Whales and Climate
  • Home
  • About
  • Whales & Climate
    • Whales
    • Ocean Processes
    • Marine Biogeochemistry
    • Future Climate
  • Team
    • Project Organisations
    • Research Students and Projects
  • News
  • Tools
    • Publications
  • Opportunities
  • Donate
  • Contact
December 14, 2020 by Publications

Gold Coast Bay an oasis for humpback whales with calves

Gold Coast Bay an oasis for humpback whales with calves
December 14, 2020 by Publications

One third of all humpback whales in the Gold Coast Bay are mother-calf pairs making the location almost as important as breeding grounds for whales with calves, a new Griffith University study has found.

Led by the Griffith Centre for Coastal Management, researchers analysed long-term data collected by citizen scientists from Humpbacks & High-rises to determine that the Gold Coast ranks between a resting and breeding ground in terms of importance for mother-calf pairs of humpback whales.

“We have long hypothesised that the Gold Coast Bay is an important habitat on the east coast of Australia for humpback whale mother-calf pairs,” said Dr Olaf Meynecke from the Griffith Centre for Coastal Management.

“But until now, we didn’t have conclusive evidence.”

Using data collected over a seven-year period using visual surveys taken aboard whale watching boats by citizen scientists, the researchers investigated the distribution of 2305 humpback whales within Gold Coast Bay between 2011 to 2017, the timing of their arrival and where the mother calf pairs were found.

Dr Olaf Meynecke, a key whale researcher at the Griffith Centre for Coastal Management and manager of the project.

As well as the seasonal presence of mother-calf pairs, the researchers analysed the duration of the whales’ dives, direction of movement and their location to ultimately determine the that bay is used as a resting area.

“We discovered the average dive time for humpbacks on the Gold Coast was 3.20 minutes,” Dr Meynecke said.

“This is relatively short when compared to whales in migratory corridors which usually dive for anywhere between 5-10 minutes.”

“The peak number of sightings occurred in October, with mother-calf pairs sighted more often closer to shore relative to other members of the pods.

“We compared our results to recognised breeding grounds such as Hawaii and resting grounds such as Hervey bay and found similar results, suggesting the Gold Coast bay serves as an important stop-over for humpback whale mother-calf pairs.”

Dr Meynecke said the research highlighted the importance of the area for humpback whale mothers and calves, the need for elevated protection and the successful work citizen science could achieve.

Previous articleGriffith researchers eavesdrop on Humpback whalesNext article Research dives deep to understand climate impacts on whales

About The Research

This research project establishes a fundamental understanding of how changing ocean conditions are influencing the recovery of humpback whale populations and develop adaptation scenarios for advancing whale conservation, policies and programs. It will also lay the path for future research on other baleen species.

Recent Posts

GOAL – Latitude Oceanography Group to Antarctica in March 2023April 29, 2023
Whales stop by GC for day spa fix with full body scrubsApril 22, 2023
Voyage into sub-zero temps yields rare data capture for whale scientistApril 6, 2023

Categories

  • News
  • Publication
  • Research & Expedition

Tags

ACE23 Antarctica Climate Change Covid-19 humpback whales krill research sylvia earle whales Whale Watching

Research

This research project will establish a fundamental understanding of how changing ocean conditions are influencing the recovery of humpback whale populations and develop adaptation scenarios for advancing whale conservation policies and programs.

Contact

Griffith University
Gold Coast, Qld 4222, Australia
+617 5552 8506
info@whalesandclimate.org
Mon. - Fri. 9AM - 5PM
  • Home
  • About
  • Whales & Climate
    • Whales
    • Ocean Processes
    • Marine Biogeochemistry
    • Future Climate
  • Team
    • Project Organisations
    • Research Students and Projects
  • News
  • Tools
    • Publications
  • Opportunities
  • Donate
  • Contact
Whales and Climate Change - © All Right Reserved 2023
Proudly Built By Coral Creative Gold Coast Website Design