Whale News - Sept/Oct 2022

September Update

This month we saw the departure of the three cow-calf pairs from the Logans Beach Nursery ground. Big Lips and calf were the last to depart, on 7 September, marking at least 60 days on the Victorian coastline for Big Lips this season and at least 51 days for her calf (affectionately known by locals as Loopy). We assume that they have begun their journey into colder, more productive waters, where the females can finally start feeding and replenish their energy reserves.

Before their departure it is common for the females to take their calves on ‘practice’ swims, and we were lucky enough to document one of these swims for Big Lips and calf. Our research flight located the pair approx.18 km east of Logans Beach on the 31/8/2022. The ground crew located them soon after and continued to track them moving slowly east towards Port Campbell into the afternoon. Big Lips and Loopy were back at Logans Beach two days later. Thanks to WhaleFace volunteers Coralee Askew, Maureen Macdonald and Tammy Renwick-Patterson for accompanying me on the ground search (and capturing confirmation ID photos) and to Ian Westhorpe and Ash Burns for their aerial observation work.

It appears the whale-watching season is not quite over yet though, with several reports of cow-calf pairs moving around the coast, including a cow with a grey morph (predominately white) calf that has travelled from NSW along the entire Victorian coast and was last seen continuing west past Cape Nelson. More information on this pair and grey morphism will be included in the next Whale News edition.

Please keep your sightings coming in. WhaleFace is the official repository for all Southern Right Whale sightings and images in Victoria. All validated data go into DELWP’s databases and are shared and cross-matched with the national Southern Right Whale catalogue (ARWPIC). Your contributions help with management decisions for the protection of Southern Right Whale in Victorian waters and play a vital part in research into the recovery of the Southern Right Whale in eastern Australia.

2021 Photo-ID matching results

In this month’s update, we’re pleased to share with you summaries of the photo-ID matching results from the 2021 season. Due the fantastic response to the WhaleFace citizen science program, we have seen a significant increase in the volume of data to work through, so your patience in waiting for these results is much appreciated!

In 2021, we received 227 sightings from 84 different contributors. Sightings were contributed by citizen scientists from Victoria and New South Wales.

From these sightings we were able to catalogue 39 Individuals:

11 new breeding females
6 returning breeding females (already known to the catalogue)
2 calves
18 new unaccompanied adults
2 returning adults (already known to the catalogue)

Each year we offer contributors the chance to name some of the new whales to the catalogue. Its great to hear the stories behind the names that are chosen. This year we add to the catalogue:

‘Rook’ - named by Maureen Macdonald as the erosion in her bonnet callosity looks like the chess piece.

‘Dorothy’ – named by Darren Wong in honour of his own mum, after reflecting on how amazing Southern Right Whale mothers are.

‘Joelene’ – named by Sandy Goddard (Barwon Heads local), who is a mad Cats fan and really appreciates everything Joel has done for the Barwon Heads community

‘

Read’ – named by Coralee Askew in honour of Peter Read’s 20 years of contribution to Southern Right Whale research at Logans Beach and Warrnambool area. Read is the latest calf of a regular female Thin Lips.

We really hope to see Rook, Dorothy, Joelene and Read back on our coastline in the future years!!

Interesting movements in 2021

A particularly interesting finding in 2021 was that Rook and Joelene were both sighted near Phillip Island early in the season, whilst still pregnant, and en route to south-west Victoria - where they were later spotted with calves. These sightings are great examples of how the expanding WhaleFace Citizen Science network is helping us learn more about how Southern Right Whales are using the coastline.

Resighting history of 2021 females

See table below for the resighting history of the known females that were resighted in 2021:

We thank everyone who shared sightings data and photographs in 2021 to support our research program. Your contributions play an important role in our understanding of this threatened species.

To find out more about whale IDs you may have contributed please email Kasey.stamation@delwp.vic.gov.au

Regards,

Kasey