Program


Acoustics

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Genetics

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Conservation

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Migrations

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Innovations & new knowledge (AI, satellites)

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Behavior

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Sustainable economy

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Citizen Science

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Health assessment & long term monitoring

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Acoustics 〰️ Genetics 〰️ Conservation 〰️ Migrations 〰️ Innovations & new knowledge (AI, satellites) 〰️ Behavior 〰️ Sustainable economy 〰️ Citizen Science 〰️ Health assessment & long term monitoring 〰️

Thematic Sessions

The Humpback Whale World Congress 2025 will bring together experts, enthusiasts, innovators, and decision-makers around key themes aimed at better understanding, protecting, and sustainably coexisting with these giants of the ocean.
Throughout a series of engaging and diverse sessions, we will explore:
 Whether you are a researcher, student, artist, manager, fisher, or simply an ocean lover, these themes are an open invitation to collectively shape an ambitious, informed future for humpback whales and marine environments.
Join us in Tadoussac for a unique gathering of knowledge, collaboration, and commitment.
    • Benjamin de Montgolfier: Classification of North Atlantic humpback whale vocal units using passive acoustic monitoring and machine learning

    • Pierre Cauchy: Acoustic footprint of traffic noise in the St. Lawrence Seaway -Quantification, modeling and mitigation solutions assessed through the MARS observatory

    • Jérôme Couvat: Using a glider to investigate humpback whale acoustic presence in remote areas of Martinique

    • Yann Doh: Description of non-linear phenomena in humpback whale songs and research perspectives

    • Aina Matthieu Raharison: Social dynamics of humpback whales population in Malagasy coastal waters

    • Jodi Frediani: When whales seek ss out - humpback whales blow “smoke” bubble rings

    • Steve Ferguson: Quantifying surfacing behavior in Arctic and North Atlantic whales using satellite telemetry

    • Andrew Stevenson: Birthing scars on female humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the North Atlantic

    • Sheryl Fink : Co-existence, Not Conflict: An example from the Gulf of St. Lawrence snow crab fishery of how
      NGOs can help promote coexistence between fisheries and whales

    • Marie Lou Bontemps: Mitigating ship strikes on large whales in French Polynesia: a multi-stakeholder approach for risk reduction and long-term management

    • Chloe Robinson: The whale report alert system: a real-time solution for preventing ship strikes

    • Zachary Hoffman: Assessing the role of water column depth and body size in humpback whale vessel strike risk through surfacing

    • Chelsi Napoli: Modelling spatiotemporal trends of humpback whale mortality due to vessel strike by cargo ships on the United States East coast

    • Lyne Morissette : Humpback Whales as Vectors of Empathy: Evidence-Based Insights for Strengthening
      Marine Conservation

    • Manon Riou : Coexisting with Giants: How a Right Whale Crisis Opened the Door to Humpback Research

    • Alexandra Mayette : A quantitative approach to assess risks from human activity and better inform
      strategies to co-exist with whales

    • Alexandra Friedman : Co-existence, not conflict: An example from the Gulf of St. Lawrence snow crab fishery of how NGOs can help promote coexistence between fisheries and whales

    • Jérôme Couvat: Using a glider to investigate humpbackwhale acoustic presence in remote areas ofMartinique

    • Anastasia Kunz: Protecting blue whales and blue skies in California

    • Jackie Hildering: See a blow? Go slow! lessons learned for whale and boater safety

    • Nadège Gandilhon: Mapping scientific and behavioural gaps in female humpback whale bioacoustics

    • Charlotte Esposito: Monitoring humpback whales in the Polynesian sanctuary: a long-term photoIdentification program

    • Tanya Lubansky: Long-term photo-identification dataset of opportunistic sightings reveals shifting habitat preferences of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the Gulf of Maine

    • Katharine Hart: Spatial distribution, abundance, and occurrence patterns of humpback whales on the Turks Bank, Turks and Caicos Island

    • Sheila Thornton: Evaluation of relatedness of humpback whales foraging in Northeast Pacific waters: a whole genome approach

    • Michaela Alksne: An integrated species distribution model for humpback whales in the California current ecosystem

    • Marianne McNamara: Ongoing and anomalous changes in the Eastern New York Bight (USA): Comparing the dramatic increase in humpback whale number and residency time during 2024 to the fifteen years prior with an update from 2025

    • Jo Marie Acebes: Humpback whales in the Babuyan marine corridor, Philippines: significant yet unprotected

    • Danielle Brown: Stable isotopes suggest differences in foraging ecology and migration of humpback whales from the Atlantic Coast of the U.S.

