Record Number of Humpbacks Identified in 2017

The Mingan Island Cetacean Study (MICS) was able to identify 121 humpback whales in 2017, a record number! Of these, 98 individuals were already in the photo-identification catalogue and 23 new pages were added. Whales Online spoke with Christian Ramp, research coordinator at MICS.

Whales Online(WOL): How do you explain so many identifications?

Christian Ramp: Our photo-identification efforts are rather stable from year to year. We have observers in the Estuary (GREMM), the Gaspé region (Croisières Baie de Gaspé, René Roy and Stacey Cassivi) and all over the Gulf (Maurice Lamontagne Institute [IML] and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans). We are therefore under the impression that 2017 was a good year for humpbacks in the St. Lawrence, particularly in terms of food.

In the region where our research station is located, near the Mingan Islands, we saw humpbacks feeding on krill. We can tell based on the deep red colour of their feces. In the Gaspé, on the other hand, the humpbacks observed were mainly feeding on capelin. One of the issues raised by these observations is whether individual humpbacks have preferences for either krill or fish.

WOL: You identified four newborns this year, but saw a total of at least 10. Why don’t you enter all the newborns into the catalogue?

Christian Ramp: We managed to take photos with enough detail to identify four of the newborns. The photos of the others will not allow us to track them as they grow from year to year, because the colour pattern of the underside of the tail change in the first five or six years of a humpback’s life.

WOL: After you initially identify them, do you see most newborns again?

Christian Ramp: No, we recapture (Translator’s note: on camera) about half. This is comparable to the recapture rate for humpbacks in general.

WOL: What explains this proportion?

Christian Ramp:The first years of life, especially the first winter, are difficult for humpback whales, as evidenced by the juvenile humpback found stranded (page in French) in the Magdalen Islands this spring. They must learn to feed for themselves and to travel alone. Young animals are also more inclined to venture into new areas, so some of the calves seen in the St. Lawrence could move to other waters. We probably have juveniles who were seen their first year in Newfoundland, Labrador, or in the Gulf of Maine, although calves usually return to the feeding grounds where their mothers first brought them. It is also possible that some humpbacks simply fall through the cracks of our photo-ID efforts and that our paths never cross.

WOL: And 10 newborns, is that a good number?

Christian Ramp: It’s about average. But it’s a lot better than the three or four we’ve seen the last six or seven years.

Additionally, this year, we saw Iriseptwith a calf! We have known this humpback since 1997 and since 2000, we have known that it is a female. But the summers came and went, and we never saw her with a calf. We end up taking a second biopsy to validate her sex, and indeed, it’s a female. So after twenty years, we were finally able to see her with a calf! Unfortunately, the photos of the calf are not clear enough to identify it.

WOL: How is the 2018 field season shaping up?

Christian Ramp: We will continue our large rorqual photo-ID program as well as our biopsy program for sexing, monitoring hormone levels and pregnancy rates, etc. Whenever possible, we will continue to collect feces to get a better idea of what it is that the humpbacks are eating. The season should be getting underway soon!