IWDG find a breeding ground for Irish Humpback Whales

After 16 years of searching, the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group have re-sighted a Humpback Whale from Co Kerry at a known breeding ground in the Cape Verde Islands off West Africa.

Left: Humpback whale off West Kerry, 7 August 2015 (Nick Massett)

Right: Humpback whale off Santa Monica, Cape Verde, 23 April 2019 (Simon Berrow)

Humpback whales have increased in number in inshore Irish waters since the IWDG first started documenting them through photo-identification in 1999. As the numbers recorded increased the question as to where they were coming from kept increasing too.

Cape Verde off west Africa seemed the most likely breeding grounds, so we went their in 2003 to try and find Irish humpbacks. No luck. We went back in 2006, and 2011 and 2012 and 20124. But no luck. Despite capturing images of over 100 individual humpback whales none of these whales had been seen in Ireland.

But on a chance excursion to Santa Monica off the southwest tip of Boavista during a two week expedition to Sal Rei on Boavista in April 2019, we struck lucky. Two whales surfaced near the research boat towards the end of the day trip. Both whales were photographed by Simon Berrow and one of these whales was the same individual photographed off west Kerry in 2015 by Nick Massett. Nick Massett of Ventry, Co Kerry, who photographed the humpback whale off the Blasket Islands in 2015 said “what a fantastic outcome for the IWDG. It was born out of the belief that the Cape Verde Islands was the breeding ground for the humpbacks we have documented here off Ireland. But it is down to the dogged persistence of the expedition teams that have returned there over the years to prove the theory. I am delighted for Simon Berrow that he finally got the definitive proof of this connection, and pleased to have played my part in documenting the animal here off County Kerry.”

IWDG Sightings Officer Pádraig Whooley, who manages the Irish Humpback Whale Catalogue on behalf of the IWDG, reflected that “after almost 1,000 validated Irish humpback sighting records and 100’s of encounters over several decades, resulting in thousands of images being shared with colleagues throughout the North Atlantic, we’ve finally found a really important missing piece of the jigsaw; but it’s a very large puzzle, which still has lots of missing pieces”. With this important discovery, we now know we are on the right track to solving one of the biggest mysteries in Irish natural history.

Humpback whale calf at the breeding grounds in Cape Verde © Simon Berrow/IWDG

Dr Simon Berrow, CEO of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group and discover of this important find says “it comes as a relief that we finally find at least one breeding ground for Irish humpback whales, it also raises issues regarding how is Ireland going to use this important finding to enhance the conservation status of this endangered humpback whale population. Those responsible for marine conservation in Ireland will have to build relationships with, and provide assistance to, the Cape Verde government in their efforts to protect this critically important breeding ground”.

The IWDG are planning another expedition to Cape Verde in September to explore the waters around Cape Verde and train up local biologists in survey techniques and species recording.