Southeastern Hawaii Humpback Whale Season Lacks 10,000 Seasonal Whales

Summary: The southeastern Hawaii humpback whale season lacks 10,000 seasonal whales in an annual migration for mating and calf raising from November to May.

humpback whales in the singing position in waters of NOAA's Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, near Maui; credit Dr. Louis M. Herman; NOAA's Sanctuaries Collection: Public Domain, via NOAA Photo Library

The southeastern Hawaii humpback whale season is lacking the 10,000 humpback whales that make an annual migration of 2,000 miles (3,218-plus kilometers) from wintry cold waters off Alaska to warm winter waters off Hawaii’s southeastern islands to mate and raise calves from November through May.

During a Christmas Eve run responding to a call about a distressed calf separated from his mother, Ed Lyman, Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary’s large whale entanglement response coordinator, covers a distance of 12 to 14 miles (19 to 22.5 kilometers). An unusual lack of humpback whales prevails until he nears the calf. Only then does he spot a few whales.

“What I’m seeing out there right now I would have expected a month ago,” notes Lyman. “We’ve just seen a handful of whales.”

The Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary serves as mating, birthing and calf-raising habitat for the southeastern Hawaii humpback whale season. Based in Kihei, on Maui’s southwestern coast, the Sanctuary Education and Learning Center conducts surveys as the Sanctuary Ocean Count project to count humpback whale populations during peak season on the last Saturdays of January, February and March.

“Even though there are no formal surveys in December, the numbers clearly are down,” observes Ed Lyman.

The annual migration of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) attracts off-season tourists to the southeastern Hawaiian islands. According to the Big Island’s daily newspaper, West Hawaii Today, a long lineup of parked cars along the North Kohala Coast’s main road, the ‘Akoni Pule Highway, characterizes the end of December. Southeastern Hawaii humpback whale season watchers gather to witness full or partial out-of-water leaps, known as breaches; sprays from blowholes, the humpback’s equivalent of nostrils in other mammals; water splashes from pectoral fin slapping and fluke (tail fin) lobtailing.

“I’ve been looking for the last month and have not seen one,” says Kailua-Kona-based aerial photographer Brian Powers, named international aerial photographer of the year for 2015 by the Professional Aerial Photographers Association and the Epson electronics company.

No humpbacks are seen during five whale watching excursions led by Nick Craig early in December. Only a few are spotted on several other excursions. Craig, sales director for Big Island-based Ocean Sports, finds a small increase in the migrating humpback whale population at the end of December. “We seem to be back to eight to 10 whales per trip,” he says.

Created Nov. 4, 1992, by Congress, the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Sanctuary encompasses the area of four of Hawai’i’s windward, or southeastern, islands: Kaua’i, Hawai’i (the Big Island), Maui and O’ahu. The sanctuary also includes the Penguin Bank, a now-submerged, coral-capped shield volcano in shallow waters west of Moloka’i. The humpback whale habitat preserved by the sanctuary stretches from the islands’ shorelines to the warm shallows of the 100-fathom isobath (600-foot, or 180-meter, depth).

The drastic decline observed during the 2015 to 2016 southeast Hawaii humpback whale season may represent an annual migration delayed by plankton-enriched, El Niño-warmed northern waters. Across the United States, a juvenile humpback whale is seen on Dec. 28 enjoying an impromptu, 45-minute, out-of-season playtime in Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay. Unseasonally warm northern Atlantic waters cause the Narragansett Bay humpback whale to add a leisurely departure from New England to the itinerary of its migratory journey to the Dominican Republic’s Atlantic and Caribbean waters.

Increased competition for food, occasioned by a rebounding humpback whale population, may require humpbacks to spend more time in northern waters, building up their blubber layer, prior to migrating south. Blubber provides warmth and energy for humpbacks, which do not feed after leaving northern Pacific waters. Southern Pacific waters are for mating, birthing, and raising calves.

It remains to be seen whether the southeast Hawaii humpback whale season will continue to dwindle into a virtual no-show of 10,000 humpbacks.

“This isn’t a concern, but it’s of interest. One theory was that something like this happened as whales increased. It’s a product of their success,” suggests Ed Lyman. “With more animals, they’re competing against each other for that food resource, and it takes an energy of reserve to make that long migration over 2,000 miles.”

map showing locations of the 14 distinct population segments of humpback whales worldwide; number 4 designates Hawaiian population: Public Domain, via NOAA Fisheries

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

humpback whales in the singing position in waters of NOAA's Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, near Maui; credit Dr. Louis M. Herman; NOAA's Sanctuaries Collection: Public Domain, via NOAA Photo Library @ http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/htmls/sanc0602.htm

map showing locations of the 14 distinct population segments of humpback whales worldwide; number 4 designates Hawaiian population: Public Domain, via NOAA Fisheries @ https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/humpback-whale

For further information:

Associated Press. "Humpbacks slow to arrive in Hawaii." Maui News > Hawaii News. Jan. 2, 2016.
Available @ http://mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/605544/Humpbacks-slow-to-arrive-in-Hawaii.html?nav=5031

Associated Press. "Mystery absence of humpback whales in Hawaii has experts scratching heads." The Guardian > Environment. Jan. 2, 2016.
Available @ http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/02/humpback-whales-hawaii-mysterious-absence

Associated Press Staff. "The baffling mystery of Hawaii's disappearing humpback whales." The Christian Science Monitor > Science. Jan. 2, 2016.
Available @ http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0102/The-baffling-mystery-of-Hawaii-s-disappearing-humpback-whales

HNLnow @HAWAIInowAPP. "iftt/1R7j6B3 Why Humpback Whales in Hawaii Are Missing #HNLnow." Twitter. Jan. 2, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/HAWAIInowApp/status/683396702531915777

Marriner, Derdriu. "Narragansett Bay Humpback Whales Breaches and Plays Out of Season." Earth and Space News. Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/12/narragansett-bay-humpback-whale.html

NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). "Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary." NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries.
Available @ http://hawaiihumpbackwhale.noaa.gov/

NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). "Humpback Whales Overview." NOAA Fisheries > Species.
Available @ https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/humpback-whale

wochit News. "Experts Confused by Lack of Humpback Whales Near Hawaii." YouTube. Jan. 2, 2016.
Available @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFtzlyldOE8

Yager, Bret. "Experts say famous humpback slow to arrive in Hawaii." West Hawaii Today > News > Local News. Dec. 30, 2015.
Available @ http://westhawaiitoday.com/news/local-news/experts-say-famous-humpback-slow-arrive-hawaii

Yager, Bret. "A view from on high: Aerial photographer captures the islands." West Hawaii Today > News > Local News. Jan. 4, 2016.
Available @ http://westhawaiitoday.com/news/local-news/view-high-aerial-photographer-captures-islands