Over and above her work as an emergency room doctor, Janie Girard is director of photo-identification and tagging projects for GREMM, a group involved in research and education on marine mammals. This not-for-profit organization is dedicated to teaching the public about conservation of the marine environment, and does scientific research on marine mammals in the St. Lawrence River.
She once headed up a project tracking common rorquals in the St. Lawrence with VHS transmitters. Today, she's in charge of photo-identification and tagging of the great whales in the estuary. From one season to the next, she monitors the comings and goings of herds of common and blue rorquals, fin-back and sperm whales.