OCEAN MAMMAL INSTITUTE - Key Persons

Marsha Green, Ph.D. is OMI's President and founder. Dr. Green holds a doctorate from Temple University in animal behavior and physiological psychology. She is a licensed psychologist and Professor at Albright College in Reading Pennsylvania. Here she served as Chair of the Psychology Department until 1993 and founded the Psychobiology and Environmental Psychobiology programs. Since 1986, Dr. Green has been conducting research on the impact of human behavior on humpback whales and spinner dolphins in Hawaii. She has gained international recognition for her ground breaking studies linking human compassion with scientific field research to benefit whales, dolphins and their environment. Dr. Green is a woman who believes words can educate but its actions that create a change. She has taken specific actions that have been instrumental in changing laws and conditions for marine mammals: She conducts research on the impact of engine noise on whale behavior in Hawaii and Alaska. She has testified twice for the State of Hawaii on the impact of thrillcraft on humpback whales and was instrumental in banning their operation during whale season. In 1998 she initiated a lawsuit against the Department of Defense, the U.S. Navy and the Department of Commerce in an attempt to stop the Navy's test of Low Frequency Active Sonar (LFAS) on endangered humpback whales. In 2001 OMI hosted a symposium to discuss LFAS. Symposium attendees included people from environmental, scientific and regulatory communities, as well as the ocean-related community. The goal of this event was to clarify and address the very controversial issues surrounding LFAS in order to facilitate the presentation of accurate information to both Congress and the public. In 2002 Dr. Green began traveling to Europe, visiting the European Parliament and NATO educating individuals on the dangers of high intensity active sonars on marine mammals. She took with her a petition signed by 68 environmental organizations in the U.S., Canada and Europe representing over 8.3 million citizens which requested the European Union adopt a moratorium on the deployment of LFAS until a global assessment of its environmental impacts can be done. Dr. Green suggested forming the European Coalition for Silent Oceans. The coalition now has 52 members, a website and a petition against high intensity active sonar. She lectures internationally on the issue of underwater noise pollution. In 2004, Dr. Green was appointed to the congressionally mandated Federal Advisory Committee studying acoustic impacts on marine mammals. This committee was responsbile for reporting and making recommendations to the U.S. Congress. In 2005, the International Ocean Noise Coalition (IONC) was formed. This coalition represents four continents: European Coalition for Silent Oceans (ECSO) headed by Sigrid Luber North American Ocean Noise Coalition (NAONC) headed by Dr. Marsha Green South American Ocean Noise Coalition (LAONC), headed by Elsa Cabrera Mexico / Central American Ocean Noise Coalition headed by Dr. Yolanda Alaniz The IONC is a partnership of over 140 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from around the world. It was created to address the need for a global approach to combating human-generated ocean noise. In 2006 Dr. Green was appointed to the ACCOBAMS working group. This group is responsible for assisting in the development of noise regulations for the protection of marine life for the Mediterranean, Black Sea and contiguous Atlantic areas. She has attended the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Informal Consultative Process on the UN Convention on Oceans and the Law at the United Nations meetings held, in 2004, 2005 and 2006 respectively. During each of these meetings Dr. Green has spoken with delegates from numerous nations and presented talks on the issue of ocean noise pollution. As driven as she is to take a stand for what she believes in to protect our environment and its inhabitants. She is also able to connect to and learn from the whales she studies as she shares: