Whale Listening

Forest and Bird, Volume 21, Issue 3, 1 August 1990, Page 3

Whale Listening

OU’VE HEARD of whale watching around Kaikoura; soon researchers will start to listen in on sperm whales in order to gain new insights into their behaviour, which in turn will assist their conservation. Steve Dawson and Liz Slooten, well known for their work with Hector’s dolphin, plan to track sperm whales acoustically with the use of a directional hydrophone. Kaikoura is an ideal location for the work, being one of the few sites worldwide where mature male sperm whales can be studied near the shore. Unlike other whales, sperm whales click almost continuously while underwater, the clicks being audible up to 10 km away. Thus the whales can be studied underwater. The clicks provide a number of clues about the whales: size, gender and behaviour can be

worked out from analyses of click "type" and Click rate. The novel research method should provide answers to such questions as: how many whales use Kaikoura waters, how are they distributed, how long do they stay in the area, how cohesive are their groups? From a conservation point of view, the information will be useful in arguments over whale hunting. The International Whaling Commission moratorium on commercial whaling expires this year and member nations will again set catch limits. Because sperm whales found in New Zealand waters migrate from the Antarctic to tropical waters, any resumption of whaling outside New Zealand could affect local populations — and possibly the whale watching industry. #& (Information from Cetos Research newsletter)