Having a whale of a time off 031
WHILE this year’s Welcoming of the Whales Festival had to be cancelled because of the Covid-19 lockdown, the annual migration of whales along the KwaZulu-Natal coast is well under way.
On Wednesday, organisers of Durban’s annual whale festival, Soul of South Durban Community Tourism Association (Sodurba), confirmed that the first whale had been spotted by the KZN Whale Coast group at the beginning of June.
Since then, Sodurba chairperson Helga du Preez said many whales, all humpbacks, have since been spotted, adding that the KZN Whale Coast group are residents who have an ideal view of the coastline and who provide daily updates of any sightings.
She said, “The whales will go as far up as the Tanzanian coast and return with calves.
“Being in lockdown, all tourismrelated activities around the whales had to be cancelled, including boatbased whale watching. But plans are already under way for our 2021 Welcoming of the Whales Festival.
“Sodurba has not let the pandemic change any of our future plans. We are currently completing our lookout points on the Whale Heritage Route and this includes whale tale benches and information boards at each stop.
“We will continue to grow our tourism within our area and especially our Whale Heritage Route,” said Du Preez.
Whale-watching from the Bluff was recognised last year as one of the best globally when Durban was awarded International Whale Heritage Site status, one of only two such sites in the world.
Inspired by the World Whale Conference held in Durban in June 2017, Du Preez, supported by WildOceans’ Rachel Kramer, Matthew Cocks (Wildlife and Environment Society SA) and Bluff ward councillor Jean Pierre Prinsloo, worked with the Bluff Steering Committee to meet the criteria required by the World Cetacean Alliance (WCA) to apply for certification.
“Whale Heritage Sites are becoming the gold standard for responsible whale-watching destinations worldwide,” said Jean-Michel Cousteau, spokesperson for the alliance.
Whales are spotted in Durban waters between June and July as they head north to warm tropical waters to breed, before returning south in October/November to their feeding grounds in Antarctica with their newborn calves.
Whales had been nearly hunted to extinction with only 340 humpbacks and a mere 100 southern rights left in South African waters by the late 1970s.
In 1986, whaling was banned in the southern hemisphere by the International Whaling Commission.
Recent surveys estimated that the humpback whale population which migrates past Durban has now increased to approximately 7 000, while the southern right whale population has, incredibly, risen to more than 1 000 and the population is expected to double in the next 10 years.
Unfortunately, on Wednesday, Isimangaliso Wetlands Park confirmed a young male whale had been found stranded on the beach near Maphelane along the Zululand coastline and did not survive.
In a Facebook post, Isimangaliso stated, “At the top of the list of speculated reasons by scientists is pollution in the ocean which can lead to marine mammals being born deformed, mentally impairing otherwise healthy whales or causing death as a result of poisonous chemicals.”