VIVA Vaquita, with research focused on marine mammal systematics, population ecology, conservation, and species threatened by human activities.

We hope to see you there- in person or online!

04/27/2026

Moby Pic 🐋✨ Building a S***m Whale Census One Fluke at a Time

Join us for a deep dive into the world of the S***m Whale, the largest apex predator on Earth. From record breaking dives around 3,000 m to complex communication and culture, these giants are full of extremes. This talk explores their biology, the legacy of whaling, and how photo ID and citizen science are helping us understand their presence right here off California.

👤 About the speaker
Kiku Loomis is a sustainability strategist turned marine conservationist with over 20 years of experience leading global impact across nonprofit and corporate sectors. She holds an MBA from INSEAD, a degree from Princeton, and a Master’s of Advanced Studies from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Her project Moby Pic compiles more than 30 years of NOAA data into the first public photo ID catalog of s***m whales in the Northeast Pacific, bridging science, technology, and conservation in a powerful way. She also works with platforms like Flukebook and Happywhale to expand access to cetacean research.

📍 Point Loma Nazarene University, Latter Hall 101
🗓 Wednesday May 13
⏰ 7 PM

Deep ocean giants and real conservation impact, come be part of it 🌊

04/02/2026

Whales have dialects, dolphins have names, and yes… there may even be a little cetacean gossip involved. 🐬🌊

Join us for our April ACS San Diego Speaker Series at our new location:

Names, Dialects & Gossip Among Cetaceans: Adventures in Figuring Out What Cetaceans Say & How They Say It (and Why It Matters!)

Wednesday, April 8, 2026: 7:00 PM
Point Loma Nazarene University: Latter Hall, Room 101
3900 Lomaland Dr, San Diego, CA 92106

We’re excited to welcome Anna Gierhart, MAS, and Dr. Ann Bowles for an evening exploring cetacean communication, dolphin acoustics, and what these signals can reveal about behavior, social lives, and conservation.

Location notes:
•ACS meetings are officially moving from Legacy Whale Watch to Point Loma Nazarene University!
•Let the guard gate know you’re there for ACS in Latter 101
•Follow ACS signage when you arrive on campus

Can’t join us in person?
• Join live on Zoom at 7:00 PM PT
• The talk will be recorded and later posted to the ACS website and YouTube

Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5131475168?pwd=UTNKckY5S0ZjaUxuVGhrTmNGempCUT09&omn=83354906817
Meeting ID: 513 147 5168
Passcode: Whales

Address

San Diego, CA

Website

https://www.acssandiego.org/

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