Commissioners press for indigenous knowledge and Russian data to address grey whale conservation

Commissioner Andy Reid opened the second day of the Marine Mammal Commission's virtual annual meeting by inviting follow-up on the Grey Whale Rangewide Symposium and grantee presentations. Participants framed the symposium as a science workshop and emphasized the need to pair scientific surveys with local and Indigenous knowledge to track rapid distribution changes.

Randy Reeves described long‑standing international photo‑ID efforts involving Russian collaborators and said data sharing largely stopped after the war in Ukraine, leaving key catalogs inaccessible. "When the war began with Ukraine, everything vanished," Reeves said, adding that lost Russian photo‑ID catalogs limit understanding of western grey whale status and the potential for inadvertent impacts from resumed hunts. Several advisers recommended pursuing contacts and data-sharing options through international fora such as the International Whaling Commission scientific committee. "We should explore Indigenous knowledge and citizen science in lagoons and coastal communities to help track where grey whales are now," said Sue, noting that community photography and harvest-area observations can reveal rapid distribution shifts.

Speakers highlighted practical next steps: (1) follow up with symposium presenters and grantees to access unpublished photo archives and contacts; (2) prioritize ground‑truthing and collaborations in Mexican lagoons and Bering Sea coastal communities; and (3) consider targeted satellite coverage over smaller, lower‑cloud‑cover lagoon systems to support mark–recapture and calf counts. Andy Reid asked staff to capture contacts and follow up with the relevant grantees and SRG members.

The discussion clarified that the symposium intentionally avoided policy deliberations on hunting and instead focused on science: participants urged the Commission to facilitate partnerships that restore access to international datasets and expand use of TEK and citizen science in monitoring plans.