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Minke whales swim with Silversonic passengers

While the humpbacks are on the way to the Great Barrier Reef, their smaller cousins, the Dwarf Minke Whales are also frequenting our warm tropical waters at this time of year.

Two playful dwarf minke whales have been captured on video swimming in close proximity to snorkellers travelling with Port Douglas dive and snorkel vessel Silversonic.

The video was captured on Saturday June 5th by one of Silversonic’s thrilled guests during the daily excursion to visit three reef sites at Agincourt Reef. The minkes approached the snorkellers while Silversonic was moored at the first reef site of the day, “The Point”.Dwarf minke whales have been sighted in our region as early as April, however according to JCU PhD candidate and minke whale researcher, Matt Curnock, 90% of minke whale sightings are during June and July and this Silversonic encounter marks the beginning of the 2010 season.

Silversonic has one of the few permits available from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to swim with dwarf minke whales, a wonderful bonus encounter at this time of year.

The voluntary approach to the vessel and swimmers by minke whales creates a unique in-water experience. Abiding by a strict code of practice, a maximum of two surface ropes are placed in the water with swimmers then positioned 3-4 metres apart for a magical, and safe encounter. The whales actually control the encounter and choose how closely they interact.

Silversonic and the Quicksilver Group support minke whale research by contributing data and sightings information to the Minke Whale Project at James Cook University in Townsville. This partnership between the tourism industry, JCU researchers and GBRMPA has been hailed as a World’s Best Practice approach to the sustainable management of swimming-with-whales tourism by several international wildlife conservation organisations.

The dwarf minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata subspecies) occurs only in the southern hemisphere, and the Great Barrier Reef provides habitat for their only known reliable aggregation in the world. Dwarf minke whales grow to a maximum of around 8m, with adults weighing around 5-6 tonnes. They have a characteristic white blaze on their flippers and shoulders, contrasting with their dark grey top color. They have two blowholes, like all baleen whales.

The dwarf minke whale is the second smallest baleen whale, and its population size and migration are still largely unknown. Minke Whale Project scientists on the Great Barrier Reef however have been able to learn a great deal about this group of dwarf minkes in recent years with help from tourism operators and visitors to the Reef, and many identified individual whales are returning to the same Reef sites each year.

Dwarf minke whales can be seen on the outer reefs of the Great Barrier Reef between April and October, with most sightings (and the best viewing time) being the June to July period.