December 21, 2020 โ November is when the koholฤ (humpback whales) return to Hawaiสปi to breed, birth and nurse calves. An estimated 8,000 to 12,000 of the protected marine mammals migrate from Alaska to the Islandsโ warm, shallow waters through April, when they head back north again.
This year, though, the first North Pacific humpback whale sighting was reported on Oct. 8 off Maui, according to the Pacific Whale Foundationโearlier than normal. Researchers at the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, a 13,700-square-mile sanctuary created in 1992 to protect whales in their preferred habitat around the Islands, are getting reports of whale sightings from around the state.
They are also hopeful that total numbers of whales that will be counted this seasonโnow through March 2021โwill trend upward. In 2016, numbers dropped nearly 50%, likely due to a lack of food. That was the same year the koholฤ were removed from the endangered species list.
The COVID-19 pandemic may affect the whale count, too, with fewer whale tours running and fewer visitors in the Islands.
โWe can say that (in 2019-20), whale abundance and singing activity was the highest in about five years, indicating that whale numbers in Hawaiสปi have been increasing,โ said Marc Lammers, research coordinator with the humpback whale sanctuary, in a webinar he presented last month on the sanctuaryโs website.