Supporters

Oskar Peterson

Oskar founded the White Whale Research Centre as a way of coordinating information from the general public, universities, research centres and the media. During ‘whale season’ when Migaloo is frequently sighted along the east coast of Australia, Oskar donates countless hours keeping in touch with various groups so everyone can stay up to date with Migaloo. Oskar’s drive is to educate people about the rules in place that protect Migaloo from harassment and protecting his marine environment. Migaloo caught his imagination and attention when he was first sighted at Byron Bay and it has been a labor of love over many years. Anyone who calls in a sighting of Migaloo is likely to talk to Oskar, and if you do, please take a moment to say ‘thank you’ to Oskar for his hard work and dedication.

In memory of Trish Franklin

Trish spent over twenty-five years studying the behaviour and social organisation of humpback whales. Her research was focused on individual and group social behaviour of migrating humpback whales. She also researched the social organisation and temporal segregation of classes of humpback whales during the southern migration in Hervey Bay off the southeast coast of Queensland. Her work has made direct contributions to the management and conservation of the eastern Australian humpback whales.


In 1988 Trish established The Oceania Project as a non-profit, tax exempt, NGO to support the conservation of Cetacea through research and education programs. The primary focus of The Oceania Project is a long-term study of the behavior and ecology of humpback whales in Hervey Bay. Trish’s Photo ID work aboard The Oceania Project’s Annual Whale Research Expedition in Hervey Bay has created a unique long-term Photo-identification data set, with extensive individual re-sighting histories.

Leigh Mansfield and Jodie Lowe

Located at Port Macquarie, NSW, Australia, Leigh and Jodie have had the pleasure of seeing Migaloo in 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019 & 2020. Jodie is a well-known Marine Mammal Photographer who has taken many great photos of Migaloo over the years (Jodie Lowe's Marine Animal Photography Facebook @jodie.lowe88 and Instagram @jodie_lowe88). Leigh has dedicated over 30 years of effort counting whales from land and at sea and continues to do so each whale migration. This father and daughter duo work closely with local watching boats, which has allowed them to see Migaloo up close several times.


Dr Vanessa Pirotta

Vanessa is a wildlife scientist who uses innovative technologies for wildlife conservation. Her PhD and Masters research was focused on the conservation of whales, dolphins and porpoises. Her team developed water-proof drones for the collection of whale lung bacteria (whale snot) for an assessment of whale health. Vanessa works collaboratively with citizen scientists to learn more about marine life around Australia. As a scientist, Vanessa is passionate about making science accessible to the general public and helps disseminate Migaloo sighting information to the media. Vanessa has only seen Migaloo once off Sydney, Australia and hopes to see him again!