Slow path to recovery for southern right whales

The first population assessment of New Zealand southern right whales since the heyday of whaling

Date: March 15, 2016

Source: British Antarctic Survey

The first population assessment since the end of the whaling era reveals that New Zealand southern right whales have some way to go before numbers return to pre-industrial levels. Reporting this week in Royal Society Open Science scientists from British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the University of Auckland, Oregon State University and the University of St Andrews, explain how they used historic logbook records from whaling ships and computer modelling to compare population numbers.

The New Zealand southern right whale was particularly exploited in the nineteenth century when demand was high for oil extracted from its blubber. They were killed on the high seas and especially in sheltered bays where females were vulnerable while caring for their young calves. So it was easy for people to row out from the shore and kill them and for whale ships to hunt them on the open ocean. The term "right whale" was coined because they were so easy to hunt.

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Rescuers Try to Free Whale Stuck in Shallow Water

A Southern right whale was stranded in shallow water near Lakes Entrance, a tourist resort and fishing port located in the southeast of Australia's Victoria state, on Saturday (July 6), local media said. The whale drew a crowd of onlookers after local media reported the incident. Rescue workers sprayed water over the 12-metre whale in order reduce the effect of sun exposure, local media said. The whale has been stranded since Friday (July 5).

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Hundreds of whales recorded at South Australia’s Head of Bight, including 4 white calves

55 calves including 4 white youngsters
September 2012. More than a hundred southern right whales have been counted at the Head of Bight on South Australia's west coast during an annual monitoring program conducted by the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources (DEWNR).

119 Southern right whales, including 55 calves!
DEWNR Great Australian Bight Marine Park (GABMP) manager Saras Kumar said a total of 119 individual southern right whales, including 55 calves, were recorded within the GABMP at the Head of Bight during a two-week monitoring expedition (August 17 to 31) by Alinytjara Wilurara and Eyre Peninsula Natural Resources staff, four volunteers and 25 local Aboriginal community members from Yalata.

DEWNR Alinytjara Wilurara coast project officer Yasmin Wolf said visitors to the Head of Bight were treated to sightings of large numbers of migrating whales while they reside in the area for their breeding season, which takes place from May to October.

Read on:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/south-australia-right-whales.html#cr

4 white Southern Right whale calves spotted off South Australia

Great Australian Bight Marine Park zones closed to protect whales
April 2012. Great Australian Bight Marine Park manager Saras Kumar said "May signals the start of the southern right whale breeding season as the mammals migrate from their summer sub-Antarctic feeding grounds to their winter breeding and nursery grounds along the southern coastline of Australia."

Ms Kumar said the Head of the Bight is one of the most important calving sites in Australia and each year between 25 and 67 calves are born at or near the Head of Bight.

"More than 1000 whales have been recorded in the region and some whales have been observed returning to the Great Australian Bight Marine Park regularly since 1991," she said.

Four white calves
"Last year DENR staff counted 67 calves born at the Head of Bight, including four white calves.

"Cows (pregnant whales) give birth once every three years, they nurse calves for up to one year before having a year to recover (cows lose up to 20 tonnes during the calving season because they don't feed while in Australian waters) before returning the following winter to mate."

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/australia-white-wales.html

Rare whale birth off NSW north coast

A southern right whale has given birth off the far north coast of NSW for the first time in 13 years.

The calf, which is believed to be only about a day old, was spotted off Valla Beach by National Parks rangers on Monday morning.

"It's a pretty rare event in NSW waters," National Parks ranger and whale expert Geoff Ross said on Monday.

"It's the first one we know of in [more than] 12 years."

This year two unusually large southern rights were observed off the coast of Sydney and "undoubtedly one of them would have been the pregnant female", Mr Ross said.

"I'm glad I didn't know the female was a pregnant female or I would have felt like an expectant father," he said.

Southern rights usually give birth further south around the Great Australian Bight but it is not unheard of for them to calve off the NSW north coast with births even recorded in and around Sydney, Mr Ross said.

"What we might be seeing here is a re-exploration of those traditional calving grounds in NSW, Victoria and Tasmania," he said.

Mr Ross said rangers could tell the calf was a newborn because it was still creased from its position in the uterus.

"We can tell a newly born calf as they have creases on their tail which is folded when it's inside the uterus," Mr Ross said.

"This young calf looked all prune-like."

Mr Ross said the calf's birth is sign that whale conservation efforts in the area were having a positive impact on the population.

"It shows how safe they feel in those protected areas," he said.

"It's great to see that they are recovering after such a long period of slaughter."

Mr Ross said whale watchers may be able to spot the pair as they head south and the mother will try to keep her calf close to shore.


http://www.smh.com.au/environment/whale-watch/rare-whale-birth-off-nsw-north-coast-20110808-1ijcq.html