Bob Rocha’s love of whales, science spans three decades

Like a pearl, a life is built layer by layer, with each experience adding to its luster.

Over the course of three decades, Bob Rocha, associate curator of science and research at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, has adjusted to the changing demands of his career. 

As well, he has lent his talents to professional organizations, contributed to his community, and experienced a life-changing event in February 2003, when he survived the Station nightclub fire in West Warwick that killed 100 people and injured 230.

All these layers of experience have accumulated to shape a consequential life.

After completing his education in 1993, Rocha went on to work for a decade with the Buzzards Bay Coalition, designing and implementing its K-12 education and teacher development programs as well as a public lecture series. Following a year as a science teacher at Fairhaven High, Rocha began working at the Whaling Museum in 2004, initially introducing science programs in collaboration with the fledgling Ocean Explorium. 

As associate curator, his major responsibilities at the museum include developing all science content for its exhibits, cataloging and managing the natural history collection, and serving as liaison to several agencies and partners.

In his earlier years, as director of education and science programs, Rocha developed and presented science curriculum for school groups; created and managed the high school apprenticeship program, established in 2010; managed and trained the museum’s volunteers; developed outreach and science programs for general audiences; and provided professional development for teachers. He co-curated the permanent “Whales Today” exhibit that opened in 2019, as well as the museum’s first exhibit addressing conservation issues.

Rocha’s work for the museum alone would appear all-consuming, but he also is executive director of Massachusetts Marine Educators (MME), past president of the National Marine Educators Association (NMEA), chair of the education committee of the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium, and a member of the advisory committee for the New Bedford Science Café.

Rocha earned his bachelor of science degree in biology from Southeastern Massachusetts University in 1987 and his master of science in environmental studies from Antioch University New England in 1993. He has published articles for both academic and general audiences, as well as materials ranging from education curricula to exhibit placards and museum website content.

In his leisure time, the Acushnet resident sails and rows Azorean whaleboats with the Azorean Maritime Heritage Society, and plays bass, particularly classic rock and blues. He’s a dedicated volunteer at the Shepherd’s Pantry in Acushnet and has served on the town’s Conservation Commission.

Following in Rocha’s footsteps is the daughter he shares with his wife, Kris Leotti. Emma, who is pursuing a master’s degree in museum studies at Harvard University, also works at the Whaling Museum, as an exhibitions and collections associate. Extra credit work she did there as a high school student set the Johns Hopkins University graduate on her career path.

In this conversation with The Light, Rocha explains why he’s fascinated by whales, discusses his concerns about North Atlantic right whales and the ocean environment generally, and talks about how the Azorean Maritime Heritage Society sparked exploration of his own heritage. 

New Bedford Light: What is most fascinating to you about whales?

Bob Rocha: The fact that you have this mammal that’s fully adapted for aquatic life … whose ancestor is reported to be a land mammal from 55 million years ago … similar to an animal that exists now called a chevrotain, a little mouse-deer. One of the supposed similarities is that when it feels threatened, it jumps in the water and it hides, just sticks its nose out to breathe. Maybe this whale ancestor did that. Maybe it was going into the water to explore a new food source but coming back out.

But ultimately, as of about 25 million years ago or so, you’ve got these fully adapted animals that had their front limbs turned into flippers and their hind limbs basically disappear. The pelvis separated from the spine, and the tail fans out — even though there are no bones in the fluke part of a whale’s spine — and the nostrils have moved from where they are with most mammals to the top of the head, so they can just barely arch their heads out of the water to be able to breathe.

They also have, where they need it, enough of a blubber layer to be able to live in water that’s not particularly warm. And they’ve gotten really good at using sound to communicate. I tell groups all the time, “We use light waves to make pictures in our brains of what’s going on around us. They use sound waves to do the same.”

The ones with teeth, all 75-plus species of them, also have the ability to echolocate, to communicate, to navigate, and to find food. But all of them, all 90-ish, communicate just to know what’s going on and where they are. … So, there’s a long answer for you about why these animals are fascinating.

There’s so much that we don’t know, and thankfully, we have things like satellite tags … that can be attached to the whales’ backs, without being invasive, to be able to learn what’s going on below the water surface, whether it’s depth, pitch, and roll. Are they making sounds while they’re doing it? What’s the water temperature down there? All those things. Because when you’re studying a whale from a boat, OK, you see this thing come up, it breathes a few times maybe, and then it disappears for another 15 to 20 minutes, half hour, hour or longer. It’s hard to learn anything. And then you hope it poops near the boat so you can collect that and analyze it.

They’re even flying drones over these animals now to collect what they breathe out so (the exhalation) can be analyzed for things like stress hormones. Those drones have been lovingly nicknamed “snot bots.”

NBL: What’s most troubling about the future of the ocean environment?

BR: Changing temperatures within the ocean and changing pH. I can certainly relate this to economics and the fact that changing pH affects shells of things that we like to eat. It affects the food chain of things we like to eat, but also things that whales like to eat. As water warms, it shifts things further north, perhaps. It makes things bloom earlier than they typically do. Animals that can move are responding to these water temperature changes by either moving further north or further south, depending on which side of the equator you’re on.

The animals that are sessile, that are in the bottom, what are they going to do? You’ve got to hope that the larval forms can move because the adult forms are usually the ones that burrow or attach, like barnacles and scallops. 

