HAVE you noticed that there are fewer southern right whales around the coast this winter? Every winter they swim up from the Antarctic to have their babies in the warmer waters around our coast. Every October the University of Pretoria’s Whale Unit flies along the coast to count the number of whales.
They have not done the official count yet, but a preliminary count in August between Hermanus and Witsand showed there were only about half the numbers of southern rights this year compared to last year. That is startling. They think the official count is likely to be the second lowest in 30 years. But it is not only this year that there were fewer southern rights migrating to our coast. Their numbers have been decreasing since 2015. That is sad news, especially as the southern right whale conservation story has been such a happy one after they came back from the brink of extinction once whaling was banned. So what is the problem now? Why are there so few migrating to our coast? I spoke to Dr Els Vermeulen, head of the Whale Unit, who said they don’t have the answers yet, but it appears that there is not enough food for the whales in the Southern Ocean to be able to complete their winter migration to our shores. Southern right whales feed on krill, tiny marine animals like mini shrimps. It appears that either there are less krill, or the krill have moved elsewhere. Scientists think this could be because of climate change. Krill apparently have a complex life cycle and their reproduction is linked to the sea-ice cycle. We know that the world’s climate is heating up because of all the carbon dioxide we pump into the air, that the world’s oceans are warming and sea ice is melting. All this could interfere with krill’s reproduction. Warmer sea temperatures also mean less plankton, which krill feed on. So it seems that less krill in Antarctica has meant fewer whales on our coast – but this has still to be confirmed. If the whales are not here, where are they? “We don’t know that,” said Dr Vermeulen. “Next year we will put satellite tags on some of the whales to see where they go to feed. We wanted to do it this winter, but then Covid happened.” She hopes to tag 10 southern rights on our coast next winter that will enable scientists to track the whales’ travels. What doesn’t help is that fishing vessels haul up about 380 tons of Antarctic krill every year. One feels a bit helpless with these massive environmental problems – but you can help the whales by helping fund the Whale Unit’s research. For R400 you can adopt a whale for a year, and there are pix online of the whales you choose from. Check them out on www.adoptawhale.co.za. I have my eye on a whale called Ghost. He has a white pattern on his back that looks a bit like Casper. And shame, he is the only male up for adoption.
