04/18/2026
We are pleased to announce that Bay Cetology Executive Director Jared Towers has been awarded a Salish Sea Institute (SSI) Fellowship, a pivotal funding opportunity that advances long-term data management, associated conservation-based research and recognition of minke whales as an important part of the Salish Sea ecosystem. The grant supports the integration of extensive minke whale photo-identification data into the Finwave.io database, strengthening capacity for international collaborative research and management of the species. As Executive Director Jared Towers notes, the award is “symbolic of minke whales mattering,” providing, for the first time, the resources needed to consolidate and update baseline minke whale data that has remained fragmented for years.
This work will allow minkes to be tracked using the same high-resolution, AI-assisted tools currently applied to killer whales, transforming decades of isolated minke whale sightings into an openly accessible, shared, searchable, and evolving dataset. The digital infrastructure built into Finwave.io will ensure that minke whale data are systematically analyzed, accessible for research, and usable for conservation planning.
The grant also supports a project planning workshop, designed to consolidate expertise and advance coordinated monitoring efforts. The workshop enables more formal engagement among key stakeholders, strengthening long-term stewardship of the species.
The Salish Sea Institute is an initiative by Western Washington University aimed at raising awareness and protection for the Salish Sea. We gratefully thank them for their support. Their investment affirms the importance of minke whale research in the region and has provided the capacity to advance data integration, collaboration and long-term conservation efforts in an unique, important, and often overlooked feeding destination and migratory corridor for this cryptic species.
