Marcus Reamer

All at sea: Whales caught in middle of conflicting Canadian, U.S. regulations Canada and the U.S. are playing by different rules when it comes to protecting threatened whales, experts warn.

All at sea: #Whales caught in middle of conflicting Canadian, U.S. regulations www.squamishchief.com/highlights/a... via @squamishchief.bsky.social

The secret lives of Florida's elusive, giant manta rays According to a new study and hundreds of videos shot mostly in waters near Palm Beach County, manta rays can act as a mobile home, providing food, shelter, even honeymoon suites for fish in sometimes ...

Catch amazing PhD candidate Emily Yeager @emilyyeager9.bsky.social on public radio talking about her recent publication!

Documenting the Endangered North Atlantic Right Whale: Policies, Conservation Efforts, and Stakeholders Depicted in Entangled and Last of the Right Whales Wildlife documentaries are a form of environmental media widely used in public engagement around sustainability and conservation issues, including biodiversity loss. Two recently released wildlife ...

Access link to my article: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/PXHEK...

North Atlantic right whale Unusual Mortality Event prompts increased legislation and partisan variation at state and federal levels North Atlantic right whales are a critically endangered species of baleen whale facing threats from vessel strikes, fishing gear entanglement, and ant…

Check out this new open access article just published in Marine Policy. It cites my critical analysis of two right whale documentaries, "Entangled" and "Last of the Right Whales".
💙🐋

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

This Year in Conservation Science: Whales, Birds, and Killer Roads • The Revelator We asked conservation researchers around the world to send us their favorite papers of 2025. They address the planet’s most pressing problems — and important solutions.

Our latest research on Rice's whale media coverage is included in this 2025 wrap up by @therevelator.org: therevelator.org/this-year-in...

Issue-attention cycles are the foundation of my recent research on the role of communication & media in whale conservation. But what are they? Five stages that help us follow the rise and fall of public attention to social & environmental topics.

Read more: bit.ly/RicesWhaleNews

Don't forget to check out our new research.

We analyzed four years of news media about Rice's whales & compare the results to the media cycle about North Atlantic right whales. Worth reading even if you don't work in whale science & conservation.

Available Open Access: bit.ly/RicesWhaleNews

Title, authors’ names, and abstract from a paper that analyzed attention cycles in media coverage about the critically endangered Rice’s whale

#Journalists are important actors in environmental #conservation. @marcusreamer.bsky.social & @emilyyeager9.bsky.social analyzed #newspaper texts re endangered Rice’s whale & found limited media attention, highlighting the importance of strategic communication re conservation doi.org/10.1007/s132...

What did newspapers cover after the discovery of Rice's whales? Disagreements about policy proposals. It's a human story featuring whales, not a whale tale. Our new study shows that this approach serves news orgs well but can work against conservation and management.

Read it: bit.ly/RicesWhaleNews

From our new #research: Of the 35 newspaper texts we analyzed (2021-2024), 60% focused entirely on Rice's whales. The remaining 40% often included the whales as an example, but in the context of some other topic.

Read to find out what this means & why it matters: doi.org/10.1007/s13280-025-02265-y

I do agree on the importance of the place-based descriptor in normal times!

A current wrench in the gears is that the US can't even decide if that body of water is called the Gulf of Mexico or the Gulf of America. That alone is politicized/polarized & (for now) the whales would be no better off.

#ICYMI: 🐋 📰 My latest #research with @emilyyeager9.bsky.social on the role of news media in marine conservation, this time about Rice's #whales. Worth reading even if you're not in whale science and conservation. Available #OpenAccess at bit.ly/RicesWhaleNews. 🐋 📰

Good thought!

We did see patriotic framing 🇺🇸🐋 in quotes by scientists and conservationists, mostly in earlier stories (2021/2022). Attention cycles rely on drama, so the framing wouldn't likely do much on that front. Definitely other reasons to explore it further, though.

Discovering the world’s most endangered great whale species did not advance an issue-attention cycle in news media: Implications for Rice’s whale conservation and management - Ambio Issue-attention cycles (IACs) follow the predictable rise and fall of media and public attention to topics through five defined stages. Using content analysis and critical discourse analysis, we analy...

