Welcome to whale season. Get to know these iconic visitors from the Southern Ocean, meet the people who study them, and find out how you can become a citizen scientist.
Within minutes of leaving Sydney Harbour, Vanessa Pirotta spots a whale gliding through the waters beyond the city's towering sandstone cliffs.
"It's a blow, we've got whales!" she shouts.
Water droplets from the whale rise into the air, as the dark shadow of the whale's back sinks under the surface.
As the days grow shorter and colder, and icy winds signal winter is on its way, humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) and southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) begin their annual migration to northern breeding grounds.
Standing on the deck of a boat with a camera slung about her neck, Dr Pirotta is using a drone to collect samples of humpback whale snot, which provide a snapshot of the animal’s health and the ocean they swim in.
Long-term information gathered by whale watchers, boaties, wildlife photographers and tour operators can also help scientists learn more about these majestic Southern Ocean animals and help protect their habitat as they recover from decades of exploitation.
Let's get to know two of the most iconic whales that visit Australia in winter — then take a journey around Australia to see what we're learning about them.
You can also use these links to jump straight to your state and find out how you can help.
- Queensland
- New South Wales
- South-east Victoria | South-west Victoria
- Tasmania
- South Australia
- Western Australia
What whale is that?
Growing up to the size of a bus, humpbacks have a small dorsal fin on their grey-coloured back, and light-coloured markings under their long pectoral fins, belly and tail.
In the east, humpbacks hit the Victorian coast in April and turn right on their journey up the coast of NSW, making a beeline towards the Great Barrier Reef.
In the west, humpbacks start to skirt around the south-west coast of Western Australia in late May.
The western humpbacks are heading up to their calving grounds, which extend from the turquoise waters of Shark Bay to the ochre cliffs of the Kimberley.
After a couple of months, the whales make their way back down south at a more leisurely pace along both coasts with calves in tow, stopping close to shore to rest and play.
Southern right whales are larger and darker than humpbacks, have a much shorter paddle-like pectoral fin, and are the only species of large whale that doesn't have a dorsal fin.
They also have bright white patches called callosities on their heads that are unique to every individual.
About 5 per cent of southern right whale calves are white, with their colour changing to a light pinkish-grey over time.
During winter, southern right whales head to the calm waters along the coast of Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia.
The females will spend up to four months in these areas with their newborn calves.
Many of these whale nurseries are former whaling stations.
Humpbacks and southern right whales were among several species of whales slaughtered for their oil, blubber, bones and plates of keratin in their mouths known as baleen, at whaling stations right around Australia.
Whaling was banned in 1978. Today, all species are listed as protected but they are affected by environmental pressures such as ship strike, entanglement in fishing gear, noise in developed areas, and changes to climate and ocean conditions along their route.
Humpback whaling ended in the late 1960s. Since then, numbers along the east coast have returned close to pre-whaling levels, and they are no longer considered endangered.
But the story is very different for southern right whales, which continue to be listed as endangered at a federal level.
Southern right whales were targeted by whalers because they yield more oil and blubber, have the longest baleen plates of any whale species, and calve very close to shore.
Although southern right whales became protected in the mid-1930s, recovery in their traditional calving grounds has been slow, especially in south-eastern areas where numbers are still critically low.
Keep scrolling to see what's happening right around Australia and meet some of the scientists and citizen scientists who study them — or use these links to jump straight to your state.
- Queensland
- New South Wales
- South-east Victoria | South-west Victoria
- Tasmania
- South Australia
- Western Australia
Hervey Bay to the Gold Coast, Qld
Hervey Bay is the first pit-stop for humpback whales on the east coast as they leave their breeding grounds during their southerly migration.
Wally Franklin and his late partner Trish were drawn to Hervey Bay in the late 80s by their encounters with whales along the Fraser Coast.
At the time, not much was known about the movements of different groups of humpbacks into the area as they migrate southward between July and October.
Starting out as citizen scientists and then becoming marine scientists, the Franklins transformed what we know about whales in Hervey Bay.
Each year, the duo would travel up the coast from their home in Byron Bay to spend 10 weeks photographing whales, collecting whale songs and conducting other research.
