Media release

From: The Royal Society

•           Whale watching – Humpback whale populations declined by 20% from 2012 to 2021, the largest individual identification dataset ever compiled for a whale species reveals. Twenty years of photo-ID data from 46 organisations and over 4,000 whale-watchers showed population recovery peaked in 2012, but has since declined, coinciding with a severe marine heatwave which reduced food availability. Humpback whales could be an ecosystem indicator ‘in the face of climate change’, the authors said. Royal Society Open Science

Whale watching - Bellwethers of change: population modeling of North Pacific humpback whales from 2002 

A new study, “Bellwethers of change”, tracks humpback whale populations in the North Pacific Ocean for the past 20 years with the largest individual identification dataset ever compiled for a whale species. After a period of recovery following the end of commercial whaling in 1976, numbers peaked in 2012 then declined by 20% by 2021, likely due to the impact of a severe marine heatwave from 2014 to 2016, which reduced food availability for humpback whales. This collaborative study highlights the humpback whale as an indicator species for the health of the North Pacific ecosystem in a changing climate.  Contact: Dr Ted Cheeseman, Southern Cross University, ted@happywhale.com, Telephone: +1-408-315-2267