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Humpback Whales Start The Southern Migration (2008-09-15)
Pam and I have just spent a week in Exmouth photographing Humpback Whales for a research database. In 5 days on the water we travelled 160 NM in our 6.3 metre RIB. We photographed 138 whales and also recorded several hours of whale song with a portable hydrophone.
Exmouth is an important resting ground for calves on the southern migration down the WA coast. At this time of year, the calves are only a few weeks old and it is common to see them resting and lying across mum's head. At other time they can be seen building their breaching and tail slapping skills. The mothers will rest the calves until they consider the calf capable of enduring the next stage of the journey to the feeding grounds in the Antarctic.
It is truly a privilege to spent time with these intelligent mammals - on somedays we wondered who was observing who as they approached boat.
A number of the animals we observed had damage to the dorsal area - a legacy of contact with shipping. Scarring from rope entanglement was also more frequent than we would like to see.
The calving grounds in the Kimberley and resting grounds like Exmouth Gulf are coming under increasing pressure from resource development. Getting the balance right between the well being of the Humpbacks and the inevitable development needs will be a fine balance.
The photograph shows a young male who took a shine to our boat.
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