OSU News service

NEWPORT — Building on the success of its marine mammal research and outreach program, Oregon State University has created a new Marine Mammal Institute, and has plans to expand its faculty and broaden the scope of its research in ecology and conservation.

The new institute will be a focus of campus fund-raising efforts that would nearly double its endowment of more than $7 million, according to OSU Foundation officials.

OSU’s research on threatened and endangered whale species has been internationally recognized over the past three decades, primarily through the work of Bruce Mate, who directs the institute.

Mate was one of the first scientists to use satellites to track whales. Specialized tags developed by his team have led to new discoveries and data on blue, gray, humpback, bowhead, right, fin, sperm and other whale species.

“This is a signature program that continually provides critical information about marine mammals that can help humans peacefully co-exist with them,” said OSU President Ed Ray.

The new institute already is experiencing success. The Oregon Community Foundation has approved a grant of $200,000, contingent upon the university raising $400,000 in matching funds, and an anonymous donor has provided a gift of $50,000.

During the past year, the OSU program hired Scott Baker, a cetacean geneticist and scientific delegate to the International Whaling Commission, who will serve as the institute’s associate director, and Markus Horning, a pinniped ecologist from Texas A&M University.

Their addition widens the focus of the institute beyond satellite tagging of large whales to encompass new technology for the study of all marine mammals, including seals, sea lions and dolphins.

Plans include boosting the donor-supported endowment and hiring additional faculty with backgrounds in marine mammal behavior and physiology, as well as expertise in physical oceanography, acoustics, engineering, and veterinary medicine.

“We’re certainly not shifting our focus away from critical research that investigates the migration routes and habitats of endangered whale species,” Mate said. “We want to apply similar energy and passion to the study of other marine mammals and the ecological issues surrounding them.”

One of OSU’s goals in creating the Marine Mammal Institute is to foster more collaborative research among specialists from around the world.

Already the institute has received a grant of $750,000 from the Joint (petroleum) Industry Program, Office of Naval Research and the Minerals Management Service for a project with OSU oceanographer Kelly Benoit-Bird, a specialist in acoustics and marine community behavior, to study sperm whales and squids in the Sea of Cortez off Mexico.