Humpback propeller injuries rise along Australia's east coast — SkimNews
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- WWF Australia gathered images of humpback whales with propeller injuries including slash marks on a calf last month in Hervey Bay, Queensland, and a June drone image off Sydney's Bondi Beach showing a whale with exposed red flesh.
- Australia's east coast humpback population has rebounded from fewer than 300 in the 1960s to between 40,000 and 50,000 migrating annually, with modeling suggesting numbers may peak and plateau this year.
- The International Whaling Commission passed a resolution Friday to work globally on reducing vessel strikes, which it labeled a "priority concern," according to WWF global lead Chris Johnson.
- Rebecca Dunlop of the University of Queensland said propeller injuries appear on whales' backs and rears, "suggesting they are surfacing as the boat propeller goes past and over their back."
- Australia has more than 970,000 registered boats, with over half a million in Queensland and New South Wales, while one in 10 Australians hold a boat license.
- A female humpback known as "bladerunner" has carried distinctive propeller slashes on her back and tail off southern New South Wales for more than 20 years.
- Dr. Raphael Mayaud of Griffith University noted a strike need not be fatal — losing part of the fluke can impair swimming efficiency, with knock-on effects on migration, feeding and reproduction.
Why it matters: The whales' dramatic recovery from 300 to 50,000 now puts them in busy coastal waters shared with 970,000+ registered Australian boats, yet the IWC admits most strikes go unseen and unreported — policy built on incomplete data risks chronic welfare damage to a celebrated species whose propeller scars can persist for decades.
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