Phil Clapham directs the large whale program at the National Marine Mammal Laboratory of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle; he moved to Seattle in January 2005 from a similar position in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

Dr Clapham has twenty-five years experience with cetaceans, and at one time or another has worked with most species of large whales in various places worldwide.

Previously, he was at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, and before that directed a long-term study of humpback whales at the Center for Coastal Studies in Massachusetts.

He holds a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Aberdeen (Scotland), and has advised several governments and other bodies on whale research and conservation.

He currently serves on the Board of Governors of the Society for Marine Mammalogy, and is also a member of the United States delegation to the International Whaling Commission's Scientific Committee.

Dr Clapham has published four books and more than a hundred refereed papers on cetaceans.

Updated: 25 July 2010