While watching Boat Captain Hayley Shephard maneuver the beluga boat and live cams around the Churchill River this season, you may notice that she has someone helping in the background. Meet Assistant Boat Captain, Patrick Mislan, who will be a very helpful extra set of hands this summer.
Pat is currently an MSc student studying polar bears in western Hudson Bay under Dr. Andy Derocher. Pat’s project is looking at the stress response of polar bears to different factors, such as climate change, using noninvasive techniques. Though he is currently a polar bear researcher who has his feet planted firmly on the ground most of the time, Pat’s previous projects saw him conducting research from a variety of boats in many different regions.
Pat researched his undergraduate thesis in Lake Champlain (Ontario) on boats of different sizes, worked a summer job after university sampling northern Ontario lakes, and has done plankton sampling from zodiacs in Svalbard, Norway. Though this is Pat’s first time on the Churchill River, we’re confident that puttering about looking for friendly belugas will be no sweat for him!
We are pleased to welcome Assistant Captain Pat and his knowledge to Churchill this summer. Please don’t hesitate to ask him questions about boats, belugas, or bears!
