Future of Oceans Lecture Series: Dr. Fred Sharpe
Schedule
Sun, 16 Nov, 2025 at 03:00 pm
UTC-08:00Location
Fort Worden State Park, Port Townsend, Washington | Port Townsend, WA
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Join us for the second lecture in our 2025-2026 Future of Oceans series.Humpback whales produce varied aerial sounds including trumpets, shrikes, hoots and clicks. Fred Sharpe and his team have been listening to these sounds for many years, but recently turned their attention to recording the low frequency, elephant-like, far-traveled, aerial rumbles or “thrums”. The lecture will feature sounds, slides and the scientific inquiry conducted at Five Finger Lighthouse in Southeast Alaska, and what might be learned from these remarkable aerial signals.
Future of Ocean Lecture: Humpback Whales Generate ‘Thrums'
Sunday, November 16
3pm
Wheeler Theater
Please note: A Discover Pass is required to park at Fort Worden Historical State Park.
Space is limited. To keep this series accessible to all, regardless of the ability to pay, there is no set charge for the event; however, donations are always welcomed and appreciated.
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More about Dr. Sharpe:
Fred Sharpe has been studying the foraging ecology of humpback whales in SE Alaska since 1987. He received his Ph.D. from Simon Fraser University and is currently an affiliate with the SETI Institute, a Co-Investigator with the Whale-SETI Study Team and a Principal Investigator with the Aerial Signals Project. Using the humpback whale as an alien analog, Fred and his colleagues employ an astrobiological framework including SETI (Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence) which involves humpback call classification and analysis using information theory; METI (Messaging) which involves dynamic playbacks to establish whale-human acoustic interaction and RETI, responding to volitional overtures toward humans “candidate signals -bubble rings and other effervescent structures. These studies illuminate the biotic variables of the Drake Equation, and suggest that the lack of cosmic signal detection may partially be perceptual in nature.
Fred’s interest in conservation biology has led him to follow the whales south to their Hawaiian wintering to document their historical ecology and legacy impacts from commercial whaling. He has been awarded the Fairfield Award for Innovative Marine Mammal Research and the Society for Marine Mammology’s Award for Excellence in Scientific Communication. Fred volunteers with NOAA as a large whale entanglement responder. He is also a co-author of Voyaging with the Whales which celebrates Alaska’s humpback whale bubble netting culture.
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Where is it happening?
Fort Worden State Park, Port Townsend, Washington, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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