Watching Migrating Humpback Whales in Western Australia

Article by: Jay
Last updated: Tuesday, 11-Jul-2006 00:00:00 CEST

Humpback whales migrate from Antarctica to the sub-tropical coastal waters of Western Australia to give birth and mate during winter and spring. Many 'whale watching' tours operate to allowing you to watch them close up in their natural habitat.

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Whale Watching & Spotting Tours

The practice of observing whales in their natural habitat is known as whale watching. Whales are watched most commonly for recreation purposes (i.e. bird watching) but the activity can also be for scientific or educational reasons. Whilst individuals do organise private trips, whale watching is primarily a commercial activity, estimated to be worth up to $1 billion per annum worldwide to whale watching operations and their local communities. The size and rapid growth of the whale watching industry has led to complex and unconcluded debates with the whaling industry about the best use of whales as a natural resource.

The Whale Watching season

The Whale watching season gives visitors and locals alike the chance to witness southern right whales or humpback whales dancing and jumping in Exmouth Gulf with their calves or hugging the Western Australian coastline whilst on migration.

Western Australia’s Great Southern Coastal area in the South West region is also popular with whale watchers.

Flinders Bay, Western Australia is a bay that lies to the east of Cape Leeuwin and is south of Augusta and the mouth of the Blackwood River.

It has been the location of a whaling industry during the 19th century, and in the 20th century was the site of a number of whale rescues - where disoriented whales have been stranded. Also in the 21st century, there have been whale watching boats taking people to watch migratory whales in the bay.

The name of the locality of Flinders Bay is tied to the small settlement that had been a whaling and fishing location, as well as the terminus of the Busselton to Flinders Bay railway line (1920's - closed 1957), and the earlier Flinders Bay jetty (1890's). The settlement was in the earlier days considered to be separate from Augusta but now is more or less the southern portion of the larger community.

Albany, the area’s main town, is most famous for its whaling heritage, which remains a major draw today. Its old whaling station has now been transformed into a fascinating museum.

It’s not uncommon to see whales breaching and playing only a few hundred metres from the station where sadly they were once processed in vast numbers.

Further afield, there are purpose-built lookout platforms strategically located along the coast, providing excellent vantage points from which to view these gentle marine giants.

Humpback Whale Facts & Information

The Humpback whales that visit Australia's coastal waters spend their summer months feeding in the Antarctic. With the onset of the southern hemisphere winter the Humpbacks migrate an average of 2,500km from polar waters to their tropical breeding grounds, undertaking some of the longest migrations in the animal kingdom.

Although similar migrations of the same species occur in the northern and southern hemispheres, the two populations never interbreed, even where they use the same equatorial breeding waters, because the northward and southward convergences on tropical waters occur six months apart.

Whereas most migrating whales avoid land masses, the Humpbacks follow the coastline reasonably close to shore, which makes them an ideal species for whale watching and rendered them an especially vulnerable species in the days of whaling.

In winter, Antarctic food becomes scarce and the waters become far too cold for these warm-blooded animals. The cold would kill any the new-born calves as they are born without the insulating layer of blubber. To ensure the survival of the calves, the mothers produce 600 litres of extremely rich milk per day. The calves will put on approximately 45 to 60 kilograms per day.