Presence and movement of humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) mother-calf pairs in the Gold Coast, Australia

Abstract

The Gold Coast bay in eastern Australia has been hypothesised to be an important habitat, primarily for humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) mother-calf pairs. Here we investigated relative distribution, and temporal patterns from 2,305 humpback whales between 2011 to 2017. The data were collected from whale-watching vessels using citizen science. We analysed seasonal presence of mother-calf pairs, dive times, direction of movement and location to determine habitat use of the bay as aresting area. In average aquarter of all sighted whales were mother-calf pairs with peaks of sightings each October. The recorded average dive time of 3.20 minutes was short compared to that in migratory corridors. Mother-calf pairs were sighted more often closer to shore relative to other pods. We compared our results to recognised breeding and resting grounds and found similar results, indicating that the Gold Coast bay may serve as an important stop-over for humpback whale mother-calf pairs.