That’s a wrap for 2024!
The Marine Mammal Foundation team has had an absolutely incredible 2024! Check out our year-at-a-glance video reflecting on all we have achieved this year, or read on for some of the highlights…
The research team had an amazing year!
We supported 4 PhD students, undertaking projects in acoustics, toxicology, distribution and biodiversity, and genomics.
A huge congratulations to Dr Chantel Foord, who completed her PhD this year!
Undertook 39 surveys totalling 181 hours on the water, including 34 sightings and collected 56,215 fin-ID images.
Published an incredible 3 scientific papers this year, with 3 in review and another 2 underway.
Collected over 46,500 5-min sound files, totalling 3,875 hours of recording, through our acoustics program, as well as 30 hydrophone recordings of vocalisations in real-time.
The team was also excited to attend the:
Victorian Biodiversity Conference,
Geography Teachers' Association of Victoria Annual Conference, and
SETAC Seville conference,
Where we gave 6 presentations and presented numerous posters about our cutting-edge science, education, and outreach programs!
Our research also hit the world stage! Our short film documentary, The Dolphin Dilemma, highlighting MMF’s research into freshwater skin disease, premiered at the 77th Cannes International Film Festival, and won several film awards! For a full list, head to our social media pages.
Our director of research, Dr Kate Robb, received a well-deserved Kingston Council STEM ‘Women of the Year’ award for her contributions to science and local conservation!
2024 was our biggest year yet for education and outreach!
We held 164 events and 352 education-outreach sessions, reaching over 12,000 people.
We met 7,332 of you at 80+ outreach events and 180+ sessions across the state.
We brought MMF’s research into classrooms at more than 35 schools, reaching 4,826 students across 165 education sessions.
We welcomed 30 new volunteers, who have generously contributed 1,190 hours of their time. Thank you to everyone who helped us at events, catalogued fin images, and joined us on the water - we couldn’t do it without you.
As we continue to grow, we want to acknowledge and thank our supporters, and you, our amazing MMF community!
Thank you for an amazing 2024, we can’t wait to see what 2025 will bring!