Whales Turn up in Kimberley waters

    PRESS RELEASE

The first humpback whales for 2010 have been spotted in Kimberley Waters.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PR Log (Press Release) – May 28, 2010 – Humpback whales have turned up in Kimberley waters a week earlier than last year.  Gregg Davey from Kimberley Kayak Fishing Tours (http://kimberleykayakfishing.com.au/) spotted the first pod of 3 juvenile whales near Talboys Rock, off Manari on the Kimberley coast on Monday the 24th of May 2010.  This year's sighting is a week earlier than the first reported whale sighting for 2009, which occurred on the 31st of May.  

Juveniles form the advance guard for the migrating whale population, which is estimated at approximately 22,000 individuals. The Breeding Group D population of Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) migrate from the frigid waters of the Antarctic to the warm tropical waters of the Kimberley coast to give birth.  The calving grounds extend from just south of Broome to north of Camden Sound, which will soon become the Kimberley's first inshore marine park.

The whale sightings herald the beginning of the Kimberley's whale watching season.  Broome will also host the second Kimberley Whale Festival, which will be held in Broome from the 15th to the 18th of July 2010.  As part of the festival, "Kimberley Whale Watching", a Broome based research group, is offering a framed whale photo for the first photo taken of a humpback whale in Kimberley waters in 2010.

Send your photo with time, date and location to kimberleywhales@bigpond.com.

Kimberley Whale Watching -  http://www.kimberleywhales.com.au
Kimberley Whale Festival - http://www.kimberleywhalefestival.blogspot.com
Whale Images - http://www.kimberleystockphotos.com.au
Whale Images - http://www.kimberleymedia.com.au

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Kimberley Whale Watching conducts research and charters between Broome and Camden Sound on Western Australia's Kimberley coast.

Whale sighting in January

A Broome local has reported a sighting of two whales in the Kimberley's Koolan Island channel (Yampi Sound) today.  As the majority of the whales head south for the Australian summer, this sighting indicates that the whales have either stayed in the Kimberley or returned from elsewhere.  We are awaiting further confirmation.

Camden Sound to be Declared a Marine Park

In October last year, the Western Australian Minister for the Environment, Donna Faragher, declared that Camden Sound, on the mid north Kimberley coast and the maternity ward and nursery for the Group lV population of Humpback Whales, is to be declared a Marine Park in 2010.  The boundaries are yet to be detemined.

Kimberley Whale Festival 2010

The Kimberley Whale Festival 2010 promises to be even bigger and better. Following the success of the inaugural festival, we're holding the 2010 festival over the weekend of the 17th and 18th of July.
This year's exciting events include whale watching cruises and survey flights, a Short Film Festival,  human whale on Cable Beach, Childrens' art competition and Adults' art exhbition, Fish Cake Cookoff and Sunday session music at Matso's Broome Brewery.

Check out the whale festival website.