News

Monday June 8, 2026
Woods Hole, MA
7:30 PM

The Whaling History and Whale Conservation program is back on campus: working on projects, continuing coursework, touring the history side of Woods Hole, and hearing from guest speakers. Here’s our last interview from aboard the Corwith Cramer, recorded by student Camryn Hartigan.

Hi, what’s your name and where are you from? 

I am Gina Gallo. I’m from Bronx, New York. I go to Stony Brook University on Long Island. I study Marine Science with a minor in Environmental Engineering.

What has the last 24 hours or so looked like for us in the program? 

We are currently on the Corwith Cramer. This is our final full day of sailing. We went through the Cape Cod Canal today, which is pretty exciting. And it’s just been a day full of watches, and we just finished our class, which is very exciting.

What has been your favorite part of life on the ship?

I think the community here. There’s a great community on the Corwith Cramer. I got to meet some amazing people and each individual has kind of their own unique thing about them. And it’s been very exciting to learn from each person and just getting to experience what life is like on the boat. I’ve never actually sailed, let alone been ten days sailing. So it’s been pretty cool to kind of learn from this community. 

What is standing out to you most about what we’ve learned about the history of whaling and whale conservation so far? 

I think I was surprised by, in terms of history, how long it went on for and the severity of it. As well as how much people were able to profit off of the use of whaling. As well as the Indigenous community and kind of their role in that as well. That was also pretty interesting to learn about. And kind of that continued role. 

And what are you most excited about for the rest of the program?

I’m excited to get back to Woods Hole, work on my paper, my project. And just get to be with all the other students. We’ve really built a great community bond. I’m researching the finding of baleen whales during the Iron Age of southern Sweden. It’s a very interesting topic.

And I’m excited to dive more into that.