Conserving and Photographing the Largest Creatures on Earth

They're enormous in size and loom large in our imagination. You don't have to read The Book of Jonah or Moby Dick to hold them in awe. Now drones are helping us appreciate whales even more—and helping with conservation.
droning tips nature Jul 29, 2024
Aerial view of a Southern right whale and whale calf swimming in the Indian Ocean off Western Cape, South Africa. Photo credit: Anton Crone
Aerial view of a Southern right whale and whale calf swimming in the Indian Ocean off Western Cape, South Africa. © Amazing Aerial Agency / Anton Crone

By Anton Crone

 

 

Since 2010, Ocean Alliance, the world’s first large whale research and conservation non-profit organisation, has been partnering with engineers to develop drones (above, on, and below the water) to research and help conserve whales in a non-invasive manner. Drones can monitor whales in distress, entangled in fishing nets for example, and send photos to first responders so that they are better equipped to help disentangle them. Drones have even been flown over whales to collect and study DNA, viruses and bacteria from whale blows. If you’ve ever been on a boat alongside a whale when it blows, you’ll understand why these drones are called “Snot Bots.”

 

Various organizations now use drones to conduct research on body conditions and behaviour of whales. The Endangered Wildlife Trust looks at aerial drones as a cost- effective and non-invasive way to help protect the species and assess the impact of climate change on sensitive marine ecosystems.

 

In simplest terms, consumer drones give us an opportunity to admire these marvelous mammals from a unique perspective, an aerial window into the lives of the world’s largest organisms.

 

The State of Whales Today

 

 

Aerial view of Great white sharks feeding on a humpback whale in Indian Ocean, Western Cape, South Africa. © Amazing Aerial Agency / Anton Crone

 

Weighing as much as 100 tonnes and reaching 30 meters in length, blue whales are the largest creatures ever to have existed on Earth, and they still roam the oceans. Isn’t it wonderful to know that we share the planet with the most stupendous beings of all time? But as big as they are, blue whales are rarely seen due to the impact that commercial whaling has had on their populations.

 

In the southern hemisphere where I live, species like humpback and southern right whales are half the size of blue whales, but more easily seen as they migrate north from Antarctica in winter. Estimates vary - it’s a big ocean after all - but southern right whale populations are showing a slow increase since international protection in 1935 when over-exploitation nearly eradicated the species. Its name has its origin in hunting, it being the ‘right’ whale to target, presumably because it is quite a sluggish species making it easier to track and kill. Approximately 3,000-5,000 southern right whales currently survive in the southern hemisphere. The north Atlantic right whale sadly only numbers about 360 individuals.

 

 

The humpback whale is faring better. From a low point of around 15,000 individuals globally, the population has rebounded to an estimated 84,000 mature individuals, the majority of them in the southern hemisphere. However, progress is slow. New studies find that threats to whales today come in the form of climate change which drastically affects habitat and availability of prey. Whales are also regularly entangled in fishing gear, or struck by vessels. Ocean noise created by shipping, drilling and blasting for fossil fuels also affects whales through behavioral disruption, impacts on hearing and increased stress.

 

Despite the challenges that they face, humpback and southern right whales continue their annual migration. During the southern hemisphere winter, they head north from the cold Antarctic to the warmer waters off the coast of Africa where they give birth, raise their calves and mate before returning to the Antarctic waters to feed on krill in the summer. As they migrate, sightings of both species are common along South Africa’s coast, particularly along the Cape coast between January and October. One particular town called Hermanus has spectacular sightings, particularly of southern right whales which rear their calves in Walker Bay and other sheltered waters nearby. These are essentially whale nurseries with fabulous ocean views, especially from a drone.

 

The Challenges and Rewards of Photographing Whales

 

 

 

Photographing whales with a drone is a lot like fishing: The mystery of what lies beneath, the uncertainty and anticipation. You may spot a whale on the surface of the water as you watch from the shore or from a boat, but once you send up a drone it may have submerged well beyond your vision. If it does remain on the surface, if it’s a long way off you’ll have a challenging time lining your drone up with your subject, especially if you have a wide angle lens like the one on my Mavic 2 Pro. In a vast expanse of water it can be like searching for needle in a haystack, only the haystack is blue and forever in motion. Binoculars are a good idea for spotting, even better if you have a friend who does the spotting for you and guides you to the right location. Unlike fishing, with a drone your time is limited by the charge left in your battery, and it becomes a race against time. It’s like speed dating with whales.

 

Once you have it in your frame, you have just a few minutes to photograph this natural wonder. It may linger on the surface, blowing water that catches the sunlight in rainbows. If it’s a southern right mother with a newborn, you’ll enjoy extraordinary moments of affection and curiosity as the calf kneads at its mother’s side, or swims closely around her, finding the limits of its abilities without venturing too far. You may, if you are lucky, photograph the full breach of a humpback as it launches its entire body out of the water before crashing back in a pillow of white surf. Whatever you find, just a few minutes is enough to awaken your sense of awe in these creatures.


 

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