{"id":1877,"date":"2015-06-13T10:24:23","date_gmt":"2015-06-13T00:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/whalespotter.com.au\/?p=1877"},"modified":"2015-10-05T16:31:39","modified_gmt":"2015-10-05T05:31:39","slug":"living-ocean-humpback-migration-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whalespotter.com.au\/?p=1877","title":{"rendered":"Living Ocean – Humpback Migration Research Program"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m delighted to have been asked by Living Ocean to assist their Humpback Migration Research Program<\/strong>\u00a0as an observer\/photographer.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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A Humpback dives off Sydney<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

“Think locally and act\u00a0locally!” – Dr Jane Goodall<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Living Ocean<\/strong><\/span>
\n In 2010 Kim Hubner was horrified by the continued killing of whales in the Southern Ocean. Passionately wanting to do something positive she along with her husband Deon and good friends\u00a0Carol and Robbi Newman \u00a0 decided to hold a fund raiser for\u00a0Sea Shepherd …and so Living Ocean was born.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since then Living Ocean has grown into a\u00a0not-for-profit group harnessing the creative energy of Sydney’s\u00a0Northern Beaches and\u00a0raising awareness of environmental issues such as plastic\u00a0pollution,\u00a0sustainability and whaling.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A Humpback Whale breaches off Sydney<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Humpback Whale Migration Research Program<\/strong><\/span>
\n Bill Fulton started\u00a0Humpback Whale Migration Research Program back in 2004 with the aim of better understanding the migration patterns, behaviours, environmental effects and stresses on the whales. The whales are non-invasively tracked over long distances off Sydney and the Central Coast with their track recorded via GPS. All animal behaviours, ocean floor types and water depths over which the animals are travelling, as well as weather and sea conditions are also recorded to give a holistic\u00a0picture of all thats going on.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2014 Bill and research partner\u00a0\u00a0Sam Barripp joined forces with Living Ocean. Six scientific trips are planned for the\u00a02015 Humpback migration aboard MV\u00a0“Salt”<\/em>, the use of which was provided by owner\u00a0Marcus Lincoln-Smith from\u00a0Ecology Matters Pty Ltd. Leaving from Pittwater trips usually last between six and eight hours.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A Humpback slapping its peck fin<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

A Grand Day Out<\/strong><\/span>
\n What excited me most apart from spending the day out with a great bunch of people was the opportunity to spend some quality time out with the whales. Most tourist trips I’ve been of have been fantastic but short, so the thought of being able to spend a few hours following a pod of whales was going to be very interesting, not to mention all the other animals we would see along the way.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A New Zealand Fur Seal enjoying a rest<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

We left from the berth in Pittwater at 8am and headed out past Barrenjoey Headland for the open ocean. Seals have recently started to return to Pittwater so it was heartening to see one hauled out on the rocks.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A beautiful Albatross cruises by<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

I’m always amazed by the amount of bird life you find out on the open ocean, and not just small birds but everything up too Albatross!<\/span><\/p>\n

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A Brown Skua<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

The Humpback whales spend the summer months (December to March) feeding deep in the Southern Ocean. In and around late April they head north to their breeding grounds in warmer tropical waters to have their calves. The calves aren’t born with the thick insulating blubber layers and could never survive the cold of the Southern Ocean.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

The aim is to head south, find\u00a0a pod and travelling\u00a0north with them for a few hours so we finish near where we started from.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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A Humpback lifts its tail as it dives deep<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0Lots of seabirds latter we find a solo whale wandering its way north! Yah! He doesn’t really seem to up too very much but some other people have some\u00a0playful\u00a0fun in mind… We too are\u00a0causing along several hundred meters away when something swooshes through the water right next to the boat. Then another and another, everywhere. Some Common Dolphins have some to check us out. Encircled, some ride our bow while the rest dart about.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A Common Dolphin<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Some more dark\u00a0torpedo shapes join in the circus fun, but this time they don’t have fins? Oh looks like our seal has come out to play and he’s brought a friend.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The seal playing with the whale<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Now our team takes the party over to our our whale and we are treated to a swirling sea of fins, splashes and leaps for the next little while. Pure delight! <\/span><\/p>\n

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Humpback tail throw<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

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Humpback tail up dive<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

After a fantastic few hours we turn back for home. As we approach the entrance to Pittwater we spot another pod of whales heading north. We stop to let them pass and notice something very special, between the two adults is a small light grey shape. Its a very newborn baby whale probably not much more than a week old. Just so wonderful to see.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Mum with her newborn calve to the right<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

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Mum with her newborn calve to the right<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0All in all a really fantastic day out!<\/span><\/p>\n

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Back: Jake and David Middle: Mark, Jools, Bill, Carol & Claudia Front: Robbi<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Living Ocean
\n<\/strong>www.livingocean.org.au (LO)<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Camera Gear
\n<\/strong>Nikon D610 with Nikon AF-S 16-35mm f4G ED VR<\/span>
\nNikon D7200 with\u00a0Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f\/2.8G ED VR II Lens<\/span>
\nThe camera gear was kept safe and dry in a\u00a0Lowepro\u00a0DryZone DF 20L\u00a0waterproof duffle bag.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thanks to Nikon\u00a0Australia for their continued support and encouragement!\u00a0Nikon<\/strong><\/span><\/a>\u00a0Australia
\n<\/span><\/a><\/strong>Thanks to Maxwell International Australia for all your wonderful support and guidance with Lowepro camera bags.\u00a0Lowepro<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m delighted to have been asked by Living Ocean to assist their Humpback Migration Research Program\u00a0as an observer\/photographer.\u00a0 “Think locally and act\u00a0locally!” – Dr Jane Goodall Living Ocean In 2010 Kim Hubner was horrified by the continued killing of whales in the Southern Ocean. Passionately wanting to do something positive she along with her husband […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1879,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,5,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservation","category-science","category-whale-watching"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whalespotter.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whalespotter.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whalespotter.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whalespotter.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whalespotter.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1877"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/whalespotter.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1911,"href":"https:\/\/whalespotter.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1877\/revisions\/1911"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whalespotter.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whalespotter.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whalespotter.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whalespotter.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}