LIHU‘E — There was an unexpected surprise in store for Kaua‘i Ocean Count site leaders Marga Goosen and Colleen Ogino at Ahukini State Park on Saturday.
Following a sparse turnout of volunteers for the January count, 11 volunteers braved cold, windy and blustery weather to monitor marine life atop the wind-generated white-capped ocean.
“We have a full house,” said Ogino while checking in and briefing a late-comer. “What did I miss? I was busy checking in volunteers.”
There were a few blows from whales facing upwind of the cold northerly winds. And, to cap the 15-miunute count period, a full breach generated a splash big enough not to be swallowed up by the wind.
Additionally, the ocean counters were joined by a group from Ho‘omalu Ke Kai, which performed coastline cleanup with the possibility of doing some skin diving to rid the ocean of sunken contaminants.
The group was set up away from hindering ocean counters and waited for their diving leader for a decision on whether the group was going to be in the water or landlocked.
“We’ve got another group behind the airport,” said Tim Leichliter of Ho‘omalu Ke Kai. “It takes a village to care for the ocean, and we’re just part of the village.”
Cindy Among-Serrao, the Hawai‘i Island Program Coordinator for Ocean Count, said data collected during the Sanctuary Ocean Count, and Great Whale Count, the term for the count on Maui orchestrated by Pacific Whale Foundation, combined with other research efforts can help reveal trends in humpback whale occurrence within and amongst whale seasons.
For the Sanctuary Ocean Count, 463 volunteers gathered data from the shores of Kaua‘i, O‘ahu, Moloka‘i and Hawai‘i islands during the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary Ocean Count and the Great Whale Count on Maui.
These volunteers collected data from 45 sites across all the main Hawaiian Islands with a total of 289 whales being observed during the 9:30 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. time period. This was the most of any time period throughout the day’s count that started at 8 a.m. and run through 12:15 p.m.
On Kaua‘i, the total number of whales observed during the day’s count was 239. On O‘ahu, the total was 363, on Moloka‘i, the total was 86, and Hawai‘i Island recorded 466.
“The total number for the Great Whale Count on Maui was 948 and on Lana‘i was 39 for a grand total of 2,141 throughout the main Hawaiian Islands,” Among-Serrao said. “This number may represent duplicate sightings of the same whale by different observers, or at different time periods or different locations throughout the day.”
Ocean Count promotes public awareness about humpback whales, Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, and shore-based whale watching opportunities.
Site leaders tally humpback whale sightings and document the animals’ surface behavior during the survey, which provides a snapshot of humpback whale activity from the shorelines of Kaua‘i, O‘ahu, Moloka‘i and Hawai‘i islands.
Supported by the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, counts take place three times during peak whale season each year on the last Saturday in January, February and March.
The next Ocean Count and Great Whale Count will take place on March 30.
