Where Whales Rest and Rise

Each year, one of nature’s great journeys tracks along Western Australia’s coastline. 

Before winter, humpback and southern right whales leave Antarctica’s icy waters for their long migration north to warmer seas — hugging our continent before trekking south again months later. 

Known as Margaret River Region's 'whale nursery', Augusta's calm, sheltered waters provide a safe place for mothers to rest, feed and nurture their calves before the long journey home. 

From its headlands and beaches, locals and visitors can witness breaching, tail slaps and those unforgettable moments when a calf surfaces beside its mother. 

This week, host Kellie Tannock speaks to two researchers with different projects at each end of our Capes, and the creative force behind Augusta's Whalesong Festival that marks the start of the whale migration.

Image by Tim Campbell.

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This show was recorded at RMR 101.9FM, Margaret River Region.

Transcript

Kellie Tannock 0:01

Welcome to Cape's Conversations, sharing the stories that make the Margaret River region a truly special place to live and visit. Hello, I'm Kelly Tannock. Thanks for joining me on Cape's Conversations, sponsored by Margaret River Bustleton Tourism Association. Each year, one of nature's great journeys tracks along Western Australia's coastline. Just before winter, humpback and southern right whales leave Antarctica's icy waters over their long migration north to warmer seas, hugging our continent before trekking south again months later. And right here, where the southern and Indian oceans meet, Augusta plays a special role. Known as our region's whale nursery, its calm, sheltered waters provide a safe place for mothers to rest, feed, and nurture their calves before the long journey home. From its headlands and beaches, locals and visitors can witness breaching tail slaps and those unforgettable moments when a calf services outside its mother. It's a powerful reminder that this coastline is not just spectacular, it's alive. Later we speak to Wendy Matthews, who's the creative force behind this year's whale song festival here in Augusta, to mark the start of the whale migration. But first, we're going to hear about some fascinating research into these giant visitors. A new thermal imaging camera off the coast of Augusta is providing a more scientific window into humpback whale migration patterns. With me now is Dr. Jason Howe. He's the principal research scientist with the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, or D PERD, which is trialling this camera work. Welcome, Jason.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Thanks for having me.

Kellie Tannock 1:34

Now, Jason, firstly, where is this thermal imaging camera exactly and what does it do?

SPEAKER_00 1:39

Right. Well, we've actually located it on the Cape Lewin Lighthouse. So it looks out to sea and will actually pick up whales as they migrate along our coast.

Kellie Tannock 1:48

What does it look like? How big is it?

SPEAKER_00 1:50

It's actually quite small. It's only about 30 centimetres by 30 centimetres and a 10 centimetres. So it's quite a small little box with two cameras on it, one thermal, one normal. Yeah, it just perches up in the lighthouse and provides us the images.

Kellie Tannock 1:59

It must be incredibly powerful. What data do you hope to gather and how will that data be used?

SPEAKER_00 2:04

So this is start of a longer project for us trying to capture changes in the whale migration. So to understand that, we need to get a picture of what the whales are doing each year. And so this provides us with sighting information sort of 24 hours a day, so it'll pick up whales in the middle of the night. And we can put all that information together and understand what the migration's doing. Once we understand that a little better, we can start to really tailor our management actions so that we're protecting whales but also allowing fishes to do what they need to do.

Kellie Tannock 2:31

Tell me about the role of the fishes.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

So we've had a unfortunate long history of entanglements. It's obviously been at a fairly low level for a number of years, but the government's been working with industry to put in place management actions that have effectively reduced these entanglements so the fishers are required to fish with specific gear. What this allows us to do is really tailor the times and the places where the fishers really need to use that gear to mitigate those entanglements. So really making sure we protect the whales, but also not having management actions in place where they're not needed for the commercial guys.

Kellie Tannock 3:03

Okay. And this project is funded through the Western Rock Lobster Industries whale entanglement mitigation programme, I believe.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Yeah, quite a mouthful. Yeah, absolutely. So with the Western Rock Lobster and also the federal government's Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, they've provided us this funding essentially to develop these techniques to get some long-term data sets so we can start to build this better picture of the whale migration.

Kellie Tannock 3:26

It's early days, but has the camera actually detected any whales yet?

