International Whale Research

Did you know your Sea of Whales adventure contributes to international whale research?

Whales can be identified by their unique tail markings — they are kind of like a human finger print! Whale Photo Identification is the first step in understanding what is happening with the whales in our area. Photo identification can determine the number of individual whales in an area, the relationship between whales, and the life history of each individual. Whale researchers from all over the world work to match animals in order to track their journeys as they migrate. The North Atlantic Humpback Catalogue is housed at College of the Atlantic – Allied Whale in the United States and is the biggest collection of its kind.

Here at Sea of Whales Adventures, we conduct whale photo identification of humpback, fin, orca, and sperm whales. Over the years, we have had many whales that return year after year to the waters of Bonavista and Trinity Bays. Some even return on almost the same day every year, and are often seen with the same individuals as previous visits. At the beginning of the 2024 whale watching season, we estimate that we have photographed over 1600 individual humpback whales!

We network and collaborate with other organizations who track whales in their regions. We often match “our” whales, which allows us to determine where they are when not in our waters. Keep reading to learn more about some of our local humpback celebrities!

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NA-7438

NA-7438, who we know as Angie, was first sighted by us in August of 2004. It was obvious that she had been severely entangled in something very heavy, with at least two ropes attached to her. The very deep notch in her tail stock and the damage done to the centre of her tail are both indicators of this type of injury. She was lucky that she was able to break free!

NA-6510

NA-6510 was sighted in two feeding areas in the western North Atlantic and the eastern North Atlantic. Movement between two feeding areas is rare and this was the first ever recorded sighting between any eastern feeding area and Canada. Both sighting histories of NA-6510 and NA-4773 add very interesting information to our knowledge of the wide-ranging movements of humpbacks in the North Atlantic.

NA-0090

NA-0090 is one of the early whales in the Humpback Whales Catalogue. It had a 40 year sighting gap with all sightings here in our area! First spotted in 1975 by Dr. Peter Beamish, it was last spotted in 2016 by Kris Prince.

NA-2007

NA-2007 had not been photographed for 35 years! He was seen in March 1974 in the waters off of Puerto Rico, and was next photographed off of Horsechops, Trinity Bay by Kris Prince on Aug 12, 2009.

He was Last spotted on August 29, 2017 in Trinity Bay by Kris Prince of Sea of Whales Adventures.

NA-4753 (Hookie)

In 2023, NA-4753, who we know as “Hookie” matched with Ireland — the first ever match from this side of the Atlantic with Ireland!

NA-4753 (Hookie) Sightings

• January 23, 2010 — Ireland, Irish Whale and Dolphin Group
• June/July 2013 — St Pierre and Miquelon, Joel Detcheverry
• January 2, 2016 — Bermuda, Andrew Stevenson
• July and August 2018 — Trinity and Bonavista Bay, Kris Prince, Sea of Whales
• June 20, 2021 — Bonavista Bay, Kris Prince, Sea of Whales
• May 28, 2024 — Trinity Bay, Kris Prince, Sea of Whales

See more photos of the whales we have identified on our Flickr site. Love to see them in person? Join us for an adventure — Book now!