{"id":6332,"date":"2026-09-11T12:52:53","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T19:52:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/?p=6332"},"modified":"2026-09-11T12:52:53","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T19:52:53","slug":"picture-this-using-photography-to-monitor-gray-whale-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/2026\/09\/11\/picture-this-using-photography-to-monitor-gray-whale-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Picture This: Using Photography to Monitor Gray Whale Health"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Gavin Cada, TOPAZ\/JASPER HS intern, Brookings-Harbor High School<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hi, my name is Gavin Cada and I am a high school intern for the 2026 TOPAZ\/JASPER project. I currently go to school at Brookings Harbor High School but I am originally from Las Vegas, Nevada. Having just moved to the south coast of Oregon a little under a year ago, I heard about the TOPAZ\/JASPER project through my school\u2019s TRIO ETS program and decided to apply because of my interest in Biology, but more specifically to experience real field work that contributes to professional science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In school, I learned about our changing environment and the primary impact of anthropogenic activity. During my spare time, I\u2019ve really enjoyed conducting my own research and learning about conservation efforts through the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF). Specifically, a figure that has always remained with me is the Living Planet Index\u2019s 2024 graph that measures the average global population change of monitored vertebrate populations from 1970 to 2020. The graph shows a clear negative decline of vertebrate populations over the last 50 years. From this graph, it is clear that current wildlife populations are experiencing drastic effects, and I am curious to learn about what methods can be used to support them. Publicly available data has shown that anthropogenic activity is a large part of this current decline in biodiversity through CO2 emissions, global warming, and other listed reasons in the IBPES report not mentioned (1). I feel responsible for the protection of Earth\u2019s natural resources not only because I appreciate ecosystems but because humans depend on them through industries such as fishing and agriculture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fig. 1. Graph for the 2024 Living Planet Index showing average population decline of monitored vertebrate populations at WWF sites globally (https:\/\/www.livingplanetindex.org\/lpi<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


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Fig. 2. Image of fellow TOPAZ\/JASPER intern Owen Fewell (left) and myself (right) after completing our GPS training activity at the beginning of our field season<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A marvel I have found interesting during my time with this internship is that the ocean, whilst deceptively appearing flat to the human eye, actually has thousands of microorganisms, zooplankton, and algae living within it. Growing up in Las Vegas, Nevada, the ecosystems I had been exposed to were actually not so different from the Oregon Coast when it comes to hiding how dynamic they are. At Mount Charleston, one of my favorite locations, I frequently encountered Wild horses (Equus ferus<\/em>), Palmer\u2019s chipmunks (Neotamias palmeri<\/em>), Western yellowjackets, and small birds such as the slate colored dark eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis<\/em>) and American robin (Turdus migratorius<\/em>). <\/em>Although I didn\u2019t initially have a camera in my time in Nevada, I built up my basic understanding of wildlife photography and animal behavior by using my phone’s camera.
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Fig 3.\u00a0 Screenshot of a smartphone video I took of Wild horses at Fletcher View campground, Mt Charleston.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When I moved to the Oregon coast, I obtained a massive upgrade for my wildlife photography. Not only did I get a new camera, but I also gained new access to a variety of different environments: from the coast and marshes to forests. Having a professional camera has allowed me to get clearer photos of birds, mammals, and insects to upload to citizen science platforms like iNaturalist. However, imagine my surprise when I learned that citizen science can go beyond land and into the water through the Pacific Coast Feeding Group (PCFG) gray whales and the GEMM lab\u2019s website, Individuwhale.com.
