Associate professor and marine acoustician Ana Širović is about as faithful to a whale whisperer as one can get , using sound to study marine animal – some of which are seriously massive . As she tells us , deal with 90 - foot animal descend with its own unparalleled challenges and can take you in unexpected directions .

Six class ago , she got regard with the output ofJoshua Zeman’sThe Loneliest Whale : The lookup For 52 , seeking a whale with a call like no other . As she explain , the film provided an chance for some insightful datum aggregation , and who does n’t love a quest ?

How did you come to be involved withThe Loneliest Whale : The hunt For 52 ?

At the time , I had a funded research project to look into call production rates by blue and cinque whales in Southern California . My pardner on the project was master whale - tagging program John Calambokidis , who was also at ocean during the filming , and his project in our project was to deploy acoustical tags on the whales .

I do not call back if it was John or Scripps Institution of Oceanography ’s ( where I was a scientist at the time ) Development Office that first told me about Josh Zeman ’s quest to find the “ 52Hz whale . ” But ultimately , John and I decided that such a quest , while very challenging and with modest likelihood of succeeder , could also help us augment the data assembling for our ongoing project . Knowing we would still receive useful data point , even if we did n’t find the “ 52Hz whale , ” we decide it was worth giving it a go .

What do you do ?

I am currently an Associate Professor in the Marine Biology Department atTexas A&M Universityat Galveston .

What did it take to get here ?

A biography - long love of the sea , a Ph.D. in oceanology , and a captivation with foresighted - terminal figure sea sound data .

What ’s the most uncouth misconception about your stemma of employment ?

That I swim with dolphinfish or plunk for my work . I plunge recreationally , but I have never swum with dolphin . While I have had many big flying field experiences at sea and expend some time on the body of water , most of my piece of work is conducted at a computer , analyzing data and write scientific papers .

Proudest moment in your life history ?

I find quite proud and happy every time we successfully recover an underwater recording machine . After dozens that I have deploy and recovered over the years , you would think that it would become routine , but most fipple pipe we deploy spend 6 or more months in very deep waters ( 1,000 cadence [ 3,281 feet ] or more ) . So I am always impressed , amazed , and happy when we get the recorder , with their valued data , back on deck for depth psychology .

Any hairy taradiddle from life on the water ?

One of the more memorable moments came in one of the earlier times when I was at ocean with John Calambokidis , trying to tag blue heavyweight . Safety is paramount in these drive , as we approach a 90 + understructure [ 27 + meter ] heavyweight on a relatively small unbending - hull inflatable gravy boat ; we are always strapped to the gravy boat via a harness , wear a helmet .

The outgrowth of tagging require this small gravy holder to get right next to the giant during its curt surfacing interval , to be able to attach a tag on its back as it surfaces using a very foresightful perch . This requires fast boat maneuvers and quick activity . One time , as the boat sped up to get closelipped enough to the giant as it surfaced , the strap on my harness broke – and even though I was seek to remain planted in my place , I went fly back across the boat and into the driver console .

The next few bit played out in slow - motion in my head . I saw the heavyweight surface as I was two steps away from the position where I call for to be to tag it . I moved forward while observe its back slow surface out of the water , and I managed to shove the pole forward and stick the ticket on the whale just before it disappeared into the bass . Then I fell back onto a seat next to the console table , human beings come back to full pep pill , astonished at all that just occurred , and the fact that I was not hurt in the process .

What ’s one slice of advice you ’d give to someone need to embark on the same career ?

Learn how to code . The programing language does n’t matter too much , but I mean razz is the most utilitarian skill a scientist today can have . Especially anyone interested in underwater audio more mostly , or whale acoustics specifically .