By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
Ocean predators and their prey will have center stage as Sitka WhaleFest starts this week, with a variety of online and in-person events.
The heart of WhaleFest, the Science Symposium, will be held online, with free lectures presented Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
“That’s the core of the Sitka WhaleFest, and it’s nine speakers over three days on the theme of predators and prey,” WhaleFest director Jay Stilwell told the Sentinel.
Lecture topics range from sperm whales and Pacific herring to krill and tiger sharks.
Which ones does Stilwell recommend?
“I like them all,” he said. “I like the depth and breadth of all the speakers, so it’s really difficult for me to say, ‘check this one out for sure.’I think that all of the speakers have done a great job including multimedia into their presentations, and they can be from sharks to whales to krill, and so I think they’re all great,” he said.
While the science symposium is free online, other events will take place in person and some will charge a fee.
“You need to look at the local events which we are including this year because what we found is, you know, we’re all hungry for some normality, but we want to do it in a safe environment,” Stilwell said. “So we’ve set up events like the wildlife cruises, some adult workshops that people can safely participate in.”
Andrew Cyr, an environmental toxicologist with the Alaska Dept. of Health & Social Services, talks to students in Stacy Golden’s Sitka High School science class as they examine pink salmon this afternoon. Cyr, in town for the upcoming Sitka WhaleFest, talked about bioaccumulation of toxins in fish. The theme of this year’s marine science festival is “Preditors & Prey, a delicate dance” (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
To encourage public participation, there will be watch parties around town, places where people can get together to take part in the online sessions.
“It’s really bringing back some events that went away last year when it was a totally virtual thing,” Stilwell said. “One thing that’s new for this year is watch parties, because what we found is some of our previous participants that would come in person did not participate virtually. But we’ve set up watch parties at four locations this year: UAS, the Alaska Raptor Center, the Science Center and the Mean Queen restaurant, where people have pre-registered. And we’re keeping track of the numbers. They can come and watch in the group setting and participate in the Q and A sessions.”
That in-person involvement “brings back some of the energy and magic,” he said.
At the moment, he said, about 390 people are registered for events, a dramatic increase from about 200 in 2019.
Along with the keystone science symposium, there will be a WhaleFest film festival Friday. Paul North, founder of Meet the Ocean, will present a film on Antarctica. Also on Friday, the Maritime Grind will showcase local talent. (See story, this page.)
Registration for the free film festival has reached the capacity of Odess Theater, Stilwell said. The Maritime Grind is virtual and free, but people are being asked to register in advance.
There is a student art show at the Science Center mill building, and some pieces will be displayed at Odess Theater,” Stilwell said.
He appreciates the outpouring of effort needed to make WhaleFest happen, he said.
“Thankful to the community of Sitka and all our supporters as well as our Sitka WhaleFest science symposium committee for all of their hard work… It takes a lot of people to put together an event like that,” he said.
The pandemic continues to present challenges, he said.
“In July we had another COVID flareup here when we had done so well and a lot of people were vaccinated,” he said. “This decision to go virtual this year was the right decision, but you don’t know until you get closer to the event. Being able to provide local events safely, it seems like a normal that we haven’t experienced in a long time, but keeping an eye that we have to limit things. We can’t just say, ‘show up,’ but we’ve built out the virtual element so if people want to participate they can.”
In keeping with the virus mitigation strategy there will not be a WhaleFest marketplace this year, but there will be in-person outdoor events such as wildlife cruises Saturday and Sunday and a five kilometer run Sunday. The cruises cost $60 and the run costs $5.
The event schedule is below. More information, including registration links, are posted at sitkawhalefest.org.
Thursday
6 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Symposium Opening
Friday
11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Symposium Lectures
6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Film Fest
Saturday
8:45 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Wildlife cruises
11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Symposium Lectures
7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Maritime Grind
Sunday
8 a.m. to 10 a.m. WhaleFest 5k run
8:45 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Wildlife cruises
11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Symposium Lectures
