Whales of South Georgia Be Part of the Story

Welcome to the Resource Page for Expedition Staff, Passengers, and anyone interested in contributing to whale research and conservation in South Georgia.

The Wild Water Whales project studies the recovery of baleen whale populations after the intense whaling period during the 20th Century. We have several projects, including Sustained Monitoring of Whales in South Georgia.

Every whale seen in South Georgia has a story that spans oceans and decades. Because of this, every photo or sighting shared to HappyWhale or ORCA OceanWatchers becomes part of the recovery story.

Understanding that expedition staff have so many demands on their time while onboard, we hope these resources will make it easy to access information and share when you are on a South Georgia trip.

Click on the links below to find out more information about:

HappyWhale:

HappyWhale

Whale Photo-Identification guide:

Whale photo ID guide South Georgia

ORCA OceanWatchers:

ORCA OceanWatchers

 South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands Marine Protected Area:

GSGSSI Sustainable Use Marine Protected Area

The project is very grateful to the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands for providing significant support and to the funders: Darwin Plus, the Blue Belt Initiative, South Georgia Heritage Trust, and Friends of South Georgia Island.

Recent papers:

Weir, C. R., S. J. Fernández, J. A. Jackson, A. Miller, F. Sucunza, H. W. Slesser, A. N. Zerbini (2024) Movements and behaviour of southern right whales satellite-tracked in and beyond a subantarctic archipelago wintering ground Endangered Species Research 55: 229-245. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01371

Nisi, A. C., H. Welch, S. Brodie, C. Leiphardt, R. Rhodes, E. L. Hazen, J. V. Redfern, T. A. Branch, A. S. Barreto, J. Calambokidis, T. Clavelle, L. Dares, A. de Vos, S. Gero, J. A. Jackson, R. D. Kenney, D. Kroodsma, R. Leaper, D. J. McCauley, S. E. Moore, E. Ovsyanikova, S. Panigada, C. V. Robinson, T. White, J. Wilson and B. Abrahms (2024) Ship collision risk threatens whales across the world’s oceans. Science 386 (6724): 870-875 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adp1950

Rand, Z. R., Branch, T. A., Jackson, J. A., (2024) High historical movement rates of Antarctic blue whales on Southern Ocean feeding grounds estimated from Discovery mark data Endangered Species Research 55: 109-128. https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01361

Biuw, M., Lindstrøm, U., Jackson, J.A., Baines, M., Kelly, N., McCallum, G., Skaret, G., Krafft, B. A. (2024) Estimated summer abundance and krill consumption of fin whales throughout the Scotia Sea during the 2018/2019 summer season. Scientific Reports 14, 7493. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-57378-3

Kennedy, A. S., E. L. Carroll, A. N. Zerbini, C. S. Baker, M. Bassoi, N. A. Beretta, D. L. Buss, S. Calderan, T. Cheeseman, M. A. Collins, P. Costa-Urrutia, P. Ensor, K. Groch, R. Leaper, P. Olson, C. Passadore, F. G. Riet-Sapriza, E. Vermeulen, F. Vilches, A. G. Wood, J. A. Jackson (2023) Photo-identification and satellite telemetry connect southern right whales from South Georgia Island (Islas Georgias del Sur) with multiple feeding and calving grounds in the southwest Atlantic. Marine Mammal Science. https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.13089.

Sremba A. L., Martin A. R., Wilson P., Cypriano-Souza A. L., Buss D. L., Hart T., Engel M. H., Bonatto S. L., Rosenbaum H., Collins T., Olavarría, C. Archer, F. I. Steel, D. Jackson, J.A., Baker, C. S. (2023). Diversity of mitochondrial DNA in 3 species of great whales before and after modern whaling. Journal of Heredity 114(6): 587-597. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esad048

Jackson, J. A., A. S. Kennedy, C. C. G. Bamford, I. Hart, S. Martin, D. MacDonald, M. M. Moore and E. L. Carroll (2023). Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) return to Cumberland Bay, South Georgia one century after the peak of whaling. Marine Mammal Science. https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.13050.

