Humpback Whale Season Ending

The first whale sighting in the Hawaiian islands for the 2009-2010 season was at the end of October, and now the time is coming to say good-bye to the humpback whales as they migrate north to Alaska for the summer. The whales need to return to cooler waters so they can feed upon the large schools of small fish that are the mainstay of their diet.

The Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary is the nation’s primary mating and calving grounds for the endangered humpback whale. The population of North Pacific humpback whales has recently been increasing about five percent each year. During the Sanctuary Ocean Count in March, volunteers spotted 1,208 humpback whales off the coast of Maui.

The Pacific Whale Foundation reported three sightings of humpback whale calves without their mothers this season. Calves may be without their mothers for a number of reasons – either the mother was accidentally separated from her calf, or she abandoned the calf after deciding it had a health problem which would not allow it to reach maturity, or that the mother died shortly after birth.

Just as the whales do not arrive all at once, they do not depart all at once. Immature whales of both sexes that are still growing and not yet ready to breed usually depart early. Mature males stay here as long as mature females are around (no surprise there). Mothers and young calves are often the last ones to leave Hawaii allowing the calves grow as fat and strong as possible before making the 3,000 mile migration. Mothers will have lost nearly 10,000 pounds by the time they return to the feeding grounds.

In 2009 the last whale sighting in Hawaiian waters occurred as late as mid June.