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Fig. 4:\u00a0 Two images I took with my camera of a predator-prey relationship in the sands at Harris Beach state park of the intertidal jumping spider (left) that preys on beach arthropods like this sand hopper(right).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Over the past 10 years the GEMM lab (Geospatial Ecology off Marine Megafauna) has created a photo ID catalogue composed of photos taken of PCFG gray whales to be used to monitor their movements and health. Amazingly, this photo ID catalogue is hosted on the website \u201cIndividuwhale,\u201d also created by the GEMM lab. Individuwhale has multiple purposes, but most importantly the website acts as a public resource for the general public to learn about who the PCFG gray whales are and the research that has come from the GEMM lab. One of the most impactful elements of Individuwhale would be their \u201csubmit a whale sighting\u201d feature, which allows any individual to contribute to science by submitting photos taken of PCFG gray whales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what makes a photo so important?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During my six weeks with the TOPAZ\/JASPER project, I learned so much of the projects\u2019 importance in science as well as its impact. One objective of TOPAZ (Theodolite Overlooking Predators and Zooplankton) is to observe the relationship between abundance of prey in Port Orford, OR and the presence or absence of the PCFG gray whales during their migration. One of the tools we use to observe whales on our cliff site is a camera. A camera is important because photos can act as records for a whale’s presence at a certain time and place, so overtime researchers can review and identify unique patterns. Photos are also important for identifying species, such as gray whales, and can capture individual characteristics (like scars from killer whales, flat vs round dorsal humps, etc.) (read more from Ale\u2019s previous blog, Stories from a whales life<\/a>). Finally, photos can be a record for a whale\u2019s body condition, and demonstrate how anthropogenic activity, such as boat strikes or entanglement scars, can impact their health. During the last stretch of our field season, we observed our first whale of the season named \u201cPropscar\u201d. After capturing as many photos as possible of the whale when it surfaced, we sent the best photos to members of the GEMM lab who later identified this whale as Propscar as a result of this photo ID catalogue. As you can see from the photo below, Propscar is a great example of using photography to assess whale condition and health monitoring, since the 4 distinct line shaped marks clearly originate from a boat strike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fig. 5: Photo we took of Propscar in Port Orford, OR. (Note the 3-4 distinct propeller mark lines on Propscar\u2019s dorsal hump).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, this internship with the TOPAZ\/JASPER project this summer has been a thoroughly educating experience that taught me so much. I have learned that teamwork and proper communication are crucial to ecological field work. I\u2019ve also learned that patience, and handling the bits of boredom that come with staring at a horizon line, are normal everyday factors of the job. Success isn\u2019t always guaranteed in the field; we don\u2019t always see gray whales everyday and we had only seen one this season, but to define this as a failure would be far from the truth. While this lack of whales could be perceived as failure, we collected critical absence data on gray whales that tells an important story, so you shouldn\u2019t judge your fieldwork\u2019s effectiveness off of factors that are out of your control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My time here has meant many things to me: learning how to be a scientist, connecting with people, and contributing to professional science. But the part I have found the most enjoyable was learning about the scientific equipment used for the TOPAZ\/JASPER project. Equipment isn\u2019t the only thing I\u2019ll be working with in my future career though; through this internship I have also learned about reliable data entry and computer skills which I am excited to apply down the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. \u00a0Brondizio, Eduardo, et al. \u201cGlobal Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.\u201d Zenodo<\/em>, Zenodo, 16 July 2024, zenodo.org\/records\/6417333<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. \u201cLiving Planet Index.\u201d Livingplanetindex.Org<\/em>, www.livingplanetindex.org\/lpi. Accessed 5 Sept. 2026<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Gavin Cada, TOPAZ\/JASPER HS intern, Brookings-Harbor High School Hi, my name is Gavin Cada and I am a high school intern for the 2026 TOPAZ\/JASPER project. I currently go to school at Brookings Harbor High School but I am originally from Las Vegas, Nevada. Having just moved to the south coast of Oregon a little … Continue reading Picture This: Using Photography to Monitor Gray Whale Health<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14414,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[168,195384,635445,634945,835,513,1310836,1310839],"class_list":["post-6332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-education","tag-field-work","tag-gemm-lab","tag-gray-whales","tag-internship","tag-marine-mammals","tag-topaz","tag-topaz-jasper"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14414"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6332"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6343,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6332\/revisions\/6343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}