#MORNING SENTINEL SKIN#

Pirotta cites these growing numbers as proof of successful conservation efforts, and says the contribution of Reynolds and his fellow volunteers has been instrumental in documenting the whales’ resurgence. With populations expected to peak at 40,000 over the next five years, there are even calls to delist the humpback from the threatened species list.

You could conservatively say there are at least 35,000 southern hemisphere humpback whales out there now on Australia’s east coast,” Pirotta says. His observations have been backed up by scientists, who have incorporated the Cape Solander whale migration study’s findings into their own research.ĭr Vanessa Pirotta, a marine biologist from Macquarie University, says southern hemisphere humpback whales were hunted to near extinction by the 1960s, but since then their numbers have steadily grown, recovering to their first observed population sizes by 2015. In 2019, he saw more than 3,000, with more than 100 on some days. Reynolds saw about 150 whales in his first year of observations from Cape Solander. At the peak of the season, thousands of people flock to Cape Solander, and whale numbers have soared in recent decades. While night observation has not been maintained, interest in whale watching has blossomed. Reynolds remembers securing military-grade night vision equipment and camping out with fellow volunteers to attempt to record whale movements 24/7 in continuous shifts. In the early years, the group sought to keep standards as rigorous as possible. Whales sighted off the coast of Sydney, Australia It’s several weeks into Sydney’s watching season, when whales migrate from the Antarctic to warmer waters off the Great Barrier Reef to feed and breed through the winter. Heavy fog makes some of the whales difficult to spot that morning, but Reynolds’ trained eyes can detect their presence from a vortex of water generated by the movement of their tails, which he says “creates a circle like an oil slick” on the surface. Or there could be something annoying her,” Reynolds says. “That could be a communication with other whales, or just slapping off barnacles.

The girls are bigger than the males,” he says, as she slaps her tail repeatedly. This whale is swimming so close to the coast that its size is confronting – Reynolds estimates it is about 15m long, and must weigh about 40 tonnes.

#MORNING SENTINEL SKIN#

The humpback is one of several species he is able to recognise by the skin pattern on its tail – a skill he has developed in more than 20 years as a citizen scientist observing the mammals. “Humpback! Humpback over there, he’s just put his tail up,” Reynolds shouts. Without gloves, his hands are gripping his binoculars, as he stands looking out into the Pacific ocean. The price of each for the Saturday/Sunday “Weekend Edition” issue of The Kennebec Journal is $1.50, while the daily issues cost $1.00 each.Humpback whales tail-slap in the ocean off Potter Point in the Kamay Botany Bay national park near Kurnell at first light The group was sold to MaineToday Media in 2009. In 1998, Guy Gannett's newspapers were sold to Blethen Maine Newspapers, a subsidiary of The Seattle Times Company. įor much of the 20th century, the Journal (along with its sister papers the Press Herald and Morning Sentinel) was part of Guy Gannett Communications, a family-owned media company based in Maine. Flint, general manager of The Kennebec Journal, and his three sons, Roy, Charles, and Leigh, purchased stock control of the newspaper. He was also the Republican Party's nominee for president during the 1884 election. Blaine later served as United States Senator from Maine from 1876 to 1881, United States Secretary of State in 1881 and from 1889 to 1892. Blaine bought half of the newspaper in 1854 and became its editor.

The Kennebec Journal began publishing as a weekly newspaper in 1825, five years after Maine had become a state. Newspaper offices in the 19th century, when James G.

Morning sentinel