Dr Trish Franklin set up the Oceania Project, logging photographs of the underside of tail flukes, which are unique for every whale.
Over her life, Trish documented almost 3,500 humpback whales, with long-term histories between two and 25 years.
"With photo ID you can study ecology, behaviour, the whole shebang, it's very practical data," Wally Franklin says.
Trish's catalogue of whales was uploaded to an international database called Happy Whale, which anyone can use to track the movement of whales around the globe.
One of the regular whales in the area is Nala, who appears roughly every two years, often with a calf in tow.
"Nala's fluke patterns didn't change over the 30 years Trish observed and photographed her," Dr Franklin says.
In 2019, Hervey Bay was accredited as the world's first whale heritage site.
It's a unique habitat where females outnumber males by three to one.
The first group of whales, which usually arrive in the bay in mid-July to the end of August, are young whales and mature females who are either resting or newly pregnant.
The next to come from August to September are the mature lactating females with new calves.
Male whales arrive sometime in the middle of the two groups, but the same whales can be seen again in different locations throughout the migration as they circle around looking for females to hook up with.
The Gold Coast, further south, is also an important layover for mothers and calves on the home-bound journey.
Data collected by citizen scientists aboard whale-watching boats shows numbers peak in October, with mothers and calves often coming closer to shore.
Byron Bay to Eden, NSW
The coast of NSW is dotted with a number of vantage points that provide views of the whales during both their northern and southern migrations.
One of the best places to see them is Cape Byron, where they come close to shore as they round Australia’s most easterly point.
"Byron Bay is the best land-based whale watching area for humpback whales in the world. It's amazing," Dr Franklin says.
It was here that Migaloo, the white humpback calf, was first spotted in 1991.
Since then he's regularly been spotted off the coasts of Australia and New Zealand.
"The last two years he was sighted he was actually sighted in New Zealand a week before, then he was sighted on the Gold Coast."
Further south, whale watchers have sweeping 180-degree views of the migration path from Sydney's rugged cliffs.
Humpback whales move at a clipping pace as they travel northward.
"Whale counting that goes back 20 years shows that June and July is the peak time [to see the northern migration from Sydney]," Dr Pirotta says.
At last count, about 35,000 whales make their way up the east coast each year.
"In August we start to see whales going north and south, so there will be that crossover."
The whales are more relaxed as they return on their southern journey, taking time to rest and play.
Scientists once believed that whales fasted for their entire migration, only feasting again on krill once they returned to Antarctica.
But recently, whales have been spotted feeding in mass supergroups of 20 or more individuals in September and October in the waters off Sydney, and further down the south coast of NSW, Victoria and Tasmania.
The whales swim in circles, creating bubbles and lunging sideways into the bubble net to scoop up their prey.
"To see that these animals are now not just doing a slight pit stop goes beyond being opportunistic, so this is exciting," Dr Pirotta says.
"Some of these behaviours might have been present before whaling and are only now starting to return."
South-east Victoria and Tasmania
The south-east Victorian coast is known for its humpbacks, southern right whales, killer whales and blue whales.
It is here that David Donnelly has set up the Two Bays Whale Project for the Dolphin Research Institute.
"Humpback whales have migrated very early this year," he says.
"And blue whales [which are usually gone by May] are hanging around longer, so I don't know what's happening out there."
As whale season ramps up, Mr Donnelly is encouraging whale watchers between Inverloch and Barwon Heads to upload their sightings and images to track the movements of different species, but particularly humpbacks, through the area.
Over the past five years, he says there have been more humpbacks sighted hitting the south-western Victorian coast and making their way east.
In late September to mid-November, the humpbacks take a slightly different route on their return journey, with some even heading across the ditch towards New Zealand.
"They tend to peel off a little bit when they come to Victoria, but certainly don't come across the northern Bass Strait region as much as they do on the northerly migration," he says.
"It's really interesting behaviour, we are still yet to understand it properly."
Further south in Tasmania, marine biologist Madeleine Brasier has set up Tasmania Fluke Project to help identify different whales by the markings on the underside of their tails.
