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| Fin whale / Rorqual comú (Balaenoptera physalus) |
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| The blows of two fin whales |
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| Fin whale blow |
The Edmaktub team follow regular transects when completing their surveys, but when a fin whale is sighted they try to get a little nearer, without harassing the animal, to take a photo of its fin in order to identify it as each individual has a slightly differently shaped fin. During the day's sightings we encountered at least four animals (closer inspection of the id photos should allow the team to confirm whether the whales we saw were all different individuals).
The team use a drone to follow the whales once they have been spotted. With the camera, they can watch what the whales are doing when they are underwater, follow them and tell when they about to surface again. It is an amazing piece of technology and meant we could always be ready with our cameras to take photos when the whales appeared.
It is thought that the whales hang out in the Garraf region of the Catalan coast in order to feed, but it is not clear where they spend the rest of the year and whether they all come and go to the same areas. Perhaps some go to the Ligurian Sea and perhaps others head out to the Atlantic. The team hope that the photo-identification work they are doing will allow the whales to be recognised when they are photographed in other places.
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| Fin whale / Rorqual comú (Balaenoptera physalus) |
I have previously seen North Atlantic Right Whales off the coast of New England, but from a great distance. This was the first time I had ever seen a fin whale and to see them so closely was truly spectacular and it was a day I will never forget. At one point, a whale which we thought had moved away from the catamaran suddenly surfaced close to us and just ahead of us. Hearing its blow and seeing its back slowly curve out of the water was just fantastic. I am so grateful to the Edmaktub crew for taking me out, for explaining their work to me, for cooking me a delicious lunch and for allowing me to get up close to these amazing animals.
As well as the fin whales we also saw a sunfish (Mola mola) which is called a "peix lluna" or "moon fish" in Catalan, a striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba), jellyfish, tuna and various seabirds including shearwaters.
We arrived back to port at about 7.30pm. It was a long day to be at sea but it was truly spectacular. I'm sure that not many people living in Barcelona and the surrounding area know that they have fin whales so close to them in the spring time!
