The Ballina Whale Research Project (BWRP) was established by Dan Burns in 2003 in order to study the southern migration of humpback whales past Ballina. The major focus of this project is on migratory movements and timing of migration for individual whales, as well as group characteristics and abundance of the migrating population.

The BWRP receives support from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, and has ongoing collaborations with the University of Newcastle, the NSW Marine Parks Authority and the NSW Department of the Environment and Conservation.

The project involves both land and vessel-based data collection as follows:

Land surveys

A crew of spotters based at Skennars Head track and count migrating whales using a theodolite linked to a laptop running the tracking software 'Cyclopes', developed by Dr Eric Kniest. This allows real-time tracking of whales as they migrate past the land station, providing accurate data on the number of whales passing the headland, as well as their distance offshore, speed and course, behaviour and pod composition. The land crew also relay locations of whales to the research vessel.

Vessel surveys

Surveys are conducted aboard the SCU research vessel 'Seahorse'. The major focus of the vessel surveys is on photo-identification of individual whales, predominately by photographing the underside of the tail flukes, but also the dorsal fin and laterals of the whale. Opportunistic sloughed skin sampling is also undertaken - when whales are active small pieces of skin fall off and are then collected by the research team and sent back to the Centre for Animal Conservation Genetics at SCU for analysis to determine the sex of the whale and obtain a genetic fingerprint. Behavioural observations and some focal follows of individual whales are also conducted from the vessel to study the behaviour of the whales in more detail.

Preliminary photo-ID results

629 individual humpback whales were identified by fluke photograph during BWRP surveys from 2003 to 2005. These data are being used to document the movements and timing of migration of individual whales, build life histories, and to conduct abundance estimates of humpback whales migrating along the east coast of Australia. In particular the data have been matched with those from the Cape Byron Whale Research Project and The Oceania Project to provide movement information between these locations. For further information about this project contact Daniel Burns.

Updated: 16 September 2010