By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau
KIHEI, Maui — While the numbers held steady for O‘ahu, the annual count of humpback whales off Maui showed a significant increase over last year.
"Many boat captains and researchers are saying this year is the best year they can recall for whale-watching on Maui," said Greg Kaufman, founder and president of the Pacific Whale Foundation, which organizes the annual count on Maui.
During three hours Saturday morning, 952 sightings of humpback whales were recorded in an area within three miles of Maui’s leeward shores, from Kapalua to Makena. That compares with 643 sightings last year. Counts in recent years have ranged from 558 to 750.
Kaufman said that while humpback whale populations can fluctuate from year to year, there is a sense their numbers are on the rise in Hawai‘i.
"Whatever we’re doing here to protect whales appears to be working," he said. "Offshore from Maui there isn’t oil drilling, there isn’t a lot of military activity and our laws regarding approaches by vessels to humpback whales are suitably cautious."
Meanwhile, the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary held whale counts on the other main islands. With about three-quarters of the observation sites reporting, more than 200 whales were sighted off O‘ahu. Similar numbers were reported last year. Off Kaua‘i, 158 whales were observed this year, while 80 were spotted off the Big Island.
The greatest density of whales in Hawai‘i is nearly always found in the relatively shallow waters of four-island Maui County, plus Penguin Banks west of Moloka‘i.
Humpback whales make an annual winter migration to Hawai‘i from their summer feeding grounds around Alaska. They give birth, nurse their calves and mate in the warmer Hawaiian waters before returning north.
The Maui whale count was launched 13 years ago to supplement Pacific Whale Foundation research and to encourage citizen participation in whale research. The count, which occurs at the peak of the whale-watching season, is designed systematically to count the whales from Maui's shores using a method that remains constant from year to year. This offers a "snapshot" look at the whale population that can be compared from one year to another.
"The data we’ve collected doesn’t provide the definitive answers about whale population, but it does provide clues and indicators," Kaufman said.
Heather Medic, research project manager for the Lahaina-based Island Marine Institute, said she’s seeing more whales in Maui’s waters and they seem to be arriving earlier each year. Research by the institute’s executive director, Joe Mobley, indicates the number of whales is increasing by 7 percent each year, she said.
Kellie Cheung, sanctuary liaison on O‘ahu, said many regular whale-watchers have told her they’re observing more whales this year.
"The informal word out is that there are a lot more," she said.
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