The Tales of the Whales - Film

Captain Kerr, born in Scotland, began his career with dolphins in 1983 as a volunteer research assistant at the Dolphin Research Center in Florida and in 1984, he earned his 100-ton Ocean Operators License. In 1987, Iain served as a research assistant to Dr. Roger Payne at the New York Zoological Society's whale camp in Peninsula Valdes, Argentina, assisting with the development of new benign methods for the study of the endangered southern Right whale.

In 1988/89, under the auspices of the Whale Conservation Institute (WCI) and the Interpolar Research Society, he captained the 85ft. research vessel Siben. The Siben Project was an international research effort involving biologists from the Dominican Republic, Colombia and Ecuador. Aboard the Siben, Iain helped teach biologists new benign methodologies and the implementation of a multi-beam scanning sonar unit in order to track whales underwater. In 1990, Iain was promoted to Director of Ocean Research for WCI and soon after he procured the R.V. Odyssey. The Odyssey is a 93' steel-hulled ketch capable of staying offshore for long periods, enabling WCI scientists to study deep water cetaceans like the Sperm whale. In 1993, Iain lead the Odyssey Expedition to the Galapagos Islands. He is responsible for creating the research team, visiting scientist program and the development of new technologies for studying whales.

The Galapagos expedition proved very successful; Odyssey researchers were the first to sight Blue whales in this area; visiting scientist Bruce Mate was the first to successfully satellite tag a sperm whale and the first ultrasound of a Sperm whale was performed from the Odyssey. Iain fulfilled his mission to have the Odyssey become a leading scientific vessel and platform for whale research and nature films like the upcoming IMAX/Omnimax documentary, Whales.

The Odyssey has also been featured on PBS, Discovery, BBC and other international networks. The Odyssey has since sailed in search of whales to Costa Rica, Sea of Cortez and Alaska. Iain will be working with the IMAX crew in Hawaii this spring.

Iain, now Director of WCI, will embark on an intensive study to collect baseline data on toxin levels accumulating in oceanic inhabitants. Whales are top order predators, like man, and studies are showing high levels of organohalogen poisoning in the fatty tissues of animals. Iain will work with Dr. Payne and direct WCI researchers on a mission to collect data for analysis over a five-year period, using the R.V. Odyssey as the main platform for the ECOTOX project.