Sighting of southern right whales off Bremer Bay, Blowholes and Trigelow Beach at start of breeding season

Southern right whales were spotted off the coast of Bremer Bay, Blowholes, and Trigelow Beach last week, kicking off the annual southern right breeding season. Max Fabry and Katy Fannei of the Little White Whale Project spotted a mother and calf pair at Cheynes Beach on Sunday, and two adults at Blowholes and Trigelow Beach on Monday. The sightings mark the beginning of the southern right whale breeding season, with another whale spotted just metres off shore in Frenchman’s Bay yesterday. Southern rights are thought to have a breeding cycle of between three to five years, according to the Little White Whale Project, which is currently in it’s third year of long-term research. The project’s research ability is enabled by the assistance of volunteer pilots and grants, and covers around 450km of coast between Point Charles and the Albany Windfarm. In comparison to the humpback whale population which is estimated at 30,000, there are thought to only be 2550 endangered southern right whales. According to Little White Whale Project marine scientist Max Fabry it’s difficult to determine why the southern rights are “late” this year due to the lack of research in comparison to other species, such as the humpback whale or blue whale. “We can’t know what is unusual if we don’t know what is usual,” he said. “We need to keep undertaking these weekly aerial and frequent land-based drone observations to collect the data so we can measure the health of the population.” Through the specific research of southern rights by the project in 2022, there was an identification of 162 adult individuals, including 93 mother calf pairs.