Where to watch whales this winter

The Hastings-based Dolphin Research Institute is ramping up its whale research and protection program this coming winter. DRI scientists, researchers and volunteers have studied whales since 2015, and executive director Jeff Weir said the best whale sighting places on the Peninsula were Cape Schanck, Flinders and Portsea back beach, along with Phillip Island’s Cape Woolamai, Pyramid Rock and the Nobbies. The whale migration season runs from April to November, but mid-June is when whales are usually first sighted off the Peninsula and in Bass Strait.

DRI, which marked its 32nd birthday last month –although it had an earlier incarnation as the Port Phillip Bay Dolphin Research Project in the late 1980s – started a citizen-science initiative called Two Bays Whale Project in 2015 as whale sightings in Bass Strait and even in Western Port and Port Phillip became more common.

The project covers between Barwon Heads and Inverloch, but will now expand to cover the coastline from Cape Otway to Wilsons Promontory.

Jeff said humpback whale sightings from 2010 “became a seasonal expectation rather than an anomaly. It’s been wonderful to see humpback and southern right whales return to our region”.

DRI marine research officer David Donnelly recently reported that the project received 178 validated sightings of 315 whales across three species –humpback, southern right and killer whales (which are actually dolphins) – last season. “Forty-six whales were added to the Victorian Humpback Whale Fluke Catalogue, bringing the total to 246 individuals,” David said. Sightings made from key coastal vantage points are recorded using Two Bays Tracker, a web-based app. It is better than phone apps, which have to be updated too often. “Two Bays project data is of value to understand the lives of whales as well as inputs to environmental assessments for wind, wave and gas energy projects in Bass Strait.”

DRI shares its photos of whale flukes with other marine mammal research organisations nationally, including the Oceania Project – started in 1989 by the late Dr Trish Franklin and continued by her husband, Dr Wally Franklin – which studies and protects migrating humpbacks that come to Hervey Bay in Queensland to give birth. Last year, DRI submitted 46 images to an online platform that matched whales seen in the Two Bays study area to locations in NSW, Tasmania and Queensland, including a humpback off Phillip Island seen in Hervey Bay in 2019.

Meanwhile, Jeff said DRI was issuing a call to action – adopt a whale. “We’re asking people of all ages to make a commitment to the whales. We’re starting by contacting yacht clubs and lifesaving clubs around Port Phillip and will be releasing more information soon.” To get involved, go to dolphinresearch.org.au or call 5979 7100 during office hours.

Dolphin Research Institute scientists and volunteers have been photographing whale tails for seven years for a database that tracks individual whales as far north as Hervey Bay in Queensland. Photos: David Donnelly, DRI