Jens Currie
Associate Editor, Tourism in Marine Environments
Jens Currie is Chief Scientist at Pacific Whale Foundation in Maui, Hawaiʻi, where he directs a long-term research program on cetaceans across the Pacific basin. His work focuses on understanding the ecological and physiological responses of whales and dolphins to environmental and human-induced stressors, with the goal of informing conservation strategies. His recent research has explored whale-watching impacts and guidelines to minimize disturbance to humpback whales, the use of drones to assess dolphin growth and body condition, and bioenergetic modeling to evaluate prey requirements for at-risk populations. Jens has a broad background in marine science, including studies on fisheries in the Northwest Atlantic, aquaculture impacts on marine ecosystems, and marine debris effects on Hawaiʻi’s coastlines.
Jens is a PhD candidate in Marine Biology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, affiliated with the Marine Mammal Research Program. He has advised the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission, the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, and the International Whaling Commission on anthropogenic impacts to cetaceans. Much of his applied work follows a Science-to-Action approach that links field research to management decisions and public engagement, with marine wildlife tourism as a central platform for conservation.
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https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6084-3091