We went whale watching today. It was a perfect winter day in Brisbane and we headed off early this morning to Redcliffe to board the purpose-built whale watching boat Eye-Spy.
Every year the magnificent southern humpback whales migrate from Antarctica to warmer waters. They feed, mate and play in the clean blue waters of Moreton Bay on their way north and the return journey south.
There was a welcoming committee sunning themselves on the rocks near the dock.
Soon we were in the capable hands of Captain Kerry Lopez and her helpful crew.
We sailed towards the northern point of Moreton Island.
In about an hour we were in position and waiting for the whales to appear.
We didn’t have to wait long for a pod of whales to approach the boat. Whale-friendly, low noise propellers minimise underwater noise, and electronically controlled engines reduce fuel usage and exhaust emissions.
The whales seemed unbothered by our presence and came very close, even swimming under the boat, perhaps to scrape the barnacles from their backs. Kerry was excellent at spotting them and directed our eyes towards approaching whales and other pods in the distance.
We were close enough to see the markings and barnacles on their skin. They were happily frolicking in the water around the boat. They didn’t jump into the air and breach, but we didn’t mind, they are magnificent up close and seemed to be as curious about us as we were about them.
We also saw dolphins and turtles enjoying the bay, but they were a bit more difficult to photograph.
After a delicious lunch it was back to dry land.
On the way back to the car we came upon a flock of cockatoos playing and feeding in a Norfolk pine, rounding off a very good day.
I have been whale watching before. I have a photograph somewhere of my father holding 1 year old me in his arms in front of a slaughtered whale at the Tangalooma whaling station on Moreton Island. Whaling was carried on there from 1952 until 1962.
There was a yearly quota of 600 whales, which was easily reached in the early years. One whale could yield more than 8,000 kilograms of oil, which was used to make margarine, glycerine, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. In August 1962, only 68 whales had been caught and the whaling station was closed. In the 10 years of operation, 6,277 humpback whales and one blue whale were killed and processed.
The operation seriously decimated the east coast population of humback whales to less than 500 individuals from the original population, which was estimated at 15,000. In 1965 humpback whales were placed on the Protected Species list.
It is estimated that $32 million was earned each year from whaling in Australian waters. Currently whale watching earns about $70 million per annum.
It is clearly much better to watch them than kill them.
www.brisbanewhalewatching.com.au