Jen Kennedy
Director/Outreach Coordinator, Web Designer

Even though I grew up in Rochester, New York (which is basically in the middle of nowhere as far as the ocean is concerned!), my interest in the marine environment started in grade school.  When I was assigned to do a report for class, the topic nearly always involved whales or the marine environment.  I went to Cornell University, majoring in Natural Resources with a concentration in wildlife biology, and graduated with a bachelor of science in 1995.

I have worked aboard whale watch boats as a research scientist and naturalist since graduation. I also completed an internship at the Cetacean Research Unit (now the Whale Center of New England) in the Spring of 1996.  I learned at length about different research techniques and data analysis during this experience, but it made me realize that what I really enjoy doing is educating people.  The main objective of research, for me, is to gain knowledge so that information can be passed on to the public.  Hopefully, as they learn more about the marine environment, people will be more inspired to protect it.  One of my favorite parts of whale watches is the opportunity to design educational materials to help the public understand the different marine species and why they are all important to the ecosystem, as well as threats to those species.

In 2003, I completed my graduate work at the University of New Hampshire, earning a M.S. in Resource Administration & Management (thesis: the Northeast Consortium and Cooperative Research: a Case Study of the Commercial Fishing Industry's Involvement and Perceptions).

Favorite Whale Species:  The finback whale, because every time I see one I’m still amazed at how large they are.  I would like to increase the amount of information we know about our local finbacks.  Over the past several years, we’ve seen several distinctive fin whales appear year after year, and I am interested in cataloguing this population and figuring out where they travel.

Favorite Whale Watch Memory:

1) Being on a sunset whale watch, and having three humpback whales right next to the boat, spy hopping and fluking.  As it got near sunset, most of the sky was dark gray, but there was a stripe of pink all along the horizon.  My favorite photo I’ve taken is of a humpback whale fluking in the middle of it!

2) A whale watch on a sunny, hot day in Summer 2000, when fin whales surrounded us. One juvenile seemed very curious, and got so close you could see every detail of its body under the water.  There were also 60-70’ adult finbacks lunge feeing nearby, sending up big splashes of water!

The great thing about working on the ocean is that you see different things every day, and just when you think you’ve got something figured out, something out of the ordinary happens and totally surprises you!

Favorite Food: Pizza, Chips & salsa

Interests Outside of Blue Ocean:

Hiking, sea kayaking, camping

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