While most humpbacks have moved north of Tasmania by the end of June, they return in September and October and are often seen deep diving for food.
"We were seeing quite a lot of humpbacks off Tassie, a lot of interesting behaviours, and a lot of feeding action," she says.
Images of the whale tails are added to the Happy Whale database, giving scientists an idea about whether the same whale has turned up before around Tasmania or in other locations like Hervey Bay.
"I think we've had some sighted up to about 20 years ago using that database," Dr Brasier says.
Warrnambool, south-west Victoria
Warrnambool, on Victoria's far south-west coast, is a critical nursery for the south-east population of the southern right whale.
"Warrnambool is the only place where they come regularly to calve in the south-east Australian region," says Mandy Watson of the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.
At last count, there were less than 300 southern right whales in the south-eastern population.
"We think the reason why the population in the east is not recovering so well is that they pretty much hunted all the females," Ms Watson said.
"So there is this maternal memory that's passed on and if you remove those females from the population, then there is no basis for recovery."
Each year whale watchers and photographers gather on the viewing platform above Logan's Beach to spot whales.
"We have around 15 females that regularly use the Logan's Beach nursery," says Ms Watson, who runs a citizen science project called WhaleFace.
Southern right whales in this area calve about every three years, so the numbers of females in the area vary from year to year, but the average is between two to three each year.
During calving season, whales at Logan's Beach are protected by a boating exclusion zone that is in place between June and September.
But, Ms Watson says, the state government may need to look at introducing exclusion areas in emerging nursery areas like the old whaling town of Portland, further west.
"We are now starting to see the odd calf being born there and females staying, so we may need to look at some sort of vessel restrictions to help them recover," she says.
Encounter Bay to Head of Bight, SA
Elizabeth Steele-Collins watches from her vantage point on the Waitpinga Cliffs on the Fleurieu Peninsula as whales come into Encounter Bay.
Ms Steele-Collins, who has been spotting whales since 1995, is one of a network of citizen scientists who look for whales each day between May and November.
Encounter Bay is the most easterly of South Australia's four whale nurseries.
"The Encounter Bay area is a very busy boating area," says Ms Steele-Collins, who is lobbying for the creation of exclusion zones in whale nursery areas during calving season like those further east in Warrnambool.
"Whale numbers were down last year," she says, adding that construction on a causeway near Granite Island may have been a factor.
This year she is excited to see a southern right whale called Buttons has returned with a newborn calf.
Buttons was last seen in the bay in 2017 with her calf Bobbin.
In 2013, Ms Steele-Collins started up the Encounter Bay Right Whale study to identify individual southern right whales and help scientists understand the movement of different populations between Encounter Bay and other nurseries.
"It's really exciting when you get cross-matches with other areas because you are able to track an individual through time and space.
"Some of the same whales that have been here at Encounter Bay have been at the Great Australian Bight."
The largest of these nurseries lies beneath the towering cliffs at Head of Bight, the most northerly point of the Great Australian Bight, where scientists have been studying whales for more than 30 years.
Boats are excluded from this area during the calving season between May and October.
Observations of whales returning from year to year at this point indicate the western population is growing at a rate of about 6 per cent a year, and now numbers around 2,585 individuals.
While most of the whales in this nursery are from the western population, it has also been a sanctuary for whales who have been disturbed by human activity in the east.
In 2020, a whale called Nessie and her calf made the 1,500-kilometre journey from Victoria to Head of Bight after being disturbed by boats in Western Port and then in Encounter Bay.
The South Australian government has just announced it is seeking to gain World Heritage Status for the Great Australian Bight, and "will explore establishing whale nursery protection areas where whales come close to shore with their young".
South and south-west coasts, Western Australia
The rugged south coast of Western Australia between Esperance and Flinders Bay provides shelter for western populations of southern right whales in winter.
Albany on Western Australia's south coast was the last whaling station to close in 1978, but today it is a popular whale-watching destination.
The area is known for its diversity of species, says marine biologist Kirsty Alexander.
