A whale's fingerprint

The Oceania Project, founded by Trish and Wally Franklin, has been instrumental to the success of the HIP.  Since 1989, Trish Franklin has been studying and photographing the East Coast humpbacks in Hervey Bay, building a database of nearly 3000 individual whales.

Distinctive markings present on the underside of the humpback tail fluke are unique to each individual. Photo identification methods that capture these markings have helped Trish to build life history data for some individuals spanning over 12 years. It is these photographs of known whales that are forwarded to respective communities and used to identify their whale icon.

Curt and Micheline Jenner (founders of the Centre for Whale Research, Fremantle) have helped to expand the HIP project to Western Australia. Curt and Micheline Jenner have used similar methods to develop a digital database of over 3000 humpback whales that have been sighted along the west coast of Australia.

Welcoming the whales
Howie Cooke of Surfers for Cetaceans has had a key role in developing the concept and artwork behind the creation of a banner to welcome the whale migration.