SPEAKER_00 3:30

It has, yeah. So we uh we got our first whales come past on the 1st of April this year. So the uh the camera was in for a couple of weeks, didn't see anything, and we were getting a little concerned, but it was nice to see those whales come through. And very interestingly, we've seen a couple of pulses. So yesterday there were three whales that the camera detected, but a few days before that we had about 50. So it there's a few little uh nice differences that are starting to appear as the camera's been in for a while.

Kellie Tannock 3:53

So, what are you actually seeing? Are you printing out images? Are you the video? What does the image itself look like?

SPEAKER_00 3:58

Yeah, so the because it's a thermal camera and whales are warm-blooded, um, when they breach the surface or when they they blow, that gives a different thermal signature to the cold water around. So the camera identifies that. Um so it provides us with a very short snippet of footage. We can confirm that it is a whale or a whale blow, and then we can start to use that information.

Kellie Tannock 4:19

And how else do you gather sightings? So are the marine users and the general public able to share their experiences?

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Absolutely. This is a really important part of the research that we're doing. We've developed an app called Marine Fauna Sightings. Um, you can download it from Google Play or the App Store, or you can jump onto DeepHerd and Twitter Marine Fauna Sightings to find it. But that's designed for people who are out there on their boats to sort of provide any whale sightings, dolphins, sea lions. So it enables them to provide us information, but the app also has information from them to help identify species that they might not know what they are.

Kellie Tannock 4:51

Okay. And can people use it in the opposite way? Can they see where things have been sighted?

SPEAKER_00 4:56

So they'll see where their sightings are and um and when other people's, but it's sort of a fairly broad, so it's not specific information, but yeah, it really helps us build this picture as to where whales are migrating up and down our coast.

Kellie Tannock 5:06

Jason, obviously whales go in both directions. I'm assuming they're going in one way more than the other if they're migrating north. But can you tell us how that works and whether the camera can actually pick up which way they're going?

SPEAKER_00 5:17

Yeah, it's very difficult. It's a very short image for us, but we do know that down here at this time of year uh the whales are migrating north. So we'll pick up that northern migration and later on, so around sort of August, September, we'll relocate the camera to Rotten Est Island and pick up the whales on their southern migration as they come back or they come back down. Fortunately, we're about a decade ago, we did some satellite tracking of humpback whales, and that really gave us a very clear picture as to what they were doing. So we're using that information to sort of hone the camera to pick up the best information we can.

Kellie Tannock 5:45

And why do you have to change location?

SPEAKER_00 5:47

Uh basically on the southern migration, the humpbacks don't tend to run past um Cape Lewin as they do on the northern migration. They tend to take different migration routes off. But we do see them go past rottens quite regularly, so we're using that as a sort of an indication of the southern migration.

Kellie Tannock 6:01

And Jason, are there any other ways that the community or businesses can be become involved in this project?

SPEAKER_00 6:07

Yeah, look, we've been really very lucky previously. We've had information come back from commercial whale watching vessels, and we looked at that historic information, and that actually allowed us to see a change in the timing of the migration between years. That information stopped. So we're really encouraging any commercial businesses that are whale watching businesses or any fishes that are out there to get in contact with the department, and we can help uh find ways that they can provide us the information to keep those data streams going.

Kellie Tannock 6:31

This is Cape's Conversations. I've been speaking with Dr. Jason Howe. Jason, thanks so much for sharing your fascinating work. We really look forward to hearing about what you're able to discover.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Thanks for having me.

Kellie Tannock 6:41

After this next song, we'll meet Dr. Capri Joliff to learn about her whale work with Geograph Marine Research in Dunsborough.

SPEAKER_03 6:48

This is Australian band Caravanna Sun with whale song.9.

Kellie Tannock 10:38

That was Caravana Sun with Whale Song. I'm Kelly Tannock. This is Cape's Conversations, and today we're talking about whale migration, which runs from June to November up and down WA's coastline. I have Dr. Capri Jolliffe on the phone. Dr. Jolliffe is a doctor of philosophy, applied physics, bioacoustics, and runs the whale program at Geograph Marine Research based in Dunsborough. Capri, thanks for joining me.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

No problem. Thanks very much for having me, Kelly.