Along with southern right whales, the area is also a transit point for humpbacks passing through on their migration north.
Killer whales, which stalk the depths of the Bremer Canyon in summer, hunt southern right mothers and calves close to shore at this time of year.
Western southern right whales are doing better than their eastern cousins, but fewer than expected whales have been spotted along the south coast over the past couple of years.
Ms Alexander says there are massive gaps in data.
"Data on critical habitats for southern right whales, as well as other whale species like humpbacks on the south coast, is very outdated or it's incomplete," she says.
"Meanwhile, we've got increasing regional development in the near shore marine environment and that poses additional risks to this species."
So in 2016, Ms Alexander, who has worked as an environmental consultant for both state and commonwealth governments, set up a citizen science project called South Coast Cetaceans.
Along the rugged coast stretching between Esperance and Walpole, a network of trained volunteers spot whales from vantage points where they live, or go out with local whale-watching operators.
The season already began at the end of May with the arrival of some southern right whales.
"And we've been seeing more humpbacks, mostly young juveniles in the area," says Ms Alexander, who has just come home from rescuing a whale entangled in fishing gear.
The Western Australian government is currently considering creating a marine park that extends from Bremer Bay to the South Australian border.
Citizen scientists along the south-west coast are also helping to fill in the gaps of knowledge about southern right whales and humpbacks.
Unlike the east coast, where humpback numbers have been surveyed every year for the past 20 years, the last count of west coast humpbacks was done in 2008, at which time there were around 30,000 whales.
Whale photos are matched with a catalogue of right whale images started in 1991 by Chris Burton, who co-founded the SouWest Whale Ecology Study, which studies whales in Geographe Bay off the coast of Busselton.
"We've seen a few humpbacks now off Geographe Bay and the other side of Rottnest, so we are starting to see a few heading north along the West Australian coastline," says study co-founder Chandra Salgado-Kent of Edith Cowan University and Oceans Blueprint.
Other good vantage points along the route are North-West Cape and Shark Bay, where they come very close to shore.
The bulk of humpbacks will reach Shark Bay by the end of July and some will travel further north to the Kimberley, then start moving back down with their calves, which are often pursued by a group of killer whales that live in the area.
Dr Salgado-Kent and her colleagues are also tracking the different species by recording whale songs to get an idea of how many whales are in the same locations along the West Australian coast.
Humpback whales produce what is called "song" that is composed of themes, phrases, and units, which are repeated in sequences.
Only the males sing, while females produce sounds that are different to song.
Dr Salgado-Kent hopes the research will be able to help scientists understand whether factors such as climate change are affecting migrations between their foraging grounds in Antarctica or breeding grounds in the north.
Watch Southern Ocean Live on ABC iView.
Credits:
- Reporter/digital production: Genelle Weule
- Designer/digital production: Teresa Tan
- Developer: Alex Palmer
- Digital editors: Emma Morris and Joel Zander
- Photography: Northern Pictures, Jason McCawley/Getty Images, WA Museum/Andrew Hassell, Joshua Smith (whales); Richard l'Anson/Getty Images, Luke Marsden, Dr Trish Franklin/The Oceania Project (Hervey Bay); Vicki Smith/Getty Images, Lisa Skelton, Andrew Richards/DPE, Geoff Ross DPE, John Goodridge, Sapphire Coastal Adventures (NSW); David Donnelly (SE Vic); Madeleine Brasier (Tas); Emily Bissland/ ABC, Mandy Watson/DELWP (SW Vic); South Coast Aerial images, Chris Farrell, Sandra Caballero, Bob Prestwood, Stan Mansas, Richard Twist/Great Australian Bight Whale Research Study (SA); Ellie Honeybone/ABC, Peter Nicholas/DBCA, Louisa Rebgetz/ABC, Chandra Salgado-Kent, Chris Lewis /ABC (WA)
- Video: Reilly Wardrope/Getty Images (lead); Brett Dixon (whale feeding); Peter Nicholas /DBCA (south coast WA)
- Drone images from scientists, citizen scientists and government agencies have been collected using strict permits
- Southern Ocean Live: Northern Pictures
