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What’s “The Marine Detective”?

It’s me, Jackie Hildering, a biology teacher, cold-water diver, underwater photographer, and Humpback Whale researcher living and learning in the Territories of the Kwakwala-speaking People, northeast Vancouver Island, British Columbia, CANADA.

It’s my handle under which I work to raise awareness about life in the cold, dark northeast Pacific Ocean and illuminate the fragility, beauty, and mystery there. I hope the name suggests the correct humility. I want to share what I learn so that it may lead to greater knowledge, appreciation, and positive action for the Ocean to which we are all connected and upon which our health depends.

Background:

I was raised in British Columbia but taught and administered international schools in the Netherlands for 14 years; also writing curriculum for the International Baccalaureate.

My life changed acutely in 1998 when friends took me on a surprise whale-watching trip when visiting northeast Vancouver Island. That experience led to my stepping away from a mainstream education career, returning to BC, and striving to find a more effective way to enable people to know their connection to the Ocean and how easy it is to create positive change – for the sake of the whales, our life-sustaining seas, and therefore . . . for ourselves.

Having the privilege of witnessing the return of Humpback Whales from the brink of extinction led to my becoming a whale researcher and co-founding the Marine Education and Research Society. My additional work has included being a Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Education Coordinator; the Communications Director for the SOS Marine Conservation Foundation; Community Liaison for the ‘Namgis First Nation’s land-based salmon farm; observer fro DFO on marine mammal surveys; and serving as a marine naturalist and naturalist trainer for a wide variety of audiences.

On-camera experience includes:

• BBC’s Planet Earth III Episode 7 “Human” – Web exclusive: Humpbacks making a comeback
• Featured on Animal Planet’s Wild Obsession series
• Coastal Revival – The Marine Detective
• BBC’s New threat to Canada’s Pacific humpback whales
• BBC’s Ingenious Animals (at this link as of 41 min)
• PBS’ Lineage / When Whales Walked (as of 52 min)

Recognition includes:

• November 2025 – Raincoast Conservation Foundation – Nightengale Award in Ocean Engagement to the Marine Education and Research Society
• October 2025 – award for one of the “remarkable presentations” at the Humpback Whale World Congress
• January 2025 – King Charles III Coronation Medal
• November 2019 – ECOSTAR Educational Leadership Award
• October 2019 – Canadian Power Squadron Environment Award
• January 2018 – Port McNeill Chamber of Commerce Professional Merit Award
• October 2018 – Science Writers and Communicators of Canada, People’s Choice Award for best Canadian Science Website
• May 2018 – Black Press “Local Hero” awards, Environmental Hero of the Year, Northern Vancouver Island 
• January 2011 – Vancouver Aquarium / Ocean Wise, 2010 Murray A. Newman (MAN) Award for Excellence in Aquatic Conservation
• June 2010 – award from DFO Director of Oceans, Habitat and Enhancement for “whose contribution to the preservation to the enhancement of the salmonid resource of Northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, has helped ensure a better future for all Canadians”

Publications include:

Mowatt-Larssen T, Thys TM, Hildering J, Caldera EJ, Biesack EE, McDowell JR and Nyegaard M (2025) Hook, line, and social media: crowd-sourced images reveal size and species patterns of ocean sunfishes (Tetraodontiformes, Molidae) from California to Alaska. Front. Mar. Sci.

Cheeseman et al., (2024) Bellwethers of change: population modelling of North Pacific humpback whales from 2002 through 2021 reveals shift from recovery to climate response

Cheeseman et al., (2023) A collaborative and near‑comprehensive North Pacific humpback whale photo‑ID dataset

Towers, J.R, C.J. McMillan, M. Malleson, J. Hildering, J.K.B. Ford, and G.M. Ellis. 2013. Seasonal movements and ecological markers as evidence for migration of common minke whales photo-identified in the eastern North Pacific. J. Cetacean Res. Manage. 13(3):221-229