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Masig students win Name The Whale school competition
by Gavin Broomhead agai State College students from Masig Island in the Torres Strait are celebrating after winning Sea Swift’s unique “Name The Whale” primary school competition. Classes 1, 2 and 3 from Masig Muisau Campus edged out other entrants from across the Torres Strait and Cape York Peninsula with their name ‘Migi’ for one our local sea visitors, the rare dwarf minke whale. Discovered in Great Barrier Reef waters just 30 years ago, Tropical North Queensland is the only place in the world where the dwarf minke whale comes to breed. The whales visit the Coral Sea during winter, due to the warm reef waters and favourable breeding conditions. To celebrate this special event, Sea Swift teamed up with whale research group Adventure for Change and its Minke Whale Project to run the competition. Sea Swift Sales and Marketing Manager Victor Perazza presented the Masig students with their prize of a framed picture of the whale at a special presentation last week attended by all the school students, staff, parents, elders and Council representatives.
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Jerry Westera and Gee Westera (back row, left and middle) from Tagai State College Masig Muisau Campus joined Sea Swift’s Victor Perazza (back row, right) at a special presentation last week to celebrate Classes 1, 2 and 3 winning the Name the Whale competition. Image supplied.
Mr Perazza said the whale has also been tagged, so the Masig children can follow Migi after it leaves the Great Barrier Reef and heads with its friends to Antarctica. “A big Esso from Adventure for Change and Sea Swift to all the schools who participated in the competition,” said Mr Perazza. “And obviously a big congratulations to the student of grades 1, 2, and 3 at Masig Muisau Campus as winners of the competition. “We were so pleased with the name ‘Migi’ – it was a carefully selected and well thought out name. “When we were offered this opportunity by Adventure for Change to name a whale, as a thank you for supporting the research into the Minke
Whale, everyone at Sea Swift agreed that who better to have the honour than the children of the Cape and Torres Strait. “As future custodians, it’s a great way to start a relationship between children and the whale by being on first name terms.” Masig Muisau Campus teacher Gee Westera said the students chose the name Migi as a derivative of the traditional island word for ‘little’ – Moegi (pronounced Migi). Mr Perazza said each year researchers and passengers head out to sea to swim with these friendly whales on weeklong expeditions. “These whales really are incredible creatures,” he said. “As they’re a relatively new discovery, there’s still so much to learn about them, such as their
behaviour and breeding patterns, and whether their population is increasing or decreasing.” The Minke Whale Project is a non-profit research project set up by James Cook University to support study into dwarf minke whale biology and behaviour. It also offers specialised live aboard dive expeditions to researchers, as well as the public, to research these fairly unknown mammals. Known as the dwarf minke whale, the name couldn’t be further from the truth, with the whales measuring up to six metres long and weighing up to an impressive six tonnes. For more information on dwarf minke whales and the Minke Whale Project, visit www. minkewhaleproject.org
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