Eden’s Sapphire Coast Marine Discovery Centre and the National Parks and Wildlife Service will team up these school holidays, to offer the only shore-based whale watching service on the South Coast.
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The initiative is the brain-child of SCMDC manager Kerryn Wood, who was inspired by a similar program she conducted 20 years ago in Byron Bay.
“It was called Roving Ranger and it was very popular,” Ms Wood said on Monday.
“We had baleen to show people, photo albums, and trigonometry equipment to measure distance to whales. People loved it.”
Ms Wood will introduce the concept to Eden this month, to run over the school holidays.
“Based at Rotary Lookout, Eden, during August, September and October, we will help you spot and identify whales as they migrate along the East Coast,” Ms Wood said on Monday.
“We will teach you how to locate a whale on the horizon, identify different types of whales, and learn about their energetic behaviors such as tail slapping, pec slapping and breaching.”
The marine centre encourages BYO binoculars, but will have spares on hand to lend out, with many other free giveaways including brochures, kids’ activities and tourist information.
“With around 45 different types of cetaceans in our waters, we will help you find humpbacks, southern right whales, dolphins, maybe even minke whales,” Ms Wood said. “You may even be lucky to spy the elusive orca.”
Teaming up on the initiative is the NPWS, with NPWS discovery coordinator Barbara Allgaier thrilled to be involved.
“We will bring along our Discovery Van, which contains whale bones and other equipment,” Ms Allgaier said on Monday.
“All sightings will feed into the Wild About Whales website, which is a great resource for Citizen Scientists to help map the movement of whales, and contribute to science.”
Weather permitting, the service will be available at Rotary Park from 10am to 12pm on the Thursdays of August 25, September 1, 8, 15, Tuesday September 20, Thursday September 22, Tuesday October 4 and Thursday October 6.
Ms Wood said it’s a free activity and there is no need to book a place. Her only bit of advice is to dress warmly.
“As far as I know this is the only shore-based whale watching activity on the Far South Coast,” Ms Wood said.
“If it’s successful in Eden, we may extend it to other locations as well.”
For more information call SCMDC’s Kerryn Wood on: 6496 1699 or NPWS’ Barbara Allgaier on: 6495 5000
