SPECIAL LECTURE
Rescue of Marine Mammals: A Video Presentation
Earl Richmond
Board of Directors, Santa Barbara Marine Mammal Center,
389 North Hope Ave., Santa Barbara, California, USA
President/Producer, Richmond Productions, Inc., 658 Chalk Hill Road, Solvang,
California, 93463 USA
(In Japanese)
This personally narrated video program will demonstrate
various rescues of whales, dolphins, seals and sea lions. The program will
include discussion on species conservation with a historical perspective
on whale populations. For well over a century Santa Barbara was a world
center for the capture of various marine mammals for zoo and sea life parks.
In 1976, Peter Howorth, the last Santa Barbara marine mammal capture expert,
formed the Santa Barbara Marine Mammal Center for the sole purpose of rescuing
sick and injured marine mammals and releasing them back into the wild.
Today the Santa Barbara Marine Mammal Center is the world leader in innovative
marine mammal capture techniques. About 90 percent of the captured animals
survive and are returned to the wild. The Center is also actively involved
with training and assisting rescuers and researchers in capture techniques
in both the United States and abroad. Research data collection, publicity,
and aspects of the operation will also be presented. The program will conclude
with a look at the profitable new era of commercial whale watching.
