Humpbacks

Links to vocals at the bottom of this page.

Our Marine Education & Research Society’s work on humpback whales

1. •http://www.mersociety.org/researchhumpbacks.htm
   

2. •Link to our Humpback Whale Catalogue for NE Vancouver Island http://www.mersociety.org/publications.html
   

3. •https://mersociety.wordpress.com/2014/04/26/are-humpback-whales-threatened-in-bc/
   

4. •http://mersociety.org/blowgoslow.htm
   

5. •http://www.mersociety.org/conservation.htm
   

Note 2016 - North Pacific Humpback Whales are still recognized as being “Threatened” with regard to the Species at Risk Act although the Committee of the Status of Wildlife in Canada’s latest assessment puts forward that they be downlisted to of “Special Concern” (based on the research they have available).

*** Recovery Strategy for the North Pacific Humpback Whale in Canada (Final 2013)   

1. •    COSEWIC report determining humpbacks as of “Special Concern”.
   

2. •    Powerpoint presentation on this Recovery Strategy.
   

3. •    Past (determining “threatened”): COSEWIC assessment summary.
   

4. •    Past (determining “threatened”):  COSEWIC full report.
   

DFO Humpback Catalogue (to 2010); click “conditions of use” and then “I agree” http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/science/species-especes/humpback-bosse/index-eng.html

Humpback whale catalogue of Clayoquot Sound. Good background information too.

Humpback whale catalogue for SE Alaska. Good background information.

Species information by the Hakai Institute “Central Coast Biodiversity” http://www.centralcoastbiodiversity.org/marine-mammals.html 

Articles regarding the proposed Enbridge Project (tanker traffic) being in recognized humpback whale critical habitat (Douglas Channel).

1. •    http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/tankers+threatened+humpbacks+collision+course+north+coast/9312749/story.html
   

2. •    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/shipping-traffic-potential-spills-threaten-humpbacks-habitat-ottawa-admits/article15147170/
   

Postmedia News; March 8, 2012; “Proposed Enbridge pipeline threatens humpback whales: DFO”

Humpback whale catalogue of Clayoquot Sound. Good background information too.

Humpback whale catalogue for SE Alaska. Good background information.

See information from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.

Concise summary for animals in BC

Voices of the Sea - website where you can hear the sounds of humpbacks, see the spectrogram of their sounds, see video clips and learn cool facts from scientists! Click on the humpback. 

Research on entanglement rates in Alaska. Neilson, J. L., J. M. Straley, C. M. Gabriele and S. Hills. 2009. Non-lethal entanglement of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in fishing gear in northern Southeast Alaska.Journal of Biogeography 36:452–464.

Research on incidence of vessel strike in Alaska. NEILSON, JANET L.; CHRISTINE M. GABRIELE; ALERIA S. JENSEN; KAILI JACKSON and JANICE M. STRALEY; Summary of reported whale-vessel collisions in Alaskan waters.JOURNAL OF MARINE BIOLOGY 2012: Article ID 106282. 18pp. 2012. 1.007 MB

Video of humpback whales bubble-net feeding.

Video of competition between males.

Video from The Whale Trust - includes a calf playing and a breach.

BBC footage of birds feeding on small schooling fish and then a humpback whale lunge feeding through the mass.

May 2008.  From the Cascadia Research Organization.”The first report providing new abundance estimates of humpback whales in the entire North Pacific from SPLASH [Structure of Populations, Levels of Abundance and Status of Humpbacks 2004-2006] has been released. . . Findings from this report were highlighted in a recent news article in Nature and also in a press release issued by NOAA. Links to the Executive Summary or complete report are: Executive Summary only of report as HTML or as PDF; Complete SPLASH report as PDF”

