Stephanie H. Stack

Stephanie H. Stack

she/her

Marine mammalogist | Humpback whale behavioural ecology & energetics | UAV photogrammetry | Conservation science

Human impacts

Overview

Whales and dolphins share their habitat with fishing gear, vessels, and coastal development, yet many harmful interactions are never observed or reported. My research develops methods to quantify these hidden impacts by combining drone photogrammetry and long-term photo-identification to measure injury rates, estimate the prevalence of entanglement and vessel collisions, and identify the human activities placing populations at greatest risk. These data provide an evidence base for decisions about shipping, fisheries, and habitat protection.

Selected outputs

  • Fettermann, McGovern, Barber-Meyer & Stack (submitted) — Using aerial imagery to quantify non-lethal entanglement and vessel collisions in East Australian humpback whales.
  • Olson, Stack, Machernis, Sullivan & Currie (2022) — Mapping the exposure of pantropical spotted dolphins and common bottlenose dolphins to different categories of vessel traffic in Maui Nui, Hawaiʻi. Aquatic Mammals. DOI: 10.1578/AM.48.2.2022.167
  • Currie, van Aswegen, Stack, West, Vivier & Bejder (2021) — Rapid weight loss in free ranging pygmy killer whales and the implications for anthropogenic disturbance of odontocetes. Scientific Reports. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-87514-2
  • Machernis, Stack, Olson, Sullivan & Currie (2021) — External scarring as an indicator of fisheries interactions with bottlenose and pantropical spotted dolphins in Maui Nui, Hawaiʻi. Aquatic Mammals. DOI: 10.1578/AM.47.5.2021.482
  • Stack, Currie, McCordic & Olson (2019) — Incidence of odontocetes with dorsal fin collapse in Maui Nui, Hawaii. Aquatic Mammals. DOI: 10.1578/AM.45.3.2019.257
  • Currie, Stack & Kaufman (2017) — Modeling whale-vessel encounters: the role of speed in mitigating collisions with humpback whales. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management.

Policy and advisory

  • Invited subject matter expert, Australian federal government determination of Biologically Important Areas for humpback whales, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (2024–2025)
  • Written submission to Okinawa Prefecture opposing the introduction of high-speed ferries on collision risk grounds (2025)
  • NOAA Fisheries Level 3 Large Whale Entanglement Responder (2016–present)