The Taitung County Government on Wednesday called on whale-watching enthusiasts to keep their distance from the most recently sighted pod of whales off Taiwan’s eastern coast to foster an ocean-friendly environment.
A hostel in Changbin Township (長濱) reported the sighting of two humpback whales near Taitung County’s scenic Basian Caves (八仙洞), the county government said, adding that two pods of four humpback whales were sighted off the east coast on Tuesday, with the first whales sighted near the Basian Caves and the others sighted near Jieciao (?橋).
The most recent previous sighting of humpback whales was in March 2021 off the coast of Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島).
Photo copied by Liu Jen-wei, Taipei Time
Sightings of humpback whales are considered fortuitous by the Tao people, as it is believed to precede the arrival of flying fish.
Expert Yeh Chien-cheng (葉建成) said that reports of humpback whales in 2005, 2021 and last year were singular sightings, adding that the recent sightings were not indicative that humpback whale sightings off the east coast of Taiwan were increasing year-on-year.
Only the whales’ tails were sighted near the Basian Caves, which was insufficient to tell the gender of the whales, Yeh said, adding that the photos would be uploaded to international Web sites where whale watchers and experts would hopefully be able to identify the whales and where they have been.
Yeh said he hoped to continue to record how many humpback whales travel off the coast of Taitung from February to May each year, adding that the whales were a ubiquitous sight a century ago.
The Taitung County Department of Agriculture said its application for subsidies from the Ocean Affairs Council to promote humpback whale conservation had been approved and urged county residents, as well as other whale watchers, to notify the county government of any whale sightings.
Yeh urged ships traveling in the seas near Okinawa, Taiwan and the Philippines to lower their speeds to below 10 knots if they spot humpback whales, as it is mating and breeding season for the whales.
Whale-watching ships should also keep a distance of at least 100m, he added.
The county government also called on ships to reduce speeds to below 10 knots after sighting humpback whales in front of them, and to steer away from the whales.
Whale-watching ships must not try to overtake whales, encircle them or cut through the waters between mother whales and their young, it added.
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