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Hi list,
For the second time in ten days, the Dolphin Research Institute and Monash University field research team again encountered two humpback whales whilst on a routine survey in Port Phillip Bay.
These humpbacks were positively identified as not being the same individuals sighted on Friday June 1st off Rosebud in Port Phillip Bay.
The two individuals sighted yesterday (10/06) were first sighted off Mornington on the eastern side of Port Phillip Bay and were steadily travelling north toward the top of the bay.
Behaviours noted included, pec slaps, peduncle
slaps, tail slaps, head lunges and what appeared to be opportunistic feeding both laterally and vertically.
The animals encountered high boat traffic during the monitoring period with many recreational vessels approaching the whales at closer than the regulations permit. The whales appeared to respond to this with repeated tail slaps.
The research vessel "Delphinidae" monitored the humpbacks at a distance of 300m until water police and wildlife officers from the Department of Sustainability and Environment arrived mid afternoon who maintained an official presence for the remainder of the day.
Fin and fluke identification photos were taken of both individuals.
During the return trip to port a pod
of 25 - 30 bottlenose dolphins were sighted off Ricketts Point as well as a single common dolphin off Mornington.
Also sighted on the same day by Rob Torelli was a single humpback whale off Stoney Point in Western Port Bay.
No identification photos were taken of this animal.
Regards,
David
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