Southern right whale season wraps up

FOLLOWING a relatively quiet season across Victoria, southern right whales have left the shorelines of the south-west coast for this year.

The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) records confirmed sightings of the critically endangered species (Victorian Threatened Species Advisory List) as they visit the coast between May and September every year.

DELWP natural environment program officer Mandy Watson said that in comparison to previous years, this season had been fairly quiet when you look at the total number of the reports from across the state.

“A notable difference from most previous seasons was the number of southern right whales using the sheltered bays around Portland, including several cow-calf pairs and a large group of socially active and mating whales,” Ms Watson said.

“This represents a shift from previous seasons and hopefully may be indicative of signs of recovery for the species into a very important area for southern right whales.

“There was a particularly high volume of sightings reported from the Portland area this year but many of these sightings involved the same whales which were moving around the coast.

“Through photo-identification efforts of citizen scientists and DELWP researchers, a total of five cow-calf pairs have so far been identified from the 2018 season in south-west Victoria.

“The season continued to attract many avid wildlife photographers, who also assisted us with a four-day rescue operation of a southern right whale entangled in rock lobster ropes near Portland.

“We would like to thank the photographers and data contributors who provided information to support the southern right whale research program in 2018.”