Dr Joshua Smith – Unmanned Aerial System Operator / Marine Mammal Observer

My main research interests focus on marine mammal behaviour and behavioural ecology, bioacoustics and spatial risk assessments. On this voyage, I will be leading the drone operations to obtain measurements and photo-identification of the whales. We also hope to obtain blow samples from the whales to collect mucus when the whale exhales as a way of monitoring the health of the whale, and will also attempt to sample surface water for whale faeces.