Nan Hauser is the President and Director of the Center for Cetacean Research and Conservation. Her home base is in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, where she is the Principal Investigator for the Cook Islands Whale Research Project and Director of the Cook Islands Whale & Wildlife Centre. Nan’s research includes population identity, Photo ID, acoustics, genetics, surface & underwater behaviour, navigation and migration of cetaceans. Her satellite tag work includes results on how whales migrate over long distances using linear constant course segments.

 

For almost a decade she was involved with the Ocean Alliance’s cetacean research expeditions aboard the R/V Odyssey. As Founder and Director of the New England Dolphin Outreach Project she has taught on a global level for the Dolphin Research Center, Whale Conservation Institute and many other non-profit organizations. As a Registered Nurse, she teaches and practices medicine on the outer islands of the Cooks. She is currently on the Board of Directors of the Ajubatus Foundation in South Africa and has been awarded an International title of “Earth Ambassador”.

 

Her field research includes the Cook Islands and the Bahamas studying beaked whales, dolphins and other cetaceans, Nan serves on the Executive Committee, as a scientific contributor and as Secretariat of the South Pacific Whale Research Consortium. She was a key player in the creation of a 2 million square kilometer whale sanctuary in the E.E.Z. of the Cook Islands and currently serves as a Trustee for the Cook Islands Marine Park. Nan has been the subject of many Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, National Geographic and Smithsonian films. She also holds a US Coastguard 100 tonne Captain’s license.