Volunteers turn out for year’s first whale count

More than 570 volunteers Saturday gathered humpback whale data from the shores of Oahu, Kauai, the Big Island and Maui. Volunteers on Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island were participating in the first event of the 2019 Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary Ocean Count, while those on Maui were taking part in the the Pacific Whale Foundation’s Great Whale Count.

Volunteers collected data from 51 sites across the main Hawaiian Islands and logged 168 sightings between 8:30 and 8:45 a.m. Saturday. Thirty-nine of those sites were on Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island, where 96 humpback whales were seen during the 15-minute time period. On Maui, volunteers at 12 sites spotted 72 whales during the same period.

This is the first year counts on Maui were coordinated with counts on the other islands, according to Ocean Count officials. This ensures that data from all of the main islands was collected simultaneously. It is also the first year that the Pacific Whale Foundation is expanding its Great Whale Count on Maui to three months from one.

Preliminary data from the count is available at oceancount.org/resources.