Welcome To Cetal Fauna

Pete Garbett

Pete Garbett was born and raised on Australia’s Gold Coast and has over 50 years of experience with cetaceans. He has worked with wild cetaceans as well as those in human care since the early 1970s, with several marine parks, as well as a number of marine mammal research and conservation organisations. He formed, and is lead administrator for, the Cetal Fauna Facebook group, a social media platform that disseminates a variety of information on cetaceans. Pete’s special interests are cetacean conservation, delphinid taxonomy and nomenclature. His skills include proofreading and editing having worked for several marine-themed publications.

Erin Gless

Erin Gless is a long-time moderator for the Cetal Fauna Facebook group. She holds a BS in Biology with Marine Emphasis from Western Washington University and has been a passionate member of the professional whale watching community since 2008, working as a naturalist in both southern California and the Salish Sea of Washington and British Columbia. She currently promotes education, conservation, and responsible wildlife viewing as Executive Director of the Pacific Whale Watch Association. In her spare time, Erin volunteers for Cascadia Research Collective cataloging Hawaiian pantropical spotted dolphins.

Alisa Schulman-Janiger

Alisa Schulman-Janiger is a cetacean researcher and educator who holds a BS in Zoology with Marine Biology emphasis from California State University Long Beach. One of the original moderators for the Cetal Fauna Facebook group, Alisa has been involved as a whale watch naturalist and in cetacean research since 1978 and is an instructor for the Cabrillo Whalewatch Program (training naturalists). She has been an onboard naturalist/researcher in southern California, Monterey Bay, Alaska, Massachusetts, and Baja California, and NOAA cruise staff scientist/marine mammal observer from Alaska to California; she is also on NOAA's Stranding Response Team and Large Whale Entanglement Response Team. Alisa taught marine biology on boats (10 years), and in San Pedro High School’s Marine Science Magnet (21 years). Since 1979, Alisa has been photo-identifying California killer whales, archiving sightings, and studying their distribution, natural history, and behavior; she co-authored their first ID catalog, and is Lead Research Biologist (and co-founder) of the California Killer Whale Project. A Research Associate with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Alisa is also Director/ Coordinator of the full-season shore-based ACS-LA Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project (Pt. Vicente) which she founded in 1984: spotting, tracking, and recording gray whales and other cetaceans (utilizing citizen scientists).

Kelsey Potlock

Kelsey has been a moderator for the Cetal Fauna Facebook group since late 2016 where she has primarily worked on the PDF Research Library and catalog. She holds a B.S. in Environmental Science with a focus on geospatial technologies from the University of North Carolina Wilmington and an MPhil from Newcastle University in the United Kingdom. Her thesis focused on the anthropogenic effects of offshore wind construction on odontocetes. After graduate school, she contracted with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Alaska Regional office working on the implementation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and permitting for oil and gas projects in Alaska, primarily on polar bears and Pacific walrus. Currently, she works as a marine mammal regulatory biologist with NOAA Fisheries implementing and permitting under the MMPA for renewable energy projects. Kelsey’s research interests are primarily focused on human impact on marine mammals in a climate-driven world and the best ways policy and practice can mitigate adverse impacts. In her spare time, Kelsey loves traveling, baking, and beach combing for shells, pottery, and sea glass!