NORWEGIAN ORCA SURVEY - Key Persons
Clare first volunteered with Norwegian Orca Survey in the summer of 2016, and has since been involved as both a master student and research assistant. Clare is now a PhD Candidate on the MULTIWHALE research project: a collaboration between the University of Oslo and Norwegian Orca Survey studying the effects of multiple stressors on Norwegian killer whales. Her focus is the levels and effects of pollution on individuals in the population, in conjunction with other human activities.
Emma Høgh Åslein and Amanda Falch are also Master students at the University of Oslo. Using prey data collected by the Institute of Marine Research and data on orca sightings from Norwegian Orca Survey, Emma and Amanda are researching on orca predation impact on prey populations in the inner fjords of Vestlandet.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Principal Scientist
Eve created Norwegian Orca Survey in 2014 as a plateform for data collection for her PhD. Her PhD studies focused on Norwegian orcas' diet and feeding behavior. Currently, she is a postdoctoral researcher on the MULTIWHALE project at the University of Oslo investigating diet, social behavior, population structure and effects of multiple stressors on this population's demographics. Eve is also the lead of fieldwork and the curator of the Norwegian Orca ID database.
Marten is the manager and skipper but also a talented wildlife photographer at Whale2Sea, a whale watching company based in Andenes. Marten spends most of his life at sea observing and photographing whales. Since 2013, Marten has contributed more than 50,000 photos to the orca ID-project. He is also chairman and investigator at the Norwegian Sperm Whale Research Foundation.
Job Titles:
- Co - Director & Field Investigator
Richard co-founded Norwegian Orca Survey together with Eve in 2014. Since, he has been dedicated to collecting the data and biological samples necessary to all ongoing and already completed studies. When Richard is not skippering the research boat, he is biopsy sampling or attaching multi-sensor tags to killer whales with suction cups. As an accomplished drone pilot, he also operates drones to collect aerial views of the whales for various research purposes.
Vegard is an awarded Norwegian photographer specializing in wildlife and adventure sports. Vegard lives in Sogndal in Western Norway, where killer whales have frequented the fjords the last winters. As a wildlife photographer, he quickly gained interest in the new visitors and has contributed with ID photos to Norwegian Orca Survey since 2017. He is now a proud citizen scientist and a part of NOS-Vestlandet. Vegard's ultimate goal is to raise awareness and engagement for vulnerable nature through his images.