The humpback whales of Oceania

Rochelle Constantine and Sarona Latu

Marine Science

Abstract

The humpback whales spanning Oceania waters from New Caledonia to French Polynesia were reduced to less than 5% of their abundance due to commercial whaling during the 1900s. These whales spend their winter breeding and calving in the South Pacific waters before migrating south to feed during summer in the Southern Ocean. Despite the collapse of whale stocks in the 1960s and protection from whaling since the 1980s, the sub-populations throughout the region are only 50% recovered, although numbers are increasing more rapidly. The South Pacific Whale Research Consortium has worked throughout Oceania since the 1990s and has use genetics, photo-identification, telemetry, and acoustics to understand the demographics, subpopulation structure, habitat use, and connectivity across the region. Our research has revealed fidelity to breeding grounds, the largest known cultural exchange of knowledge of any animals through whale song, preferred waters for females with calves, and identified a key meeting place – Rangitāhua, Kermadec Islands – as the whale migrate south. We predict future changes in habitat use due to climate change as waters become too warm for the whales. Humpback whales are well known to many Pacific Island communities and with the loss of whales from hunting, there was also a loss of connection by people throughout the region. Whales are now an important source of revenue from tourism for several islands and this reconnection with growing numbers of whales will hopefully enable people’s connections to the whales again.