Kellie Tannock 11:05

Now, for people who may not be familiar with bioacoustics, and I'm assuming that's most of us, what does a bioacoustician do?

SPEAKER_01 11:14

So bioacoustics is effectively the study of sound in the environment, which includes how animals use sound as well as how they perceive and respond to sound in their environment.

Kellie Tannock 11:25

Okay. And what drew you to studying whales through sound?

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Well, I started out with a love of marine mammals, and when I was quite young, I read a book about a marine biologist who studied dolphin acoustics in New Zealand, and that kind of sparked my interest, and from then on I wanted to study how whales and dolphins effectively spoke to each other, and that's what got me into the field.

Kellie Tannock 11:49

So, in your work with geograph marine research, what is it you're trying to record and what are you trying to understand?

SPEAKER_01 11:56

So we're primarily focused on understanding both the importance of geograph bay specifically to different marine mammals, as well as using geograph bay as a staging area to better understand blue whales in particular and how they behave throughout their migratory range.

Kellie Tannock 12:12

How significant is Geograph Bay in um terms of uh you know whale movements, whale research?

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Geograph Bay is a really unique location. All we get all three of our great whale species there. So the blue whales, humpback whales, and southern right whales all use geograph bay. The humpbacks migrate through there with their calves every year on their way south. Um pass through on their northern migration, and the blue whales we know in particular, they pass really, really close to shore there when they're coming south. And it's one of the few places in the world that you can actually see them from shore, which is quite incredible to see something so large in such shallow water as well on a sandy bottom, which makes it some pretty great opportunities to observe them with drones, um, as well as from the beach and from boats. And the southern rights use geographer as a resting area with their calves, so it's a really, really important area for all of the species.

Kellie Tannock 13:02

That's wonderful. How lucky are we? So when whales migrate along our coastline each year, what are they communicating through the sounds they make?

SPEAKER_01 13:11

Well, there's two different types of sounds that we refer to when we study whale sounds, and there's for their song, which is what we believe is produced by males only for a reproductive purpose. So it's kind of in the same way that birds use song. Uh the the male that sings the fanciest song will get the most girls in general. So songs are very, very long-range communication tools as well. So they travel really, really far distances, they're really low frequency, very repetitive, and they're basically a broadcast signal saying, hey, I'm over here. They also produce non-song vocalizations, which we call them social sounds. But we don't know the exact meaning of these sounds, and that's part of the work that we're doing, is trying to associate those sounds with different behaviors. And Geographic in particular is an amazing place to do that because as I mentioned, you've got really clear, shallow water on a sandy bottom, which is perfect for observing behavior, particularly with a drone. And then if we have acoustic recorders in the water at the same time, we can listen to what they're saying and try to link those different sounds to different kinds of behaviours.

Kellie Tannock 14:15

And what have we learned from about whale behaviour from the sounds that they make?

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Well, we know that they use it to mediate social interactions. We also know that cows and calves use sounds to stay in contact and communicate with each other. And in particular, southern right whales, we know they whisper when they're talking to their calves. So they talk really, really quietly when they're talking to their babies, probably to try and stay unheard by the species that predate on them. Um and we also know that they possibly use it to communicate to each other where there's good patches of food. So there's certain sounds that we associate with foraging areas. And we think that this may be a kind of way that they signal to other conspecifics that hey, there's some really good food over here, why don't you come and join me? Which may have benefits when it comes to finding a preferable mate. If you've got more animals in one area, then you've got a better chance of finding a mate.

Kellie Tannock 15:05

It's absolutely fascinating. So, yeah, without oversimplifying uh the science, can you listen to uh the whale communication and understand to some extent what they're communicating?

SPEAKER_01 15:18

Unfortunately, we're not quite at that stage yet. We've done a lot of work, and the more that we study them, the more we're finding that their communication is a bit more complex than what we thought. Um, they do seem to have a lot of rhythm in the way that they communicate their sounds, particularly in songs. They have incredible memories, particularly the humpbacks, they sing very complex songs with lots and lots of sounds that are put together in phrases and themes and then repeated all together in a song. And they also have a really diverse range of sounds, and some of the lesser studied species, like the blue whales, we're finding more and more that they actually produce a whole heap of sounds that we didn't know that they did. And there seems to be, even with the social sounds, almost like a syntax associated in that certain sounds are paired with other sounds. So presumably they have a certain meaning, we just don't know what that meaning is.

