Images which become quite a symbol when we know what is happening beyond the Baltic Sea, with the detention of Paul Watson. A group of underwater photography enthusiasts had the chance to document the passage of a white humpback calf off the coast of the Tonga Islands in the Pacific. Jono Allen and Matt Porteous – one of the British royal family’s favorite photographers – were near the Vava’u archipelago when the young mammal appeared before their eyes. “ Her luminous white body moved gracefully in the deep blue, protected by her mother, like a living legend, an angel of the ocean. It was more than a simple meeting: a privilege, a fleeting glimpse of a world that few people have the chance to observe,” confides Kate and William’s friend.
The photographers spent many minutes contemplating the animal before immortalizing it, in photos and videos. According to them, the young female was playful and even very curious. “ She swam directly towards us and briefly interacted with us in the water. However, her mother and the male escort whale she was with were very protective. It seems that they too are very aware of its uniqueness and the increasing attention it is receiving [de la part des observateurs] », says Jono Allen.
The Australian photographer nicknamed her Mãhina, which means “moon” in Tongan. “Her complexion is so luminous and so white that she looked like a full moon shining underwater,” he describes, before continuing: “She was so luminous that she illuminated the water a fluorescent blue at every time she surfaced, which was unlike anything I had ever seen in the water before.”
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Survival threatened
White humpback whales are extremely rare. According to local media, this is the first specimen observed in Tonga. Its bright white color, it probably owes it to its leucism, a characteristic which is defined by a partial absence of pigmentation (albinism is marked by a total absence of melanin). The first signs suggest that Mãhina would be leucistic, because its eyes are black, unlike albino animals which generally have red eyes.
Jono Allen and Matt Porteous fear that the young female’s bright color will inevitably attract predators. “Although she is indescribably beautiful to look at, her pigmentation also makes her extremely visible, both to humans and to potential predators,” concedes Jono Allen who is nonetheless relieved to see that his parents are very protective. .
Long threatened by commercial hunting, humpback whales once seemed to be doing better. But now, it is the effects of climate change that could threaten their survival in the North Pacific. Between 2012 and 2021, the number of humpback whales fell by 20% in this area, from 33,000 individuals to just over 26,600, according to the largest photo-identification dataset ever created for a large mammal marine studied by a team of 75 scientists, published in a study published last February in the journal Royal Society Open Science. Remember that Japan is, with Norway and Iceland, one of the last three countries to still practice commercial whaling.
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