Dive into the world of whales with wildlife scientist Dr Vanessa Pirotta

Dr Vanessa Pirotta is an award-winning wildlife scientist, researcher, author, public speaker and prominent conservation advocate for the incredible creatures in our oceans. She’s also the latest ‘conservation superstar’ in our series spotlighting the incredible people working to protect our precious natural places and the unique species that call NSW home.

Her most well-known research used drones to collect snot (lung bacteria) sprayed in the air from the blowholes of migrating humpback whales as a new way to monitor their health. She’s also recently published a book that dives into the mysterious world of this species. Whale research projects have led her to far-off lands – well, seas – including Antarctica, Madagascar and the Galapagos Islands, but it’s the waters closer to home in national parks around Sydney where some of her most innovative studies are taking place now.

We sat down with Vanessa to chat about all things of the deep blue, how she uses research to inspire the next generation to care about protecting wildlife and 90s movie masterpiece Free Willy.

Growing up on a farm outside of Canberra, Vanessa always had a love for animals, but it wasn’t until she saw the film Free Willy (about a boy who befriends an Orca), that she was drawn into the otherworldly environment of the ocean. An intense fascination with whales was born, which would eventually lead her to a PhD in Marine Science.

Vanessa says her career path isn’t something restricted to a select few. Anyone can become a scientist if they have that same curiosity about the world around them, and the desire to follow it.

“The thing I’ve always had is my passion, and wanting to get closer to and learn more about the thing I love – the ocean. That’s resulted in dedicating my life to understanding some of the most incredible creatures on earth.”

If a career as a scientist isn’t for you, there are so many opportunities to be a ‘citizen scientist’: any member of the public who contributes to scientific study through recording what they observe in nature. Vanessa believes social media can be the best tool a citizen scientist has.

“Scientists can get stuck behind a desk writing proposals for research grants, whereas the public are out seeing things that we might not, and they have their phone right there,” she explains. “We’re all more connected than ever with social media – it’s an awesome opportunity for scientists to acquire real-time information about animals.”

Citizen science project Wild Sydney Harbour, founded by Vanessa, is “designed to connect our community with its blue backyard.”

Anyone going about their day on the harbour, whether it’s a tourist walking around the water’s edge at The Rocks, or a commuter catching the ferry, is encouraged to snap a photo or video if they spot wildlife and either upload it to the Wild Sydney Harbour website or post to their social media tagging #wildsydneyharbour.

The information gathered helps marine scientists learn more about how to manage interactions between humans and animals in one of the world’s busiest harbours, which can often be misunderstood. “We can forget our harbour is very much connected to the ocean and it’s a dynamic, exciting place with the creatures that exist and vibrant life going on under the water,” Vanessa explains.

What are some of the animals we’d be surprised to know call home? Vanessa says lots of seals (not just the famous fur seal who visits the Opera House steps), little penguins and sometimes even whales, hang out in the harbour.

“Right underneath the harbour bridge I’ve seen a fur seal pop up with a massive octopus, just ripping it apart. How cool is that!”

Exploring how Sydney’s waterways are all connected has also led Vanessa to a special project with the Gamay Rangers, a group of First Nations rangers working in and around Kamay Botany Bay National Park using generations of Indigenous knowledge to research and manage this area. They are working together on a first-of-its kind project studying dolphin occurrence in Kamay (which can also be pronounced Gamay) and the playful mammals’ movements through waters around Sydney.

“It’s so important to have traditional custodians of this land and sea being directly part of the research, telling the stories through both science and culture,” Vanessa says.

“We are slowly but steadily starting to build our knowledge up about the who’s who of the dolphins that hang out around Sydney. When I finished my PhD, I was told to go overseas. It was only during COVID that I started really diving into what we didn’t know about marine life in our blue backyard. The dolphins were something that really stood out, and I can’t wait to keep unraveling this scientific story unfolding right before us – sometimes focusing closer to home is very much worth it!”

The celebrity of the whale world, the mighty humpback, is a big success story, with years of dedicated marine science study resulting in a conservation push which saw them removed from the threatened species list in 2022. Vanessa notes, “while any time there is a good news story in conservation it should be celebrated, we don’t just flick the switch and say we’re done, we’re recovered”. In fact, the return of healthy population numbers means more humpbacks in the oceans and more potential human interactions than ever before, so efforts to protect them can’t stop now.

Vanessa is excited about headlines, attention, sightings and resources being spread further to less famous species like the southern right whale and Bryde’s whale, which we know very little about in Australian waters, so we can understand how to help them thrive too.

The easiest thing we can all do to help Vanessa’s mission of protecting whales and ocean wildlife is remembering what we learnt at school: putting litter in the bin so it doesn’t end up in waterways. Cigarette butts and balloons are some of the worst offenders she sees along the humpback highway annual whale migration route.

“Rain sends things into the ocean quickly, and we need to think about how land is connected to the ocean. You might not think about it wherever you live, in a city or in the middle of New South Wales, but so much of what we do has flow-on effects into the sea.”

There’s one more burning question to ask the person who has gotten more up close and personal with whales than most of us could dream of. What has her most unforgettable watery meeting with a gentle giant been?

Vanessa was on the humpback highway and the boat she was on had to make a stop to detangle from some rope, when two whales appeared: “It was like they heard the boat stop and came over to check us out. I just remember seeing two massive faces coming up from the water and they rose out of the water almost like they were flying and just kept circling our boat, slapping gracefully. I lost it. I lose it most times when I see a whale, but this was spectacular.”

Feeling inspired? Embark on a coastal walk in NSW national parks during migration season (like this one or this one) to see these gentle giants for yourself. You can also register to participate in the annual whale census or simply head to these prime whale watching locations to see how many whales you can spot as they migrate along the humpback highway. And stay tuned for the next edition of ‘conservation superstars’, where we spotlight the legends making a difference in NSW national parks.