Tanekaha is a 47-foot (14-meter) New Zealand fishing trawler on her first mission as a research vessel. Aboard are:
- Dr. Clyde F.E. Roper, an invertebrate zoologist at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History.
- Clyde’s wife, Ingrid Roper, keeps records, assembles data, and serves as the official photographer/videographer.
- Dr. James Bellingham of the Underwater Vehicles Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads the deployment of Odyssey IIb, an autonomous, deep-diving robotic submersible.
- Dr. Brad Moran, chief programmer and navigator of the Odyssey.
- Robert Grieve, a member of the Odyssey team, prepares and manages daily operations.
- Dr. Adam Frankel of the Bioacoustics Research Program at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. He is studying whale communication and diving behavior.
- Dr. Malcolm R. Clarke, Fellow of the Royal Society, formerly of Great Britain’s Institute of Oceanography and the Plymouth Marine Laboratory in Plymouth, England. His specialty is the feeding behavior of sperm whales, particularly how the whale feeds on squid, including the giant squid.
- Rod Simpson of Havelock, New Zealand, is the captain, with his son Mike as the first mate.
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