With 416 individuals observed, the 2024 humpback whale watching season is in the top 3 of the best years since Globice recorded the cetaceans to be encountered around Reunion Island.
2024, a great year for whales in Reunion. To mark its annual review of the season, the NGO Globice Réunion made public on Wednesday November 26 the official census of humpback whales observed in Réunion waters.
The analysis of more than 5,200 photo identifications of humpback whale tail fins, thanks to its partnership with the Californian company Happywhale, allowed Globice to count 416 unique individuals this year.
This figure, which could still vary slightly, places 2024 “in the top 3 of the best seasons in Reunion, confirming the upward trend observed for 20 years now, despite strong annual variability”specifies the association.
2024 follows 2022 with 430 identified whales, but is still far from the record of 2023, an “extraordinary” season during which… 1,156 different whales came near the coast of Reunion!
With this honorable figure, 2024, however, confirms the place of Reunion as an important breeding area for humpback whales in the Indian Ocean. A status which requires, recalls the NGO, “to redouble conservation efforts to limit the impact of new threats weighing on these animals.”
Globice also thanks the contributors to the Kodal participatory science program, who helped identify 42% of these individuals. 58% were carried out by the scientific and volunteer teams of Globice Réunion.
