LIHU‘E — The whales are back, as evidenced by the numerous sightings and, more recently, the incident with an entangled whale off the Po‘ipu shoreline.
The Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary announced the 2022 Sanctuary Ocean Count program that will take place on Jan. 29, Feb. 26 and March 27, coinciding with the period the humpback whales are in Hawaiian waters to calve.
Due to COVID-19 safety precautions, the sanctuary is hosting a modified program without the normal participation of volunteers for the Jan. 29 count.
“We’ll be using trained site leaders, similar to the counts done last year,” said Jean Souza, the HIHWNMS Kaua‘i programs specialist. “Many of these site leaders are experienced with the count. We may not even use all of the viewing sites we normally use during the count.”
For the February and March counts, conditions may allow for a small number of general volunteers to participate at the viewing sites with the trained site leaders, said HIHWNMS officials.
“This will be dependent on multiple factors, including, but not limited to, state and county guidelines, site-access permissions and safety of all participants,” said the HIHWNMS. “A decision will be made by Feb. 15 and March 15 on whether general volunteer participation for those months will be approved.”
The Sanctuary Ocean Count promotes public awareness about humpback whales, the HIHWNMS and shore-based whale-watching opportunities during the humpback whale season, or the time the roughly from November to March when whales migrate to Hawaiian waters to breed and calve.
During the count, site leaders tally humpback-whale sightings and document the animals’ surface behavior during the time period, providing a snapshot of humpback-whale activity from the shorelines of O‘ahu, Kaua‘i and Hawai‘i Island.
A similar effort, The Great Whale Count by the Pacific Whale Foundation, is held on Maui, coinciding with the sanctuary count. Similar to the HIHWNMS, the Pacific Whale Foundation will also be running a modified program this year.
The Ocean Count is supported by the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
