This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: It started with a simple message: "This is the year to do something small for something huge." Now, 17 years later, the Whitsundays region has some of the best protection in the world for migrating humpback whales. Sightings of unusual humpback whale behavior began to mount in 2009 as tourism operators in the Whitsundays reported observations of 'fluking' to the Reef Authority's Eye on the Reef network.
Perplexed by what they were seeing, they reached out to scientists to understand the behavior. What followed was a major research effort that ultimately led to the discovery of a globally important whale calving area in the Whitsundays. Master Reef Guides Program Manager Crystal Lacey said the operators were reporting sightings of a behavior known as 'fluking,' in which whales float upside down with their tails raised above the water's surface.
"It was an unusual behavior they had never seen before. Not even the whale scientists knew what it meant at the time. So that uncertainty sparked a major research effort, which combined citizen science through the tourism operators' observations and scientific research.
"It was one of the region's largest citizen science efforts, recording whale sightings and calves through Eye on the Reef. Just in that one year, there were 780 adults and 153 calves sighted in the Whitsundays." While tourism operators counted whales and calves, scientists mapped the seafloor, monitored water temperatures, tracked whales by satellite and surveyed the region from the air. Together, they gathered evidence that revealed the Whitsundays as one of the Great Barrier Reef's most important humpback whale calving areas.
"The fluking the operators observed was actually a breeding behavior. "We discovered the Whitsundays provide the sheltered, warm and shallow waters humpback whales need to give birth and raise newborn calves." The breakthrough solved one of the biggest mysteries surrounding humpback whales on the Great Barrier Reef—where they give birth. The discovery subsequently led to the establishment of the Whitsundays Whale Protection Area, where cetaceans are given higher levels of protection than in any other area of the Marine Park.
The Whale Protection Area strengthens the region's plan of management by setting rules for how people interact with whales. These include minimum approach distances for vessels and aircraft and a ban on swimming with whales. Breaches of these regulations are enforceable by law.
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