On the 30th January 2011, visiting researcher Leigh Hickmott and BMMRO staff member David Rees had an atypical encounter with one of the Bahamas more rarely encountered whale species.

As they surveyed the deep (1000 metre +) offshore waters between Rocky Point and South West Point of Abaco they found a single minke whale travelling south. The encounter lasted for almost two hours, during which photo-identification images were collected, along with data on respiration rates and swimming speed. The whale travelled south during the entire encounter taking one or two breaths each time it surfaced between dives. Photographs of the left and right sides of the whale were collected to contribute to a photographic catalogue of minke whales seen in the Bahamas, allowing researchers to identify if the whale has ever been observed in the area before. On returning to the research centre our staff were able to confirm that this particular whale had not been previously identified and as such was a new addition to the catalogue.

Minke whales are smallest of the rorqual or baleen whales that are known to frequent Bahamian waters and very little is known about the ecology and behaviour of minke whales that are observed in the Bahamian archipelago. Since our efforts began in 1991, the BMMRO team has only had three other encounters with minke whales. These other encounters all took place in the month of February in 1998, 1999 and 2007. The encounters have all been with single animals except for the encounter in 2007 when a mother and calf were observed. Stranded minke whales have also been recorded in the Bahamas, including two whales that live stranded in Eleuthera in March 2000 during a naval tactical sonar operation led by the US navy that caused a now well documented mass stranding of beaked whales.

Should you happen to be out on the water and see a minke or any other whale or dolphin species then we would be hugely grateful if you could try to take pictures of what you see and then fill in our online sighting form. By contributing such data, you will be greatly helping our understanding of the distribution and abundance of marine mammals in the Bahamas.

Written by Leigh Hickmott