Year 6 – Richard Sears – MICS

Richard Sears – MICS from Aquatic Mammals on Vimeo.

At 18, Richard Sears took part in a training expedition in oceanography onboard a schooner, between Puerto Rico and Boston. During this trip, he first encountered whales and became completely spellbound. In 1976, Richard worked at the Matamek Salmon Research Station on the St. Lawrence River and decided his career could revolve around whales. He became a naturalist on whale-watching vessels in Massachusetts and worked alongside the pioneers of whale research: David Sergeant, Steven Katona, William Schevill, William Watkins, and Roger Payne – all his greatest sources of inspiration. From them, he learned that in order to know whales one must spend a lot of time at sea with these giants. It is with this motivation that Richard returned to Matamek and Mingan in 1979 to study blue whales. He created the Mingan Island Cetacean Society with the assistance of Liz Lowe, Fred Wenzel, and Mike Williamson. Decades later, his passion remains.