Profile Image
Carole A. Carlson
March 24, 2017

Obituary

Carole A. Carlson, PhD, who promoted the protection and conservation of cetaceans and marine environments, died in Provincetown, MA, March 24, 2017 of pancreatic cancer.

She was born Carole Ann Manzello, May 17, 1947, to Angelo and Sophie Manzello in Worcester, MA.

Carole loved Provincetown, a place with harbor, bay, ocean and dunes, since her first visit at five years of age. She followed at least 4 generations of humpback whales that return each year to feed in the waters off Cape Cod. She loved to walk the winter beach, sail the seas, swim, play tennis, dance to a lively salsa or merengue and spend quiet moments on the dunes.

She was Director of Research and Education for the Dolphin Fleet Whale Watch, Research Associate at the College of the Atlantic (COA) and Adjunct Scientist at the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) with whom she developed the first humpback whale catalog. Her research on the pigmentation patterns used to identify individual humpback whales continues to influence how population studies are done today. An expert on photo-identification techniques, humpback whales and whale watching, she received her doctoral degree in Biology and Ecology at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She collaborated educational and conservation data collection programs for the Dolphin Fleet Whale Watch that is the prototype of the NMFS and Whale and Dolphin Conservation’s “Whale Sense’ Program for the Gulf of Maine, the CCS and the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, also regionally in Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. She spent over thirty years studying large cetaceans off the east coast of the United States, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, the Dominican Republic and the Eastern Caribbean.

She was Co-Chair of the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission on Whale-watching and facilitated the Antarctic Humpback Whale Catalogue archived at the COA. She organized and conducted international, local and regional whale-watching workshops and operators training programs on whale watch guidelines and regulations for Puerto Rico, Bonnaire, Dominica, Iceland, St Lucia, South Africa, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Oman and the USA. She authored scientific papers as well as education materials for distribution in the United States, the Wider Caribbean Region, Japan, Taiwan and South America.

Carole promoted the Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW) of the Cartegena Convention of the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and helped draft its Marine Mammal Action Plan. Other affiliations: Board of Director of Pacific Whale Foundation, Scientific Advisor for: International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW,) Cetacean Society International, Centro de Conservation Cetacea, Right Whale Project of Uruguay, Whale Conservation Institute, Argentina, Brazilian Right Whale Project, and UNEP.

And lastly, she was Executive Director of the Peaked Hill Trust, a conservation organization for the Natural Heritage Cultural Community of Dune Shacks in the Cape Cod National Seashore.

She was predeceased by her parents and sisters, Elizabeth and Paula Manzello. She is survived by three nephews, Perry, Lawrence and Jamie. She leaves behind, many saddened friends, cousins and colleagues. Her ashes will be spread at sea.

Memorial donations may be made to The Center for Coastal Studies – coastalstudies.org/donate

Content is coming soon...
Gately McHoul Funeral Home - Business Closed
94 Harry Kemp Way
Provincetown, MA 02657
000-000-0000