Kellie Tannock 16:06

Well, it's absolutely incredible. So, how does underwater noise from things like shipping and offshore drilling or wind farms affect whales?

SPEAKER_01 16:14

So, as I mentioned, their sounds are really low frequency and travel really low distance long distances. Um, unfortunately, a lot of the sounds that are associated with those other noise sources, so our man-made noise sources, are also primarily the low frequency parts of those sounds travel really long distances and can be really, really loud. And that means that it reduces the communication space over which these animals can communicate. So as the noise as those oceans get noisier, the distance that the whales can hear each other decreases, which makes it harder for them to find mates, presumably harder to find really good foraging areas, and possibly even harder for them to migrate if they're using a good ticket for those behaviors. It also can have really acute effects. So noise can cause injury to the hearing organs, which can be permanent or temporary, and it can also cause behavioural impacts, which might not seem that important, but if you start adding up lots of behavioral impacts, it actually has an impact on the energy budget of the animal and can affect their reproductive output. So noise is a really key concern when we're thinking about the conservation of these species.

Kellie Tannock 17:17

And given all those things, what part part do whales play in in the ecology?

SPEAKER_01 17:23

So whales are considered to be both ecosystem engineers as well as a bit of a canary in the coal mine. So healthy oceans have whales. Uh they're they're considered to be an apex predator, so they're a bit higher up the food chain. But they also change the environment around them. So whale poo is really, really rich in vital essential things that the ocean needs, a bit like fertilizer. So when whales poo, they effectively fertilize the ocean, and then because they move up and down through the water column, they actually mix those nutrients through the water column as well, which then supports the growth of things like plankton and krill, which is to a to an extent a large part of their diet, and for some of these species the only part of their diet, but also supports the whole food chain above them as well.

Kellie Tannock 18:08

Wow, gosh, I've never really thought about whale whale poo, but I imagine the size of it would have some impact. When we see whales from our coastline capri, it is a really powerful spectacle. What else would you like us to be thinking about in these moments?

SPEAKER_01 18:24

I think that everyone should be thinking about what they can do to reduce their impact on the environment in terms of particularly pollution. Um, so making sure that even waste that we leave on land can find its way into the ocean. Um it can impact the whales directly. These animals they tend to feed by taking big gulps of water instead of plastic and whether they ingest that to. And they have no way of passing it, so it builds up in their internal organs. And there have been whales turn up beach, um, deceased, and they've got stomachs full of plastic, which is really, really sad to see. And plastics have been affecting all sorts of organisms throughout the food chain. Uh, we should also be looking at, you know, if we as much as we all love whales, uh if we see them, we shouldn't be approaching them too closely with boats or kayaks or surfboards or even swimming. Um we need to give them their space because just as I mentioned, that noise can disturb them. Um, and although those disturbances can add up and impact on their energy budget, so too can close proximity of vessels and other kinds of watercraft as well.

Kellie Tannock 19:22

Thanks so much, Capri. That was really interesting. I'm Kelly Tannock. I've been chatting with Dr. Capri Jolliffe, Chair of the Geographic Marine Research Committee on Capes Conversations. Stay with me now for a music break, and then I'll be back to hear how Augusta celebrates the whale migration with a weekend of fun. And to get into the festive vibe, next up we have Australian DJ Fisher's dance track called Ocean. Fisher actually describes playing this track live as making the dance floor explode like a whale's blowhole.

SPEAKER_04 22:12

And um being time to watch that middle and side and to the side I didn't know the back of the body.

Kellie Tannock 24:52

RMR one oh one point nine. I'm Kelly Tannock. This is Cape's Conversations, and it's time now to hear about Augusta's Whale Song Festival. It's one of the key initiatives of Augusta's Community Resource Centre, and with me now is Festival Director Wendy Matthews. Hi Wendy. Yeah, hi Kelly. Thanks so much for coming in. Wendy, you've got such an exciting programme lined up, but at its heart, the Whale Song Festival is really about celebrating the annual whale migration, isn't it? What makes Augusta the perfect host for this event?