BC Cetacean Sightings Network species information and SPLASH project information

www.dal.ca/~whitelab/rwb/COSEWIChumpback2003.pdf - COSEWIC assessment 2003

http://www.mi.mun.ca/mi-net/fishdeve/cetacea8.htm - DFO species information page

http://www.marinemammal.org/biology/humpback-whales/ - North Pacific University's Marine Mammal Research Consortium's excellent fast facts

http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/species-especes/species/species_humpbackWhale_e.asp - DFO page on threats to humpbacks

Juneau humpback whale catalogue - good natural history.

http://www.wildwhales.org/newsletter/nov_dec_2004.htm - history of whaling humpbacks and the aims of the  SPLASH project  (scroll down page) - link down Nov. 2008

BC’s Cetacean Sighting’s Network information - Click on "BC's Cetaceans" and then the image of the animal. www.wildwhales.org  

Pacific Wildlife Foundation’s species information.

Background information from Jim Darling on the humpbacks of Clayoquot Sound 

http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0701/feature2/ - January 2007 National Geographic article on humpbacks. Note:  Information is for humpbacks in general not just the Pacific population. Fantastic pictures and sounds. You can access a whole video.  Go to "sights and sounds." Not a Canadian page

http://www.whalesong.net/humpbacks.htm#Howmanyhumpbackwhalesexist - Good general information including the threats to humpbacks .  Not a Canadian page

Good natural history from The Whale Trust.

http://www.whales.org.au/discover/hump/index.html . Not a Canadian page

http://www.marinemammal.org/steller_sea_lion/humpback/fastfacts.php 

Voices livepage.apple.comof the Sea website where you can hear the sounds of humpbacks, see the spectrogram of their sounds, see video clips and learn cool facts

DFO publication: Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises of British Columbia, Canada - http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/Library/241969.pdf

http://www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/School_Programs/whales/s-humpbackwhale.html Royal British Columbia Museum's fact sheets

http://www.ukogorter.com/portfolio/cetaceanslides/index.html - great illustration, use the drop down menu under the right whale to find your animal

http://www.sfu.ca/biology/berg/whale/abcwhale.html General information from Simon Fraser University. 

http://www.cascadiaresearch.org/reports/Humpback%20whale%20examination-CRC776.htm - report on the stranding of a adult female humpback off Long Beach (Washington).  Images allow an appreciation of how big humpbacks are. 

Scientific paper on “Geographic variation in killer whales on humpback whales in the North Pacific.”

Humpback sound samples:
Samples of song, surface active sounds and feeding sounds from The Whale Trust. Half hour recording (October 11th) from OrcaLab of humpbacks singing in Blackfish Sound, BC. Big download but so worth it
http://www.zoology.ubc.ca/~ford/ - humpback vocals; Dr. John Ford's webpage
http://www.whalesong.net/ - fantastic vocals; even live vocals from Hawaii for part of the year.  These whales have likely migrated from our area to Hawaii!
Vocals recorded by Kent Noolan of the Whalesong Project in Hawaii.  About this recording he states "Another time I saw a large male singing while I recorded nearby. He was slowly swimming in a large circle under a mother and baby. He went in a circle perhaps 100 yards across at a rate of about 15 minutes to go around it, about 50 to 100 feet down."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/weekinreview/25revkin.html?_r=1&oref=slogin  - Roger Payne recording (Bermuda 1970)
http://www.dosits.org/teacher/feature/hump1.mp3    
http://www.hhmi.org/news/suzuki20060321.html - scroll half way down the page
http://www.cs.sfu.ca/gruvi/Projects/VirtualWhales/Whales/call2.au - feeding call! Simon Fraser University project. 
http://www.cs.sfu.ca/gruvi/Projects/VirtualWhales/Whales/whales.aif - sounds after feeding.  Simon Fraser University project. 
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/brp/Sounds/HB2dec.au   
 http://www.dosits.org/animals/intro.htm - study how marine mammals make sound and how sound effects them.
http://www.dosits.org/gallery/marinemm/2.htm - click baleen whales and then humpback for acoustic samples