LIHU‘E — Colleen Ogino, the site leader at the Ahukini State Park viewing site, was excited on Saturday during the statewide Sanctuary Ocean Count.
“It has been pretty active,” Ogino said. “We’ve seen a lot of activity from the start of the count period that ends at noon. The volunteers who did not respond are missing out on all this activity.”
The count team headed by Marga Goosen and Ogino numbered about six people who watched a variety of humpback whale activities ranging from blows, tails and “just cruising,” Ogino said.
“We even saw some mother-calf pairs,” Ogino said. “This has been very active.”
The Ahukini count team was part of 402 volunteers who gathered data from the shores of Kaua‘i, O‘ahu and Hawai‘i Island during the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary Ocean Count (HIHWNMS), and during the Great Whale Count by the Pacific Whale Foundation, which collected data from Maui and Lana‘i on Saturday.
This was the first of three coordinated whale counts between the two organizations for 2024 that coincides with the peak time when the humpback whales are in Hawaiian waters after migrating from the Northern waters. Saturday’s event is the sixth year that both counts were coordinated on the same days, ensuring the data from all the main Hawaiian Islands are collected at the same time, the HIHWNMS said.
On the islands of Kaua‘i, Oahu, Molokai and the Big Island, Ocean Count volunteers collected data from 32 sites, including the Ahukini State Park site, and a total of 174 whales were observed during the 9 to 9:15 a.m. time period. This was the most of any time period throughout the day’s count, the HIHWNMS said. The statement also lines up with the Ahukini site team.
Volunteers collected data from 44 sites across all of the Hawaiian islands with a total of 315 whales being observed during the 9 to 9:15 a.m. time period. On Kaua‘i, the total number of whales observed during the day’s count was 292. On O‘ahu, the total ended at 604. On Moloka‘i, the total was 30. Hawai‘i Island counted 324.
During the Sanctuary Ocean Count, volunteers observed a variety of other species, including honu, or green sea turtles, ‘ilioholoikauaua, or Hawaiian monk seals, nai‘a, or spinner dolphins, malolo, or Hawaiian flying fish, and multiple bird species, such as ae‘o, or Hawaiian stilts, ‘iwa, or Great Frigatebird, moli, or Laysan albatross, kolea, or Pacific Golden Plover, nene, or Hawaiian Goose, and more.
Data collected during the Sanctuary Ocean Count and the Great Whale Count combine with other research efforts to help reveal trends in humpback whale occurrence within and among the whale seasons.
The Sanctuary Ocean Count promotes public awareness about humpback whales, the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, and shore-based whale watching opportunities.
During the count, site leaders tally humpback whale sightings and document the animals’ surface behavior that provides a snapshot of humpback whales’ activity from the shorelines of Kaua‘i, O‘ahu, Moloka‘i and Hawai‘i Island.
The next Sanctuary Ocean Count is scheduled to take place on Feb. 24.