New Publication:
Discovering the world’s most endangered great whale species did not advance an issue-attention cycle in news media: Implications for Rice’s whale conservation and management

Open access link: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

There are only around 50 Rice's whales (confined to the Gulf of Mexico) - this new publication describes how difficult it is to raise issues about the conservation and management of one of the rarest species of whale on the planet

New #research: discovering the world's most endangered whale species in 2021 didn't inspire much media/public attention. We found and analyzed only 35 articles published over 4 years. More than 1/2 were from 2023 during debates about oil and gas leases in the Gulf.

Read it: bit.ly/RicesWhaleNews

🐋📰 New #OpenAccess #Research 📰🐋

In 2021 scientists id'd a new species of endangered whale in the Gulf of Mexico: the Rice’s whale. @emilyyeager9.bsky.social & I wanted to know if that discovery started a news cycle. Tl;dr - it didn't.

Read it in Ambio by @springernature.com: bit.ly/RicesWhaleNews

Less than 400 Left: How Media Coverage Shapes the Fate of North Atlantic Right Whales Podcast Episode · How To Protect The Ocean · 08/22/2025 · 1h 8m

I got to chat with Andrew Lewin on the "How to Protect the Ocean" #podcast about my latest #research on #environmentalmedia and #rightwhale conservation, and the episode is now available wherever you get your podcasts. Check it out:

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/l...

Don't forget to check out my latest #research letter, available #OpenAccess in Environmental Research Communications by IOP Publishing: iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...

This research isn’t just for right whale experts and advocates. We use this case to offer a method and insights that researchers and conservation practitioners can use to understand media systems, identify emerging attention cycles, and plan their own #strategiccommunication approaches. (8/8)

This research shows how science and media often operate from different logics in pursuit of different goals. Yes, even in science and environmental reporting. More media attention doesn't necessarily equate to better or even desired conservation outcomes. (7/8)

We also found that right whales were included in disinformation campaigns designed by think tanks and deployed by local advocates to delay or defeat #offshorewind energy development along the U.S. East Coast. They argued the US gov didn’t do enough to determine possible impacts on marine life. (6/8)

The issue-attention cycle moved into stage 4, gradual decline in public interest as coverage returned to more episodic coverage of whale births, injuries, and mortalities. Policy action and organizational change are less likely now that peak public attention has passed. (5/8)

The conservation conflict between whale experts and advocates & lobster fishers and their allies was the primary focus of coverage from 2017 to early 2023, even though other threats remain & groups made progress to develop new fishing gear technologies that reduce right whale entanglements. (4/8)

We continued studying the issue-attention cycle about North Atlantic right whale science, conservation, and policy in six U.S. newspapers for the years 2023 and 2024. Media coverage (and public attention) declined following a turning point in December 2022.
(3/8)

Issue-attention cycles (IACs) follow the predictable rise and fall of public attention. Media organizations simplify, dramatize, and problematize topics to attract and maintain audiences’ attention as long as possible before everyone moves on. IACs follow 5 defined stages, timelines vary. (2/8)

🐋📰 New #OpenAccess #Research 📰🐋

We continued studying the issue-attention cycle about North Atlantic #rightwhale #science, #conservation, and #policy in six U.S. newspapers for the years 2023 and 2024. 🧵 below for key findings and read here: bit.ly/RWnews2.

Thanks @oceana.bsky.social for hosting me today to share some of my #environmentalcommunication #research with team members from across the organization! We discussed the findings of my studies on #rightwhale media and how to use communication and media to understand & support #marineconservation.

Conservation science Join the conversation

Here’s a starter pack of conservation scientists on Bluesky- you can follow them all or pick and choose.

Conservation science

A laminated sign attached to a simple wood post on a beach that states ocean water may be contaminated and is not safe for swimming.

There are important and inherent challenges to communicating about marine and coastal topics. In my #openaccess article, I argue that a #humanhealth framing may help communicators and advocates reach new audiences and create conditions for change. Read it here: www.frontiersin.org/journals/pub...