Season’s 1st whale
spotted off Lanai

Humpback whales are starting to
return to Hawaii waters from Alaska

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By Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.com

WAILUKU >> Boaters saw the first humpback whale of the season in Maui County waters, about a mile and a half southeast of Lanai, according to the Pacific Whale Foundation.

Foundation spokeswoman Anne Rillero said the whale, possibly a yearling, was sighted between 2:30 and 2:40 p.m. yesterday and made three dramatic blows through its air hole before descending.

Those viewing the whale were aboard the foundation's snorkeling vessel Ocean Odyssey.

Claire Cappelle, the Maui liaison for the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, said first sightings usually occur in deep water.

As more humpbacks return from Alaska to Hawaii, people are able to view the whales swimming closer to the coastline, she said.

Cappelle said she heard about a boater sighting a humpback whale in waters off Kauai a couple of weeks ago, although she has been unable to confirm the sighting.

The largest number of humpback whales, including females who give birth to calves, migrate to Hawaii between December and May.

An adult humpback whale, about the size of a school bus, is longer than 40 feet and weighs more than 40 tons.

The humpbacks, listed as a federal endangered species, once totaled about 15,000 in the North Pacific before being hunted by man, scientists estimate.

Under international protection, their numbers have increased.

Scientists now estimate their numbers to be closer to 3,000 in Hawaii and 6,000 in the North Pacific, compared to about 1,300 total in the 1960s.