    • Valentina Melica: Stable isotope analyses reveal individual and regional variability in Humpback Whale diet and ecological niche in Northeast Pacific waters

    • Felicia Vachon: Know your neighbours: fine-scale site fidelity of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) within their British Columbia feeding grounds

    • Timothee Perrero: Visitor to residents: The head of the Laurentian Channel in the Saint Lawrence Estuary (SLE) as a new feeding site for humpback whales?

    • Lucas Bernier: Sounds of the Caribbean Sea: documenting humpback whale migration through a collaborative, large scale inter-island monitoring in the wider Caribbean

    • Ann Carole Vallejo: Distribution and occurrence of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) across four austral summers, in the Ross Sea, Antarctica

    • Louise Simon: High-density breeding hotspots for North Atlantic humpback whales: A 2025 update from Samaná Bay and Navidad Bank

    • Charline Fisseau : Whale-watching as a vector of coexistence: socio-economic challenges and sustainable perspectives in Reunion Island

    • Paul Camerin : Impacts of whale tourism activities on the behaviour of humpback
      whale mother-calf pairs of Reunion Island.

    • Schédir Marchesseau: Implementation of an experimental protocol for the collection of blow samples as part of a project to assess the state of health of Malagasy humpback whales

    • Katharine Hart: Annual return and reproductive rates of humpback whales on the Turks bank, Turks and Caicos Islands

    • Charline Fisseau: Revitalization of the sustainable whale and dolphin watching tourism network (SWWN) of the Indian Ocean rim association by the CEDTM: actions and perspectives

    • Delphine Demaisy: Rising humpback whale presence on the Murman coast (Northwestern Russia) in the Barents sea: A report on new sightings and conservation implications for the region

    • Laura Lyall: Assessing the importance of Ísafjarðardjúp, Iceland for foraging humpback whales

    • Ifaliana Andriamananjara: A national model for responsible whale watching to enhance coexisting humans and whales in Madagascar

    • Grisel Rodriguez: Stranding of a gravid humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae): Insights on an atypical stranding

    • Beverley Ecalle: Cetacean chronicles: new insights into behaviour, communication and conservation via Cetoscope

    • Maria-Vittoria Carminati: The blueprint of a giant: gene duplication and evolutionary adaptation in the first humpback whale reference genome

Congress activities

Whale Watching

Since the congress will take place in Tadoussac — one of the best places in the world to observe whales — a whale-watching boat tour will be offered (available as an option when registering).
You’ll also have the chance to observe whales from land every morning, thanks to the incredible location where the Saguenay Fjord meets the St. Lawrence River.

Workshops

Workshops on various topics will be open to everyone for a fee, except for those already registered for the congress. A dedicated registration tab will be available soon for those who wish to attend workshops only. It is also possible to sponsor a workshop on a specific topic — if you're interested, please contact us!
Movie projection,  Live performance in danse and music

Arts & Science events

Humpback Whale World Congress 2025 — Preliminary Calendar
Humpback Whale World Congress Tadoussac & Quebec • 15 – 19 Oct 2025

Preliminary Calendar

All sessions, presentations and social events at a glance.

