Each winter, southern right whales arrive on Western Australia’s southern coast to birth their young.<\/p>\n
In a remarkable natural habit, the mothers return to their place of birth to deliver their calves.<\/p>\n
It offers scientists a chance to study the species’ breeding habits as they travel to the crystal clear bay at Point Ann, on the edge of the Fitzgerald National Park, 520 kilometres south-east of Perth.<\/p>\n
The study is key to understanding why the population has not bounced back like other species of whales since the end of commercial whaling in the 1970s.<\/p>\n
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Max Fabry’s drone monitoring a southern right whale and calf. (ABC Great Southern: Mark Bennett)<\/p>\n
Southern right whales calving less<\/p>\n
University of WA researcher Max Fabry said there were still very few southern right whales “compared to what there used to be and what there should be”.<\/p>\n
The latest strategy for the research is to use drones and aircraft to help find answers.<\/p>\n
Mr Fabry and Katy Fannei run this leg of the project, each year surveying a 450km section of coast from Albany to the national park.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Volunteer marine researchers Holly Butterworth and Max Fabry photographing southern right whales at Point Ann. (ABC Great Southern: Mark Bennett)<\/p>\n
Each year, they spot 30-70 mother and calf breeding pairs.<\/p>\n
“Unlike humpbacks, which have recovered from whaling to quite significant extent, southern right whales are still struggling to establish their pre-whaling population,” Mr Fabry said.<\/p>\n
“Studies have shown that in the last 10 years, southern right whales are calving less and less, from every three years to every five years.”<\/p>\n
The group hopes keeping records of mother and calf pairs along the coast will aid understanding of these developments.<\/p>\n
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Researcher Kimberley Johnson and pilot David Ellett fly along WA’s south coast spotting southern right whales as part of the project. (ABC Great Southern: Mark Bennett)<\/p>\n
Species’ health a ‘message’ from south coast<\/p>\n
Photos and video will be added to international catalogues and shared with researchers across the world who study the species only found in the southern hemisphere.<\/p>\n
“We can put together a much more comprehensive idea of what southern right whales are doing, how they’re recovering and what the health of the population is,” Mr Fabry said.<\/p>\n
“Southern right calving rates and their body conditions are really just a message in a bottle from the south coast, Antarctic waters and offshore waters.<\/p>\n
“It could be a lack of prey availability, it could be anthropogenic impacts, it could be all manner of things, both human-made and natural processes.”<\/p>\n
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Researcher Kimberley Johnson and pilot David Ellett identifying southern right whales. (ABC Great Southern: Mark Bennett)<\/p>\n
A study by the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Science (IMAS), the University of Tasmania and the Australian Antarctic Division found their population recovery seems to have recently stalled at a level far below pre-whaling<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n