LIHU‘E — The weather conditions on Saturday were primarily clear with sunny skies and relatively calm seas, pretty much ideal for observing whales, said Cindy Among-Serrao, one of the coordinators for the Ocean Count that concluded its Count for the 2023 whale season.
“But we didn’t see any whales,” said Carol Everett, one of the co-site leaders at Ahukini, one of 42 sites across the main Hawaiian Islands where data was collected. “The most exciting thing happening here was when we spotted a fishing buoy with a bird trying to balance on it for a long time.
More than 320 volunteers collected data from the shores of Kaua‘i, O‘ahu and Hawai‘i Island during the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary Ocean Count, which on Maui is the Great Whale Count by the Pacific Whale Foundation.
Saturday marked the last of three coordinated whale counts between the two organizations in 2023. This year’s final count Saturday also marked the first year since March 2020 that both programs resumed normal operations.
“We were told one of the problems with the count was not having volunteers who registered show up,” said Jean Souza, the HIHWNMS program specialist on Kaua‘i. “Our Ninini Point Lighthouse was scheduled to be not used because the site leader had medical reasons, but one of our volunteers stepped up to keep the site active for the count.”
At the Ahukini site, Everett said a high school student showed up with his mother unannounced, and was a welcome addition to the team of volunteer counters.
On Kaua‘i, from nine sites utilized, the total number of whales observed during the day’s count was 273. On O‘ahu, the total number of whales was 467, and 68 whales on Hawai‘i Island. The total number for the Great Whale Count on Maui was 313 for a grand total of 1,121 whales seen throughout the state. This number may represent duplicate sightings of the same whale by different observers, or at different time periods or different locations throughout the day.
Statewide, between the islands of Kaua‘i, O‘ahu, and Hawai‘i island, a total of 117 whales were observed during the 8:30 to 8:45 a.m. time period, the most of any time period throughout the day’s count.
Among-Serrao said due to the ideal weather conditions, a lot of humpback whale activity was observed during the day’s count. Additionally, a variety of other species were spotted during the count, including honu, or green sea turtles; nai‘a, or spinner dolphins; and malolo, or Hawaiian flying fish. Also seeen were multiple bird species, such as ‘iwa, or great frigatebird; moli, or Laysan albatross; kolea, or Pacific golden plover; nene, or Hawaiian goose; manu o ku, or white tern; ‘ua‘u kani, or wedge-tailed shearwater; and others.
The Ocean Count, supported by the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, promotes public awareness about humpback whales, the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, and shore-based whale watching opportunities.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 ordfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
