Whale News - 2024 Season Summary
Thank you to everyone who contributed their sightings in 2024 and continue to support this vital citizen science program. Unfortunately, due to resourcing constraints in 2024, we were unable to provide our regular WhaleNews updates during the season. We thank you for your understanding and patience as we navigated this challenging period for the program.
In this WhaleNews edition, we provide an overview of the 2024 season and summary of the results from 2022 and 2023 season.
Shane Smith, Tyrendarra 6/8/2024
If you would like to see where whales were spotted during 2024, check out our interactive sightings map by logging into WhaleFace and going to the Sighting Map tab.
2024 Season Review
In 2024, we received 286 images from over 100 whale sightings. This is an outstanding result considering the whales were not spending a lot of time in locations where they could be easily observed by the general public (e.g. Logans Beach nursery area). The location of the resident cow-calf pairs in the Portland – Tyrendarra area provided significant challenges for our local land-based photographers. We are grateful to those dedicated citizen sciences who still managed to get photos suitable for individual ids, despite the significant location and weather challenges. Below are just a few examples of the photos we received.
Shane Smith, Logans Beach 6/7/2024
Tammy Patterson, Logans Beach 6/7/2024
Coralee Askew, Lake Gillear 30/7/2024
Allen McCauley, Portland 1/8/2024
Michelle Holcombe, Cape Nelson, 3/8/2024
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Maureen Macdonald, Port Fairy 4/8/202
General Sighting Update
- The first sighting of the season was on the 26th May - a single adult at Cape Nelson.
- The first sighting of a cow-calf pair was on the 18th of June near Tyrendarra.
- The last sighting of a cow-calf pair was on the 21st of August at Port Fairy.
- The final Southern Right Whale sighting for the 2024 season (and the only sighting we had outside of south west Victoria) was on the 26th of August at Lake Tyers.
Unaccompanied adults were sighted at Cape Nelson, Portland, Port Fairy, Warrnambool, Nullawarre, Port Campbell, Lorne and Lake Tyers during the 2024 season. We had confirmed sightings of cow-calf pairs in the following locations: Cape Nelson, Portland, Narrawong/Tyrendarra, Yambuk, Port Fairy, Warrnambool.
There were no resident cow-calf pairs at the Logans Beach Nursery ground in 2024, with sightings of cow-calf pairs there on just 3 separate days. Cow-calf pairs have used the Narrawong-Tyrendarra area near Portland as a nursery area in previous years, including 2018 and 2021, and it is clearly an important area for breeding females.
All data from the 2024 season is awaiting processing and validation and will be added to the VBA and the National Right Whale Catalogue (ARWPIC) as soon as practical. Details of numbers of individuals and resights will be provided to the WhaleFace community following the data validation and processing.
While final numbers of individuals are yet to be confirmed, preliminary checks have identified at least eight cow-calf pairs on the Victorian coast during the 2024 season. At least five of these were spending a significant time with their calves near the Fitzroy River Mouth at Tyrendarra. One of these cow-calf pairs was confirmed to have travelled to Encounter Bay (SA) after spending approximately one month in SW Victoria. At least one of the eight breeding females was a known female who had calved previously – SE0937 ‘No Lips Black’. She was first added to the catalogue in 2009 when she was with a calf in Swanick, Tasmania. She was then resighted with a calf at Logans Beach in August 2017. In 2024, She was first spotted in Warrnambool on the 26th of June, prior to calving. She was later photographed with a calf at Tyrendarra on the 6th of August and it assumed she had been in the area with her calf for some weeks. Interestingly she was later filmed at Sleaford Bay (SA) on the 28th of August. These observations highlight that there is still a lot to understand on the movement and behaviour patterns of cow-calf in SW Victoria and their connections with the western population in south Australia. Your sightings and those from citizen scientists in other states are helping us piece together an important picture of how Southern Right Whale cow-calf pairs are currently using the southern Australian coast.
Research Flights
We conducted two fixed-wing aerial surveys during the 2024 season. The first survey was on the 13/8/2024 and commenced at Nelson (on the Vic/SA border) and concluded near Gabo Island (on the Vic/NSW border). During this flight we observed three cow-calf pairs close to the Fitzroy River Mouth near Portland and two unaccompanied adults near Loch Sport in Gippsland. The second flight took place on 9-10 September 2024, commencing at McLoughlin’s Beach in Gippsland and concluded near Sydney Harbour. No Southern Right Whales were observed during this survey, however we did see a number of other baleen whales on the Gippsland coast.
One drone flight was conducted on the 15 August 2024, when a cow-calf pair was in the Warrnambool area. Images of this cow-calf pair were taken in accordance with the conditions of the research permit (10010359) and CASA regulations. Drone surveys are dependent on appropriate weather conditions as well as whales being close to shore and in areas that are accessible and safe for RPAS launching. There were no other opportunities for RPAS surveys during the 2024 Southern Right Whale season.
In 2025 we will continue with our statewide fixed-wing aerial surveys, but at this stage we do not have funding to continue with the drone survey component of our monitoring program.
Summary of 2022 and 2023 Photo-id data
The 2022 and 2023 data have now been processed by Mandy Watson as part of a NESP 3.15 project. A l of the sightings data are now publicly available in the Victorian Biodiversity Atlas (VBA) via NatureKit. All the photo-id data has been added to the Southeastern Australian Southern Right Whale Catalogue (SEASRWPIC) and the National Right Whale Catalogue (ARWPIC). A summary of the number of individuals catalogued for 2022 and 2023 is provided below.
2022
Individual Photo-id data was obtained for 30 Southern Right Whales including:
- 11 x cow with calves
- 6 x calves
- 13 x unaccompanied adults
This included re-sightings of four known breeding females:
- SE0202 Big Lips (with calf)
- SE1401 (with calf)
- SE1718 (with calf)
- SE0203 Bonnet (without a calf)
2023
2023 was a quiet season with only one cow-calf pair sighted in Victoria. Individual Photo-id data was obtained for 12 Southern Right Whales including:
- 1 x cow with calf
- 11x unaccompanied Adult
This included resighting’s of two known breeding females - SE1224 (with calf) and Tripod SE0201(no calf) and one previously identified unaccompanied adult – SE1328.
2025 season
We can’t wait for the 2025 whale season as we eagerly anticipate welcoming back some old (and hopefully new) faces to our coast. Please keep your eyes peeled when by the coast, especially from May onwards, and report any sightings.
Remember that all whale sightings can be reported via WhaleFace (not just Southern Right Whale). Although we prefer a photo to help us 1) validate the species and 2) identify the individual whale (if possible), you can add a sighting to WhaleFace without uploading photos. We look forward to seeing your 2025 sightings and photos!
Happy whale watching,
Dr Kasey Stamation
