Panelists call for open methods, collaborative data sharing and paired sampling to address grey whale declines

Panelists and audience members discussed barriers to the deep, equitable collaboration necessary for rangewide grey whale monitoring and laid out practical steps to improve sharing. Casey Beerick emphasized accessibility: making software and protocols open source helps groups with lower‑cost drones contribute comparable measurements; others noted competition for funding and publication credit as continuing obstacles to broad data sharing.

Participants proposed concrete actions: publish and document standardized body‑condition metrics (and include multiple metrics in supplements), continue open‑source tool development to accommodate different drone hardware, expand coordinated sampling of feasible matrices (feces, blow, baleen) alongside photogrammetry and necropsies, and work to align authorship and credit frameworks so groups contributing regional data retain recognition. The panel also recommended targeted capacity building for responders in remote regions so more carcasses can be fully examined and more samples collected.