Submitted by The Whale Museum

Erich Hoyt, internationally renowned author and marine conservationist is returning to deliver a new series of talks about orcas and marine conservation. “Orca Tour 2019” follows the sell-out 2014 and 2015 tours and will focus on Hoyt’s efforts to protect marine mammal habitats worldwide and how they might support the conservation of orcas in the North Pacific. The talks, as well as the release of the Hoyt’s expanded new edition of “Orca: The Whale Called Killer,” are especially timely given the recent loss of three Southern resident orcas.

“Orca: The Whale Called Killer” charts Hoyt’s adventures and conservation work, which began with killer whales off the British Columbia coast and was followed by two decades of orca research in Kamchatka, Russia. As co-chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force, and policy lead for the Healthy Seas program of the U.K.-based Whale and Dolphin Conservation, Hoyt co-directs a 10-year project to map the habitats for 130 species of marine mammals across the world’s oceans. His book, “Marine Protected Areas for Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises,” has helped set the standard for marine biodiversity conservation work.

“This is a rare chance to hear from Erich in person,” said Donna Sandstrom, Executive Director of The Whale Trail and a member of Governor Jay Inslee’s Task Force on Southern Resident Killer Whale Recovery. “Erich has been thinking about how to protect orcas as long as he has been writing about them, starting in the 1980s when he contributed to the successful effort to protect Robson Bight, a critical habitat for the Northern resident orcas. Erich’s talk will inspire and inform our efforts to protect J, K and L pods, here, where his work began.”

Hoyt added, “It’s special for me coming back to the Northwest to celebrate this new edition of my book—the work that set me on a life path. In my talks, I will introduce a global context for addressing threats and supporting marine habitat conservation. Much has changed for the orcas here. People know the individuals and their families and appreciate their precarious existence — especially the endangered Southern residents. We all want to do more to help them.”

“The Orca Tour” is organized by The Whale Trail. The Sept. 24 event in Friday Harbor is co-hosted by The Whale Museum and sponsored by Mike’s Café and Wine Bar, Island Inn at 123 West, Meadow Hospitality, and San Juan Island Yacht Club. “Orca: The Whale Called Killer” and Hoyt’s other books will be on sale at the event. A question and answer and book signing will follow the presentation.

The schedule is as follows: Tuesday, Sept. 24 at 7 p.m. at the San Juan Island Yacht Club, 273 Front Street, Friday Harbor, Washington. This evening event with Hoyt will include a light reception followed by a presentation and talk given by Hoyt on “Healthy Seas for Whales and Dolphins” and a book signing of new edition of “Orca: The Whale Called Killer.” For tickets, cost is $30 per person, visit www.whalemuseum.org.

Thursday, Sept. 19, 7 p.m. at the Hall at Fauntleroy, 9131 California Ave SW, West Seattle. West Seattle; hosted by The Whale Trail and sponsored by Sound Community Bank on Tickets for this event are $15 per person and can be bought at erichhoyt.brownpapertickets.com.

About The Whale Trail

The Whale Trail inspires appreciation and stewardship of orcas, other marine mammals and the marine environment by identifying a network of viewing sites along the whales’ trails through the Salish Sea and along the Pacific Coast. From 16 inaugural sites in Washington State, the trail now includes more than 100 sites from British Columbia to Southern California. The Whale Trail has its roots in a rare conservation success—the successful return of the orphaned orca, Springer. Our vision is a fully recovered Southern Resident orca population thriving in a healthy sea for generations to come. www.thewhaletrail.org

About the Author

Hoyt has spent much of his life on or near the sea, working with whales and dolphins and marine conservation. An award-winning author, he has written or co-written more than 20 books and hundreds of magazine articles on whales, dolphins, as well as ants, insects, wild plants and other subjects. In 2013, Hoyt won the European Cetacean Society’s Mandy McMath Conservation Prize for his body of work. www.erichhoyt.com.