After years of hunting that nearly drove them to extinction, humpback whales are making a surprising comeback along Brazil’s southeastern coast.
Julio Cardoso, a retired scientist from Brazil, is a key figure in tracking this development. A “citizen scientist,” Cardoso employs photography to monitor the rapidly growing population of humpback whales along the Brazilian coastline. He does this by taking pictures of the whales’ fins, which serve as unique identifiers for the individuals in the population.
The Role of Citizen Scientists in Whale Conservation
Citizen scientists like Cardoso, who voluntarily observe and gather data on specific subjects, have played an instrumental role in tracking the rise of humpback whales in the region; the photographs they capture help professionals estimate population sizes and observe migratory patterns.
Through his whale-spotting project, Baleia a Vista, founded in 2015, Cardoso and his team have contributed significant data to the cause. They document the whales’ activity from land and sea, offering a comprehensive perspective of their behaviours and movements.
The whale population off the coast of Ilha Bela has seen a considerable increase in recent years, with many returning to their historical breeding sites along the Brazilian coast. These areas were once scenes of large-scale whaling operations, where humpbacks were targeted for their blubber. Paolo Palazzo of the Humpback Whale Institute in Bahia notes that only 300 to 500 individuals survived these attacks.
However, with legal protections established in the 1980s, humpback whale numbers have rebounded. Despite their slow reproduction rate, with females typically having a single calf every two to three years, the 2022 census recorded 30,000 humpbacks in Brazilian waters.
The work of citizen scientists is crucial, particularly in the context of resource-scarce conservation efforts. These dedicated volunteers help bridge the gap by conducting important monitoring work, such as identifying individual whales by their unique tail patterns and documenting these findings on global platforms like HappyWhale.
These efforts have not only aided in tracking the humpback whale population in Brazil but have also unveiled migration patterns, with whales travelling from as far away as Antarctica, Patagonia, the African coast, and even Australia. Palazzo says this remarkable comeback story is significant for worldwide marine conservation. It shows that with effective protection measures, most marine species can recover and thrive.
