13 December 2024
The IWDG team from the IWDG Head Office in Kilrush spent the afternoon trying to get a fluke shot of the whale to see if it has been recorded in Irish waters before it entered the Shannon Estuary. We tried to obtain a fluke shot which carries a unique pattern which can be used to identify it as an individual. Unlike a week ago the whale was fluking regularly, but the low winter light did make it difficult to get a clean, well-lit image. Images from Martin Ahern and Susie Matejka below. The images were ran through the Irish Humpback Whale Photo-ID Catalogue and there is no match and thus it has been given the catalogue Number #136 and is the 10th new whale added to the catalogue during 2024.
Using the drone footage collected last week, PhD candidate at ATU, Galway Miguel Blásquez used photogrammetry to determine the length of the whale and provided an estimated body length of 7.7m. A young, immature whale. Fully mature adults reach 14-16m in length.
While the team were out with the whale, a ship transiting the estuary approached the whale in the shipping channel. Shannon pilot Mark Sinnott slowed the ship down when he knew the humpback whale was in the vicinity. Reducing ship speed to <14kts greatly reduces the risk of ship collisions with whales. Ship collisions are one of greatest threats to whale species worldwide. While not considered a big issue in Ireland, given the level of shipping traffic in the Shannon Estuary and the unexpected occurrence of a whale, the IWDG have taken a precautionary approach and requested a speed reduction to 10kts while the whale continues to occur in the estuary.
While filming from the drone a seal was very aware of the whale and watched it intently as it logged at the surface. I’m sure it was as surprised as us to see a humpback whale in the estuary !
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6 December 2024
IWDG managed to find the whale on 3 December following great help from the Shannon Pilots. We obtained images of both sides of the dorsal and a poorly lit image of its tail fluke. At present we cannon match it to the IWDG Humpback Whale Catalogue, suggesting it is a new animal. We also flew the IWDG drone over the whale to obtain a length measurement. While conditions were not ideal, with very turbid waters we got a fairly decent surfacing profile with which to attempt photogrammetry – it looks like quote a small individual.
29 November 2024
To everyone’s amazement, a humpback whale was seen and filmed way up the Shannon Estuary on 26 and 27 November. It was initially filmed off the Shannon Ferry plying the waters between Killimer and Tarbert by Marieke Dunk and the following day slightly west off Ardmore Point, Co Kerry by Shannon pilots Kevin McKiernan and Brian Clohessy. The pilots saw it breach !
Unfortunately, on the same day the IWDG team based in Kilrush couldn’t locate it to photograph and film to see if the whale was known from the IWDG Humpback Whale Photo-ID catalogue.
There have been reports of species larger than the resident bottlenose dolphins in the inner estuary, but never has evidence such as a photograph or video been obtained. To be honest, none of us would have believed this sighting without the evidence.
Humpback whales are being seen more frequently off Loop Head 45km to the west in recent years, but never in the estuary. There have been good marks of sprat in the estuary, escaping capture from our few trawlers who continue to remove this critically important forage fish species.
This just shows again, the changing distributions of whales and dolphins in Irish waters and the bonus of leaving forage fish in the sea to be … foraged !