The Whale Museum is a

natural history museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

located in

Friday Harbor, Washington Friday Harbor is a town in San Juan County, Washington, United States. The population was 2,162 at 2010 census. Located on San Juan Island, Friday Harbor is the major commercial center of the San Juan Islands archipelago and is the county seat ...

. Founded in 1979, The Whale Museum is dedicated to the interpretation of

whales Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

in the wild. Its mission is to promote the stewardship of wild whales in the

Salish Sea , image = PNW-straits.jpg , alt = , caption = The Salish Sea, showing the open Pacific Ocean at lower left, and from there, heading inland: the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the narrow Puget Sound at lower ri ...

ecosystem through education and research programs.

Exhibits

The Whale Museum's exhibits include life-sized whale models, articulated skeletons, information on the family groups (pods) of the endangered

Southern Resident killer whales The southern resident orcas, also known as the southern resident killer whales (SRKW), are the smallest of four separate, non-interbreeding communities of the exclusively fish-eating ecotype of orca in the northeast portion of the North Pacific O ...

, and current scientific research on local species. Other exhibits feature

pinniped Pinnipeds (pronounced ), commonly known as seals, are a widely distributed and diverse clade of carnivorous, fin-footed, semiaquatic, mostly marine mammals. They comprise the extant families Odobenidae (whose only living member is the walru ...

porpoises Porpoises are a group of fully aquatic marine mammals, all of which are classified under the family Phocoenidae, parvorder Odontoceti (toothed whales). Although similar in appearance to dolphins, they are more closely related to narwhals an ...

and other

marine mammal Marine mammals are aquatic mammals that rely on the ocean and other marine ecosystems for their existence. They include animals such as seals, whales, manatees, sea otters and polar bears. They are an informal group, unified only by their reli ...

s of the Salish Sea; wildlife videos, and Northwest Native American culture and artifacts relating to marine mammals. The whale museum is actively involved in stewardship efforts, and was involved in the

orca The orca or killer whale (''Orcinus orca'') is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. It is the only Extant taxon, extant species in the genus ''Orcinus'' and is recognizable by its black ...

Springer Springer or springers may refer to: Publishers * Springer Science+Business Media, aka Springer International Publishing, a worldwide publishing group founded in 1842 in Germany formerly known as Springer-Verlag. ** Springer Nature, a multinationa ...

's story, as well as the investigation of Sooke (L-112), a 3-year old orca who washed up near

Long Beach, Washington Long Beach is a city in Pacific County, Washington, United States. The population was 1,392 at the 2010 census. History Long Beach began when Henry Harrison Tinker bought a land claim from Charles E. Reed in 1880. He platted the town and calle ...

in 2012.

Education and Research

The Whale Museum conducts several research and education programs: * The Whale Sighting Network has recorded whale sightings in the Salish Sea and kept a database of reported sightings since 1976. Sightings are submitted by members of the public via the toll-free Whale Hotline. * The Marine Mammal Stranding Network was started in 1981, and is authorized by

NOAA The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

to investigate reports of stranded marine mammals, alive or dead. Some live animals are taken for rehabilitation at Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, and some dead specimens are studied at

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

Friday Harbor Labs by researchers to help gather information about the health of local populations and the ecosystem. * The Whale Museum is also a partner in the Salish Sea Hydrophone Network, SeaSound. The

hydrophone A hydrophone ( grc, ὕδωρ + φωνή, , water + sound) is a microphone designed to be used underwater for recording or listening to underwater sound. Most hydrophones are based on a piezoelectric transducer that generates an electric potenti ...

s detect

whale vocalization Whales use a variety of sounds for communication and sensation. The mechanisms used to produce sound vary from one family of cetaceans to another. Marine mammals, including whales, dolphins, and porpoises, are much more dependent on sound than ...

s, vessel noise and other underwater sounds in the area. The Whale Museum mainly uses the hydrophone off

Lime Kiln Point State Park Lime Kiln Point State Park is a 42-acre Washington state park on the western shore of San Juan Island in the San Juan archipelago. The park is considered one of the best places in the world to view wild orcas from a land-based facility. Due to th ...

, where they have maintained a research laboratory since 1983. * The Orca Adoption Program helps members of the public learn more about the Southern Resident Killer Whales, including their individual markings, genealogy, and facts about their lives. * Education programs are conducted for both children and adults. Programs include Southern Resident Killer Whales, Whale Acoustics Lab, The Gray Whale Project, Cetaceans of the Salish Sea, The Orca ID Lab and Puget Pinnipeds. * The Marine Naturalist Training Program is held twice a year, and is an in-depth review of the natural history of the Salish Sea. * Soundwatch is a boater education program that has been conducted since 1993 to teach boaters and kayakers about federal and state laws regarding vessel operations near whales, and to promote the Be Whale Wise boating guidelines. The Whale Museum is a

501(c)3 A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

non-profit organization governed by a board of directors.

References

External links

*
Sooke, a killer whale story
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whale Museum, The Natural history museums in Washington (state) Museums in San Juan County, Washington Friday Harbor, Washington Whale conservation