Experts suspect a shift in SA's whale season patterns
Whale beaching and stranding are also common during this period, as the country sees several strandings a year.
FILE: A humpback whale. Picture: Brigitte Werner from Pixabay
JOHANNESBURG - Marine experts suspect there’s a shift in whale season along South Africa's coastlines.
Whale season in the country usually lasts six months, from June until December.
During this time, southern right and humpback whales migrate to warmer waters for breeding and giving birth.
Whale beaching and stranding are also common during this period, as the country sees several strandings a year.
Beaching or strandings are caused by factors such as old age, illness or environmental conditions.
Research manager at the Mammal Research Institute Whale Unit at the University of Pretoria, Els Vermeulen, said that in winter, whales migrate to our coast, but in summer, we also have whales feeding off the west coast.
“In certain ways, because of whale populations increasing, that seasonality on our coast is going away and obviously, on the East Coast like Durban area there you have the peaks of migration, which will be June, July and then another peak during October, November, but if you look at the Western Cape, you’ll have 12 months of the year you'll have right whales, humpback whales and broodus whales.”