Posted on: Sunday, March 30, 2003

Spotters log 1,100 whales in third tally

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

Volunteers braved rain, gray skies and poor visibility yesterday during the third and final wave of the 2003 Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary whale count.

More than 500 volunteers staked out 60 spots along the coasts of O'ahu, the Big Island, Kaua'i and Kaho'olawe, keeping their eyes peeled and their pencils sharp yesterday morning, tallying Hawai'i's annual influx of humpback visitors.

Nearly 1,100 whales were tallied statewide, said Christine Brammer, the sanctuary's ocean count coordinator.

As with all three waves of each annual count, the tallies are likely to include whales that were counted more than once.

The count yesterday was significantly lower than last month's 4,000 whales, Brammer said, but the end-of-season count is expected to be lower than the midseason, the high point of whale activity in Hawaiian waters.

Low visibility may have kept the count low, she said.

The first part of the annual count was in January.

Final results of the three-phase count will be analyzed and compiled by the fall and can be viewed on the sanctuary's Web site, hawaiihump backwhale.noaa.gov.

The waters around the Hawaiian Islands serve as winter breeding habitat for about 5,000 whales, a total that has been growing by about 7 percent a year during the past 10 years, according to scientific studies.

About two-thirds of North Pacific humpbacks winter in Hawai'i.