SPEAKER_06 25:20

Wow, Augusta is the place to come for whales at this time of the year. Leaping out of the water. And we thought it's a time to bring community together at a time when Augusta can be a little bit slow with visitors coming to town. So we thought bring the festival to Augusta, get the people to it, they can socialise and it takes away any social isolation at a winter time, but also having fun celebrating the whales coming back to Flinders Bay.

Kellie Tannock 25:51

It's a wonderful concept. You describe the festival as a celebration of the connection between earth and sea. How does that idea shape your program?

SPEAKER_06 26:00

The whole area is very biodiverse on the land as well as in the marine area of Cape Lewis and Flinders Bay. So it sort of brings people down to the water's edge, but also celebrating what's in the water with the marine life and especially the whales at this time of year. And we're very proud that we can be walking along coastal paths, looking at the vegetation that's unique to the area, seeing things like stingrays, dolphins, as well as the magnificent whales.

Kellie Tannock 26:33

And you've got so much happening. But for you, Wendy, which moments best capture the spirit of whale song?

SPEAKER_06 26:39

Well, I think it's just the people and seeing young kids learning about whales and understanding where they live in an area where you can just see them off the coast. You don't have to go out on a boat. And what's so special about the Augusta region is that it's the mothers of the young whale calves. They come here to protect their young before they go off on their migration. So it's a protective cove for them, I suppose, that southern area of Flinders Bay.

Kellie Tannock 27:11

And really the whole Augusta community comes together to bring a whale song to life, doesn't it? And you've got the men's shed and the schools and local artists and musicians. What does that collaboration bring to the festival atmosphere?

SPEAKER_06 27:23

Well, especially for the kids, because uh we've actually had the men's shed cut out whales for the kids of Caridale Primary and Augusta Primary to decorate and to take their masterpieces into a street parade down the main street so they can feel proud of um the whale that they've decorated that's of special meaning for themselves, and then they're going to be placed around town for the weekend, so everybody gets to see their wonderful creations. But we've also got a new mural that's been put on the wall that will also mean it's a meeting place for community to go and look at this lovely vision that a local artist had, which is fantastic, and uh we look forward to having kids and adults come together over the weekend to put some little extra touches to our wonderful mural.

Kellie Tannock 28:17

What a beautiful way to connect the young with the older generations of your community, Wendy. And and finally, Walesong is more than just a fun weekend, isn't it? Because it's an opportunity to share the conservation message through events like the screening of the documentary ocean. How do you strike that balance between entertainment and education?

SPEAKER_06 28:36

Well, most of them are free, so it's not going to cost people any anything to attend. If they want to, there's some magnificent events they can go to. But it's it means that it's a festival that you can just enjoy, catch up with friends, and if you want, come and support something a little bit more special by coming to the lighthouse and going on the uh loo and bitty walk down to the lighthouse and watch the sunset. Uh, but also with the ocean with uh David Attenborough, it means people know him so well, but now we're showing something that's talking about ocean, which includes whales, and he's probably talking about all different regions around the world within that movie.

Kellie Tannock 29:25

How likely are visitors to the festival uh how likely is it that they will actually be able to see a whale?

SPEAKER_06 29:31

You can well, whale watch tour operators actually have a guarantee on their tours that if you don't see any, you can come back for free and see it until you see a whale out there. Last season, every tour they saw whales.

Kellie Tannock 29:47

That's pretty impressive. Um all right. Well, look, we really do appreciate you coming in, Wendy. Thanks so much, and all the best with the festival. And thanks to my guests, Dr. Capri Jolliff, Dr. Jason Howe, and Wendy Matthews, for sharing their love of our whales. We have some amazing whale watchers as well, sorry, whale watch operators, as Wendy mentioned, around the Capes, to help you get out and see these whales up close over the coming months. We're incredibly lucky to have this in our backyard, and people from all over the world come to see these awe inspiring creatures. If you haven't done it and you don't mind a boat ride, I highly recommend that you book an experience. I'm Kelly Tannock, and this is Capes Conversations, a look at what makes the Margaret River region so wonderful to live in and to visit. And a big thanks to our show sponsor, Margaret River Bustleton Tourism Association.