Catherine Kinsman
Catherine Kinsman is a Nova Scotia based, expert consultant on the Whale Sanctuary Project team. Her work as a specialist on solitary sociable beluga whales for over 20 years, includes research, protection and public education efforts from Quebec to New England.
As co-Founder and Project Director of the Whale Stewardship Project, in 1998 she co-initiated with Dr. Toni Frohoff the world’s first long-term study of solitary sociable beluga whales. Focusing on human-beluga interactive behavior, she designed, managed and conducted a range of programs to aid 10 sociable belugas across four regions in Atlantic Canada; amassing thousands of hours of field observation and hundreds of hours of video data. Catherine documented an additional 20 stray sociable belugas and provided expertise for other NGOs and Fisheries and Oceans Canada; as well as consultation with First Nations concerning a lone sociable orca on Canada’s west coast. She also journeyed to Norway to observe “Hvaldimir,” a free ranging, but highly vulnerable, previously captive beluga.
Catherine’s work has been featured in various documentaries, including the international feature film, Saving Luna/The Whale, and The Nature of Things,’ Call of the Baby Beluga.
She is the author of Luminary, a chapter in Between Species: Celebrating the Dolphin-Human Bond; and co-author of several behavioral research papers on solitary sociable belugas
Prior to launching the Whale Stewardship Project with partner Ken Petersen, she participated in a two-year project for Whale and Dolphin Conservation, studying high-risk behavior in humans and captive dolphins in petting/feeding programs. For a year, she volunteered at a Florida sea-pen refuge, feeding and caring for six bottlenose dolphins; and helped to relocate two of them to their birthplace for further rehabilitation prior to release to the wild.
When not observing belugas or assisting the Whale Sanctuary Project, Catherine is immersed in creative musical projects, some of which naturally include whales!