Whale News - June/July 2023
Thank you for braving the elements!
Thank you to our amazing whale-watching community for braving the terrible conditions we have had lately to capture valuable data for the Victorian Southern Right Whale monitoring program - your dedication is outstanding!
We have had several Southern Right Whales visit the coast so far this season, and an exciting visit from one of our favourite females – Tripod. Read the sighting section below for more information on Tripod.
Welcome to our new WhaleFace members (we have had 30+ new people sign up so far this season) and thank you to those who have submitted sightings for the first time.
Help us spread the word by being champions for WhaleFace - tell your friends and colleagues to join up to WhaleFace and/or Subscribe to our Whale News . Remember you can catch up on any past issues of Whale News by logging in and going to the Whale News tab.
Sightings so far
Below is a list of sightings we have received so far this season. Some of the whales that we have seen may have gone further west to south Australia, and Western Australia and some may have travelled east to NSW. We know that at least one of the whales sighted this year (by Chris Farrell) near Wilsons Promontory made its way to Narooma in NSW. Others may go undetected, especially when conditions can make spotting whales extremely difficult.
We haven’t had any calves yet, however, the numbers of cow-calf pairs and the timing of their arrival does vary from season to season. The value of having a long-term data set is that we can look for trends, which we don’t always see from comparing just one season to the next. Our data set now contains 42 seasons, but we don’t have to look back too far to find some years where calves weren’t sighted until July, and even later. We have also had some years with very few sightings of cow-calf pairs in Victoria (most recently in 2012 and 2020).
We look forward to seeing what this season brings!
Sightings between 27 May and 4 July 2023
| Logans Beach/Warrnambool area: | |
| 5/06/2023 | 1 UA |
| 7/06/2023 | 1 UA |
| 12/06/2033 | 2 UA (one a grey morph) |
| 16/06/2023 | 3 UA |
| 23/06/2023 | 2 UA |
| 24/06/2023 | 1 UA (Tripod) |
| 25/06/2023 | 1 UA (Tripod) |
| 26/06/2023 | 1 UA (Tripod) |
| 27/06/2023 | 1 UA (Tripod) |
| Killarney – Port Fairy: | |
| 6/06/2023 | 1 UA |
| Portland (Yambuk-Bridgewater): | |
| 27/05/2023 | 2 UA |
| 21/06/2023 | 2 UA |
| Gippsland: | |
| 12/06/2023 | 1 UA - Cape Paterson area |
| 13/06/2023 | 1 UA - Wilsons Prom area |
| 3/07/2023 | 1 UA - Offshore sighting, from Lakes Entrance |
| Mornington Peninsular area: | |
| 21/06/2023 | 1 UA |
Please note that this sightings summary is preliminary and does not include all data we have received. All data will be finalised at the end of the season when our validating and photo matching/cataloguing takes place. UA = unaccompanied adult (i.e., not with calf)
Tripod
Tripod is one of Logans Beach’s well known breeding females, and she has an interesting past. The name “Tripod” reflects her distinct callosity pattern of three islands grouped in the middle of her rostrum (pictured below).
She was first identified in Victorian waters in June 1995 and has since made regular appearances at Logans Beach (see sighting table below). This season marks the 10th year we have seen her on the Victorian coast. She is an interesting female as she has often given birth every two years, rather than every three to four years, which is typical for Southern Right Whales. She has also shown up some years without a calf. Unfortunately, in 2019 Tripod lost her calf – she was sighted at Logans Beach with a calf in late June 2019 before disappearing and returning in early August 2019 without a calf.
This season Tripod was sighted at Logans Beach between 24th and 27th of June. Thanks to several dedicated WhaleFace photographers who worked as a team to help piece together her identification from multiple images. To confirm an identification, we need to be able to see callosities on both the left and right side of the head as well as the bonnet (on the tip of the head). We now eagerly await to see if Tripod will return with a calf this season.
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The more you look the more you find!
Understanding and tracking the movements of Southern Right Whale can be difficult. In Australia we have two populations: 1) the western population, with reproduction areas in SA and WA, and 2) the eastern population – with reproduction areas in Vic, NSW, Tas and even some cow-calf pairs using southern QLD. The movement patterns of whales however means that the situation is not black and white. Individuals from the two populations may mix; unaccompanied adults from both populations may roam far and wide (in either direction) along the Australian coast; and calving females will sometimes even switch their nursery sites between the eastern and western areas. That is why it is invaluable having great networks of citizen scientists and whale researchers across the country working together to unpack the mysteries of the Southern Right Whale in a changing environment. The new data we receive (through photo-id, genetics, and other tracking techniques) will continue to challenge our thinking; we may find new patterns emerging. The way we define these populations, their migration timing and how they use the coast now may change in the future. It doesn’t mean what we thought before was wrong, it just means we are continually learning and adapting as the environment changes and new data emerges. So, I encourage all our WhaleFace citizen scientists to keep questioning, keep looking and to be open-minded to new and exciting findings.
Research flights
We have conducted our first aerial survey for the season. We flew the entire Victorian coast over two consecutive days (the east leg on 20th and the west leg on the 21st of June). No whales were detected on this survey. We plan to run our next flight in the last two weeks of July. We will commence our drone flights, to monitor the health of the cow-calf pairs, once our first cow-calf pairs arrive.
Supporting the recovery of Southern Right Whales in eastern Australia
Technical Report
We are pleased to announce the publication of our technical report on supporting the recovery of Southern Right Whales in eastern Australia. This report describes three key threats to the recovery of Southern Right Whales in eastern Australia (i.e., entanglement, vessel strike and noise disturbance). It provides recommendations for actions to mitigate against these threats and outlines the key knowledge gaps and research priorities for the population.
Boat ramp signs are out!
It’s fantastic to see the boat ramp signs being established along the Victorian coast to raise awareness of Southern Right Whales amongst recreational boaters.
Engagement Packs are available
We have also released an Engagement Pack that contains posters, stickers, postcards, FAQs and suggested newsletter and social media content to assist with spreading the word across Victorian coastal communities. Please let me know (Kasey.stamation@delwp.vic.gov.au) if you would like an Engagement Pack sent to you, particularly if you are associated with a local boating club.
Happy Whale Watching!
Kasey
