Southern right whales aggregate in Geographe Bay during their breeding and calving season. Geographe Bay is also part of the migratory corridor for humpback and blue whales traveling southward with their young from breeding grounds to their feeding grounds.
There are many questions we need to answer, we require more knowledge on, or knowledge specific to certain species or populations that we don’t yet have. More knowledge on the following questions, for example, is needed:
- – How long are calves dependent on their mothers.
- – How often do they lose contact? (we have seen some lonely calves…)
- – What are the sounds produced by mothers and their calves to communicate?
- – What is the rate of growth of calves and how does this relate to the loss in the body condition of the mothers?
- – What is the reproduction rate?
- – How does body condition and migratory timing to and from feeding and breeding grounds relate to climatic conditions (including climate change)
