Whale watch update

Dear whale watchers,

It’s been a dramatic few weeks for whale watching. Big Coaming and her calf have been a highlight at Logans Beach, becoming more active and treating onlookers to breaches and tail lobs close to the whale watching platform. There was some exciting news further west over the weekend of the 3rd and 4th of August with a new cow: calf pair arriving. This pair was photographed at Port Fairy on Saturday and Portland on Sunday and were seen again in Portland on Tuesday. The mother is a new whale to the South East Australian Southern Right Whale Photo Identification Catalogue. 

Sadly, this week, for the first time on record we have recorded the loss of a calf from our waters. Tripod was the first Southern Right Whale to calve this season. She brought her calf into Logans Beach in late June, then disappeared a few days later. She finally returned last weekend after 35 days away, but without her calf. Unfortunately, the calf could not have survived as calves are completely dependent on their mothers in their first year of life. While the pair was at Logans Beach in late June, local photographers captured images of the calf showing some unusual markings on its flanks. We believe these may have been caused by either vessel strike or predator attack. We have sent the images off for a second opinion from international experts and will keep you posted on any findings.

All reports of whale sightings are welcome! If you would like to register and contribute sightings, please visit: https://www.swifft.net.au/srwsmp. 
Once registered you can also view images and news updates for the season. 

Images of Southern Right Whales submitted through the SWIFFT portal are used to support DELWP’s photo-identification research project. Identifying images will be included in the South-east Australian Southern Right Whale Photo-Identification Research Program, and sightings records will be added to the department's Victorian Biodiversity Atlas.

We will continue to post regular news updates on the whale season on the News tab of this page.

To bring you up to date, below is a summary of the confirmed sightings received by DELWP from 28th July to the 8th August:

• 28 July Queenscliff 1 x SRW
• 29 July Logans Beach 2 x SRW (cow (Big Coaming): calf pair)
• 30 July Portland 2 x SRW 
• 30 July Logans Beach 2 x SRW (cow (Big Coaming): calf pair)
• 30 July Lorne 4 x SRW
• 30 July Marengo 1 x SRW
• 31 July Logans Beach 2 x SRW (cow (Big Coaming): calf pair)
• 31 July Logans Beach 1 x SRW 
• 31 July Portland 2 x SRW 
• 1 August Logans Beach 2 x SRW (cow (Big Coaming): calf pair) 
• 1 August Logans Beach 3 x HBW 
• 1 August Portland 1 x SRW  
• 2 August Logans Beach 2 x SRW (cow (Big Coaming): calf pair) 
• 2 August Logans Beach 1 x SRW  
• 3 August Port Fairy 2 x SRW (cow: calf pair)  
• 3 August Logans Beach 1 x SRW (Tripod)  
• 3 August Portland 2 x SRW  
• 4 August Portland 2 x SRW (cow: calf pair) 
• 4 August Logans Beach 2 x SRW (Tripod plus single adult)  
• 5 August Logans Beach 3 x SRW (cow (Big Coaming): calf pair and Tripod) 
• 5 August Warrnambool 1 x HBW  
• 6 August Portland 2 x SRW (cow: calf pair) 
• 6 August Logans Beach 3 x SRW (cow (Big Coaming): calf pair and Tripod)
• 7 August Portland 2 x HBW  
• 7 August Point Richie 2 x SRW (cow (Big Coaming): calf pair) 
• 7 August Logans Beach 1 x SRW (Tripod) 

SRW = Southern Right Whale
HBW= Humpback Whale

I am interested in hearing about your experience with the SWIFFT portal so far this whale season.  Please also let me know if you are not able/would prefer not to use this portal.  

Regards,
Mandy