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Whale watch update

Whale Sightings Update 14 September 2020

 

Dear whale watchers,

 

It’s been a very quiet season for Southern Right Whales in Victoria this year. Since my last report on 24 July we have had very few sightings and there have been no resident females with calves at Logans Beach.  This is a surprise given that 2017 was a big year for us and we were expecting a number of our regular breeding females including ‘Big Lips, and ‘Long Coaming’. The non-arrival of this cohort of females suggests that they may have extended their 3-year calving cycle. With restrictions on movement of people in Victoria this year due to coronavirus, there is no doubt that some sightings have been missed, however we are certain that no cow:calf pairs came to Logans Beach.

 

Below is a summary of confirmed southern right whale sightings since 24 July:

 

 

*Waiting to confirm presence of calf

 

A number of cow:calf pairs have been sighted in NSW this season. At this stage it appears that there have been 3 different pairs. The cow:calf pair that moved from Victoria into South Australia early in the season has been tracked all the way to the southern right whale nursery at the Head of the Great Australian Bight. This pair is reportedly doing well, and we are pleased to report that the calf’s condition has improved.

 

A rare sighting of a Minke Whale was reported to us from Cape Conran on 30 Aug and in recent days Humpback Whales have been observed feeding off Portland. This is becoming a regular phenomenon off Portland at the end of the whale season. Although we do not include all Humpback Whale sightings in our updates, we do welcome reports of humpback whales on SWIFFT.

 

 

2019 Photo-ID results!

 

Many of you may have been wondering about the results of last year’s southern right whale photo-identification efforts. With the high volume of images posted to SWIFFT there are many hours of work involved with sorting, matching and cataloguing these whales, which is why we cannot often provide real-time feedback to contributors regarding their whales. I am pleased to announce that we now have the 2019 results to share with you. Last year 32 different southern right whales were identified (comprising of 8 cow:calf pairs and 24 unaccompanied adults) from images contributed by around 20 citizen scientist from across Victoria and New South Wales. Six of the 32 whales were re-sights (already in the SEA SRW PIC) and 26 were new to the catalogue. I will be in touch with the contributors from last year individually via email to provide more detail on the whales they photographed.  

 

Thank you to those who have contributed to our sightings database using the new online portal hosted by SWIFFT. We have received more than 300 sighting reports from around Victoria and New South Wales on SWIFFT so far this year. Identifying images we receive may be included in the South-east Australian Southern Right Whale Photo-Identification Research Program, and sightings records added to the department's Victorian Biodiversity Atlas. If you would like to register and contribute sightings and/or images, please visit:  https://www.swifft.net.au/srwsmp Once registered you can also view images and news updates even if you don’t wish to contribute data yourself.

 

Regards,

 

Mandy Watson

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