Wednesday October 15
9:30 – 12:00
Opening session
Chateau Frontenac, Quebec
12:30 – 14:00
Lunch
14:30 – 18:30
Departure in Chatered bus
Quebec → Tadoussac
18:30
Arrival in Tadoussac & Check-In
20:00
Event #1 — Icebreaker evening
Hotel Tadoussac
Thursday October 16
08:00 – 08:30
Opening session
Pierre-Henry Fontaine, Honorary President
08:30 – 09:15
Invited Speaker #1 — Robert Michaud (GREMM)
Humpback whale research
09:20 – 10:00
Oral session #1 — Whale watching
Chair: L. Morissette
10:00 – 10:20
Coffee break
Poster area
10:20 – 12:00
Oral session #2 — Conservation
Chair: N. Gandilhon
12:00 – 12:30
Poster session
12:30 – 13:30
Lunch
13:30 – 14:15
Invited Speaker #2 — Erich Hoyt
Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs)
14:20 – 15:00
Oral session #3 — Citizen Science
Chair: R. Michaux
15:00 – 15:20
Coffee break
Poster area
15:20 – 16:40
Oral session #4 — Acoustics
Chair: O. Adam
16:40 – 18:20
Oral session #5 — Behavior
Chair: J. Reidenberg
18:20 – 19:40
Oral session #6 — Migration
Chair: E. Hoyt
21:00 – 23:00
Event #2 — Film screening
Ocean Seen From the Heart — I. Cadrin‑Rossignol & M‑D Michaud
Friday October 17
08:00 – 08:45
Tribute
Tribute to Roger Payne & Oswaldo Vasquez — by Phil Clapham
09:00 – 10:20
Workshops sessions A & B
A. Marine Shipping : Maritime traffic, impact mitigation, labels: towards sustainable coexistence (Chairwoman: N. Gandilhon - Director of NG Expertise & Research & Véronique Trudeau - Program Manager at Green Marine) | B. Fisheries Development for sustainable fisheries (Chairwoman: L. Morissette)
10:20 – 10:40
Coffee break
Poster area
10:40 – 11:50
Workshops (continued)
12:00 – 13:30
Lunch
13:30 – 14:15
Invited Speaker #3 — Phil Clapham
14:20 – 15:00
Workshop session C & D
C. Innovation : New methods and technologies: ADNe, satellite images and AI dedicated to acoustics and photos datasets (Chairpersons: J.-L. Jung, E. Charry Tissier and O. Adam) | D. Protected marine areas (MPA's) : Connecting to protect better: MPAs, cooperation and action networks for sustainable coexistence (Chairspersons : V. Collin; J. Couvat)
15:00 – 15:20
Coffee break
Poster area
15:20 – 16:50
Workshops (continued)
17:00 – 17:40
Restitution of Workshops
20:00 – 22:00
Event #3 — Visit to CIMM
Marine Mammal Interpretation Centre
Saturday October 18
08:00 – 09:15
Invited Speaker #4 — Ted Cheeseman (Happywhale)
Photo‑ID of humpback whale populations
09:20 – 10:00
Oral session #7 — Conservation
Chair: Y. Doh
10:00 – 10:20
Coffee break
Poster area
10:20 – 12:00
Oral session #8 — Feeding
Chair: J‑L Jung
12:20 – 13:20
Lunch
13:30 – 14:15
Invited Speaker #5 — Joy Reidenberg, Icahn School of Medecin
Photo‑ID of humpback whale populations
14:20 – 15:20
Oral session #9 — Ditribution
Chair: Ted Cheeseman
15:20 – 15:40
Coffee break
Poster area
15:40 – 17:00
Oral session #10 — Collision
Chair: Lyne Morissette
17:00 – 19:00
Oral session #11 — Ditribution
Chair: Phil Clapham
19:00 – 19:30
Closing Session
21:00 – 1:00am
Event #4 — Gala Night
Sunday October 19
09:00 – 12:00
Event #5 — Whale-watching
12:10 – 13:30
Lunch
15:00 – 19:30
Departure in Chatered bus #1
Tadoussac → Quebec
Monday October 20
TBA
Departure in chartered bus #2
Tadoussac → Quebec

Other activities to come …

Scientific program (Key speakers)


"Coexisting with whales, for our ocean"

An outstanding lineup of experts dedicated to whales, science, and conservation.
Join us for a unique opportunity to learn from renowned voices in marine mammal research and protection. Each speaker brings decades of insight, innovation, and impact.

Erich Hoyt

Topic: Marine Protected Areas and Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs)

Author, researcher, and co-founder of the IMMA initiative, Eric Hoyt is a global leader in marine conservation. His work focuses on identifying and protecting key habitats for marine mammals around the world — a cornerstone for the future of our oceans.

Ted Cheeseman

Topic: Global Humpback Whale Tracking through Photo-ID (Happywhale)

Explorer, marine biologist, and founder of Happywhale, Ted Cheeseman is transforming whale science through global collaboration. Learn how his platform empowers the public and scientists alike to track individual whales worldwide.

Phil Clapham

Topic: Unveiling the Life of Humpback Whales – 40 Years of Discovery

 An internationally recognized authority on humpback whales, Phil Clapham brings a deep perspective on four decades of research, offering a rare and invaluable look into the behavior and biology of these majestic animals.

Robert Michaud

Topic: Human-Whale Coexistence in the St. Lawrence

Founder of the GREMM (Group for Research and Education on Marine Mammals), Robert Michaud is a pioneer of citizen science in Quebec. He will share insights on coexistence challenges and conservation successes in one of the most studied marine ecosystems in the world.

Joy Reidenberg

Topic: Cetacean Anatomy and Adaptation – A Tribute to a Life's Work

Expert in comparative anatomy and one of the world’s leading specialists in marine mammal adaptations. She brings unique insight into the anatomy, evolution, and resilience of whales and other cetaceans.