Migratory movements of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) between New Caledonia, East Australia and New Zealand

Abstract

‘Discovery’ marks and their recoveries from humpback whales in the southwest Pacific provide no evidence of migratory interchange between wintering grounds in New Caledonia and migratory corridors off east Australia (Moreton Island) and New Zealand, or wintering grounds in Tonga. To provide further insight into the migratory connections among these regions, images of 169 individually-identified humpback whales from New Caledonia were compared with the published catalogues of Australian (n = 1,088), Tongan (n = 78) and New Zealand (n = 1) humpback whales. Four of the New Caledonian humpbacks were found to have migrated past east Australia and one past New Zealand in separate years. No movement was found between New Caledonia and Tonga. These data provide the first photographic information on exchanges between regions of the southwest Pacific. Reviewed in light of historical records, these data also highlight the necessity for further research in the South Pacific region to resolve the question of the proposed segregation of the Southern Hemisphere Group V stock into an eastern group (New Zealand and the Pacific Islands) and a western group (east Australia).