Let’s talk about Whale-Watching

This blog is dedicated to resolving the frequently encountered misconception on the part of our guests around the term “Whale-watching”. Generally it refers to the mainly recreational activity of observing whales in their natural habitat. Now to be clear; the word “whale” includes both baleen whales and dolphins. It is the English term for the Latin word Cetacea, a family that includes the baleen whales (Mysteceti) and the toothed whales (Odontoceti).

While our services as a whale-watching company are primarily recreational, we also use our data to support local and international scientists. Data from whale-watching companies can prove very useful to scientists studying the community compositions, behavior and migratory patterns of the animals. So, in a nutshell, we contribute to the monitoring of these species, granting us a watchdog-function of sorts. According to local biologists, Madeira boasts a total of 26 confirmed marine mammal species and unconfirmed sightings of 3 additional species. The list is growing and the contributed data from whale-watching companies continues to gain leverage.

We tend to encounter toothed whales around the archipelago, a large family of predatory, social, toothed marine mammals that communicate and thrive using their unique bioacoustics. This family includes all species of dolphins and porpoises, beaked whales and the enormous Sperm whales. Every so often, particularly during the summer months, we have sightings involving baleen whales from the family Balaenopteridae, also known as rorquals. This family includes the Blue whale, the Fin whale, the Humpback whale, the Sei whale and the Bryde`s whale. All the mentioned species, particularly the latter two, have been sighted around the archipelago in small aggregations, in pairs or as single animals. Baleen whales filter-feed using their comb-like baleen plates aligned along their upper jaw and use their vocal chords to communicate underwater.

We know…everybody wants to see a whale. Believe me, the Lobosonda team is equally overjoyed when a baleen whale decides to approach and surprise us with a leap or a breach. When you hear the term “Whale-Watching” the classic association is the lifted fluke picture or a large baleen whale leaping playfully near the vessel. While we do experience such spectacles during several tours, we also encourage our guests to appreciate every kind of marine encounter. In the midst of current environmental issues, such as severe plastic pollution, overfishing, prey depletion, noise pollution, climate change and live capture, we are actually very lucky to still witness such marvelous creatures thriving in their natural surroundings.

by Paula Thake