Research to seek answers on whale numbers

Researchers of the Whale Unit of the University of Pretoria’s Mammal Research Institute will spend the next few months researching the reasons behind the fluctuating number of southern right whales spotted this year along our coast and those of Australia and South America.

According to Dr Els Vermeulen, Research Manager at the Whale Unit, the recently completed 40th annual aerial survey revealed that only 190 females and calves (95 pairs) and 10 unaccompanied adults were spotted along the coast from Nature’s Valley to Muizenberg. Most female-calf pairs were observed in De Hoop Nature Reserve and Walker Bay.

“A total of 14 hours and 18 minutes of flying time, spread over 4 days, was required to complete the survey, which marked the second lowest number of right whales along our shores in October since 1995. After the extremely low numbers recorded in 2016 (55 pairs) this year shows a massive decrease from last year’s alltime record of 536 cow-calf pairs on the same stretch of coastline,” said Vermeulen.

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