Paul Spong in Blackfish Sound near his OrcaLab on Hanson Island. In 1970, Dr. Paul Spong founded OrcaLab, a small land based whale research station nestled against the evergreen forest of Hanson Island in the waters of the "Inside Passage" of northern Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. The work of OrcaLab is centred on the philosophy that it is possible to study the wild without interfering with lives or habitat.