CC2CV - Cape Clear to Cape Verdes

From Cape Clear to Cape Verdes, in search of Port na bPucai

and the Irish Humpback Whales

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The humpback whale is one of the most popular and enigmatic of all creatures. It is famous for breaching spectacularly from the water, and the recordings of their complex and ever-changing songs made in the 1970s became well-known throughout the world.

Historically humpbacks along with many other species of whale were hunted almost to extinction, and many populations are still greatly reduced despite nearly 50 years of protection. In the North Atlantic there are thought to be 5 or 6 feeding areas with whales faithful to their feeding grounds each year and two breeding areas. The West Indies is one well-known breeding site but the location of the other site is still uncertain. The best guess is around Cape Verde Islands, off the coast of West Africa, but despite three attempts to record whales, no humpback whale observed off Cape Verde has been allocated to a feeding ground. At the recent International Whaling Commission meeting the Committee on North Atlantic Humpback Whales agreed that the highest priority for future work was obtaining additional photographic and genetic samples from Cape Verde to find out which animals breed there.

Objective

To locate, photograph, video, record and sample humpback whales in the eastern North Atlantic, beginning on the south coast of Ireland in 2002, and then proceeding along their supposed migration route to breeding grounds in the Cape Verde Islands off West Africa in 2003.