Bamford, C. C. G., Kelly, N., Herr, H., Seyboth, E., Jackson, J. A. (2023). The recovery of Antarctica’s giants – baleen whales. Antarctic Environments Portal. Published 2nd Feb 2023. https://doi.org/10.48361/edgj-pp83

Calderan, S. V., T. Dornan, S. Fielding, R. Irvine, J. A. Jackson, R. Leaper, C. M. Liszka, P. A. Olson, M. A. Collins (2023). Observations of southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) surface feeding on krill in austral winter at South Georgia. Marine Mammal Science 39(4), 1306–1312. https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.13025

Derville, S., et al. (2023) Long-term stability in the circumpolar foraging range of a Southern Ocean predator between the eras of whaling and rapid climate change. Proceedings of the National Academy of the USA. 120 (10) e2214035120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2214035120

Viquerat S., Waluda C. M., Kennedy A. S., Jackson J. A., Hevia M., Carroll E. L., Buss D. L., Burkhardt E., Thain S., Smith P., Secchi, E., Santora, J. A., Reiss, C., Lindstrøm, U., Krafft, B. A., Gittins, G., Dalla Rosa, L., Biuw, M., Herr, H. (2022). Identifying seasonal distribution patterns of fin whales across the Scotia Sea and the Antarctic Peninsula region using a novel approach combining habitat suitability models and ensemble learning methods. Frontiers in Marine Sciences. 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1040512

Buss, D. L., Hearne, E., Loy, R. H. Y., Manica, A., O’Connell, T. C., Jackson, J. A. (2022) Evidence of resource partitioning between fin and sei whales during the twentieth-century whaling period. Marine Biology. 169:150. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-022-04131-x

Baines, M., Jackson, J. A., Fielding, S., Warwick-Evans, V., Reichelt, M., Lacey, C., Pinder, S., Trathan, P. N. (2022) Ecological interactions between Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) and baleen whales in the South Sandwich Islands region – Exploring predator-prey biomass ratios. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers. 189:103867. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2022.103867

Bamford, C. C. G., Jackson, J. A., Kennedy, A. K., Trathan, P. N., Staniland, I. J., Andriolo, A., Bedrinana-Romano, L., Carroll, E. L., Martin, S., Zerbini, A. N., Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) distribution and movements in the vicinity of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Marine Protected Area (2022). Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography. 198:105074. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2022.105074

Marcondes, M. C. C., T. Cheeseman, J. A. Jackson, A. S. Friedlaender, L. Pallin, M. Olio, L. L. Wedekin, F. G. Daura-Jorge, J. Cardoso, J. D. F. Santos, R. C. Fortes, M. F. Araújo, M. Bassoi, V. Beaver, A. Bombosch, C. W. Clark, J. Denkinger, A. Boyle, K. Rasmussen, O. Savenko, I. C. Avila, D. M. Palacios, A. S. Kennedy and R. S. Sousa-Lima (2021). The Southern Ocean Exchange: porous boundaries between humpback whale breeding populations in southern polar waters. Scientific Reports 11(1): 23618. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-02612-5

Baines, M. E., N. Kelly, M. Reichelt, C. Lacey, S. Pinder, S. Fielding, E. Murphy, P. N. Trathan, M. Biuw, U. Lindstrøm, B. A. Krafft, J. A. Jackson (2021). Population abundance of recovering humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) and other baleen whales in the Scotia Arc, South Atlantic. Marine Ecology Progress Series doi:10.3354/meps13849. Dataset associated with this publication: https://doi.org/10.5285/5F1E349B-6665-4617-9BF7-EE5C8CBCDD54

Murphy, E. J., et al. (2021). Global Connectivity of Southern Ocean Ecosystems. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 9(454). https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.624451