A good example of this is what happened in 2017 with right whales getting entangled in fishing gear up in Canada because these whales had gone somewhere they’d never been before. Because the water warmed, the food moved, and the whales followed the food. And no one’s expecting to see the whales, because they hadn’t been there before. And there’s no regulations or guidelines as to “OK, we’ve got a seasonal management area here or a dynamic management area. Get ready to move your gear or just stop fishing for a while.”

The whales showed up and now they’re getting entangled and animals are dying and it’s because of stuff we did. Anybody that says that these climate changes are not happening because of people, are not willing to accept the facts. …

So that stuff is the biggest long-term concern. There’s always the threat of ship strikes and entanglement, and pollution running off — whether it’s off land or from the air — having an impact on their lives.

NBL: Human-caused injuries and deaths are threatening the survival of the North Atlantic right whale, a population of about 350. According to some reports, the future looks bleak. What’s your outlook?

BR: My outlook tracks what those folks say, because they’re the ones who spend the hours every day researching the animals, seeing where they are, how many calves there are, how many calves are getting killed.

It’s no secret that you’ve got a pretty small population of reproductive females. And if in ideal circumstances they are giving birth every three years, it’s still kind of hard to replace what might get lost by a ship strike or an entanglement or whatever happens to a calf in the long swim from the calving grounds off Georgia and Florida up here to where they feed.

Most of their activities happen within 50 miles of the coastline, and this is a very busy coastline, the entire Eastern Seaboard. So, it’s no wonder that these things happen. It’s actually more of a wonder that they get through all those hazards and make it up here to feed and then get further north to (Canada to) feed.

NBL: Richard Ellis, the ocean explorer, author, and illustrator who painted murals for the Whaling Museum (not currently on view), recently passed away. Is there anything that’s been learned through research in the years since he painted those that would make them inaccurate?

BR: I think he painted them accurately. I think most of what we learn about these animals now is internal.

Although one of the funny things related to the blue whale mural (formerly on display in the Jacobs Family Gallery) is that for a period of time there was a graphic of it shown in promotional material. And occasionally people would show up at our front desk and want to know where the dolphins were. Because they saw this illustration, and swimming in front of the blue whale are some bottlenose dolphins. People were expecting to come in to see live dolphins. At least they didn’t ask to see a live blue whale!

NBL: How did you get involved with the Azorean Maritime Heritage Society?

BR: I got involved in many ways because of my work here. We have our Azorean whalemen gallery and our Cape Verdean maritime exhibit. We have folks coming in all the time from the Azores and occasionally from the mainland.

My father’s background is from Sao Miguel, but I never really explored it much because my mother’s side is not the least bit Portuguese. But working here, I got a little more curious about it, and got me more curious about learning the language again. I had four years of (Portuguese) in high school, but book learning is different than speaking.

I just got more curious about it and said, “All right, I think I’m going to try out a row and a sail in these things.” It was fun, so I said, “I’m going to join and connect with that part of my background.” And it’s also a good excuse for getting out on the water. I mean, we live here, we should be out on the water. So, we have these three boats, row them, sail them, host regattas here with folks from Pico and Faial, and go over there. …

AMHS really started as a partnership between this place and Dr. Mary Vermette (the late leader in the advancement of Portuguese culture and language), who was at UMass Dartmouth. So … the museum’s been involved with these international whaleboat regattas since they started.

NBL: You have family ties to the Azores. Have you visited?

BR: I’ve been to three conferences in Europe. Perhaps the most important of all those was 2019 when it was on the island of Sao Miguel in the town of Lagoa, which is where my Rocha ancestors are from. Actually, they were DaRocha at the time.

We were there one afternoon, and it was like, “Hey, that’s the church bell that my great grandmother used to hear.” She was from a different parish than my great grandfather, even though he was from the same town.

NBL: You were a classroom teacher at Fairhaven High for one year, but at this point you’ve helped to educate 30 years worth of students. Is that gratifying for you, to look back over those years?

BR: Sure. I haven’t had generations of students come back and say to me, “Hey, you taught my parents” or “my uncles” or “my aunts” or anything like that, but knowing that students left here, or if it was off-site, when I was working for the Buzzards Bay Coalition, wherever we were, if they left excited about learning, excited about what they learned, if they left curious and wanted to go read more, or watch another video or a TV program about that topic, sure, that’s definitely satisfying. And then, as I mentioned earlier, too, knowing that people are reading exhibit panels that I created or website pages that I wrote, that’s satisfying too.

NBL: What would you say is your proudest achievement?

BR: Starting the apprenticeship program is a pretty big deal; co-curating a large exhibit that people see when they walk in and knowing that there’s additional information (that I wrote) on the website, and preparing all of that information; writing a peer-reviewed paper — I think all those are pretty big deals. That, and knowing that I’ve helped a lot of people learn and just get excited about learning about whales, dolphins, and porpoises, and perhaps the ocean in general.

NBL: From one of the museum’s social media posts, I understand that one of the quirkiest parts of your job is vacuuming the whale skeletons.

BR: Yeah, that’s actually a fun thing. I try to do that during the winter when we’re closed on Mondays — get up on the lift and vacuum. I totally vacuumed the blue whale this year. I got started on the humpback and I had done the right whale last year.

NBL: That must be tricky, because there are sticky spots where the oil is still dripping.

BR: Trying to get that dust off is hard. If it’s oily, yeah. It tends to make a mess of the brush.

Joanna McQuillan Weeks is a freelance writer and frequent correspondent for The New Bedford Light.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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