A whale's tail is used to identify it. This is the tail of Bayou, a whale that frequents the area. c/o Amy Tudor, Mariner Cruises Facebook Page.
It’s not just tourists arriving in Yarmouth by sea.
A number of whales have been spotted in areas around Yarmouth County, most notably at Port Maitland Beach.
A humpback whale was spotted last week at Port Maitland Beach and images of it started surfacing online. They caught the attention of whale-watching guide and photographer with Mariner Cruises Amy Tudor, who then tried to ID the whale.
She says the underside of a whale’s tail is like a fingerprint and is unique to every whale.
“By us capturing the underside of the tail and submitting to centralized locations, we can help, ID and track the movement of these whales right up and down the sea.”
Tudor uploaded the photo of the whale spotted at Port Maitland Beach to a private group for whale lovers, finding a possible match from a man living in Quebec who whale watches in the Dominican Republic.
“These humpback whales actually will swim down south for birthing and breeding routines. We thought we had a match to a Dominican whale but there wasn’t quite enough detail in the original photo to make a 100% match.”
Tudor says it’s a group effort to track and ID whales. She’s able to access catalogues and private databases about whale sightings, but adds the public can track whales on HappyWhale.com
She spoke with us for Y95’s The Weekender which is now available as a podcast on forums like Spotify and Apple Podcasts. You can also find it on our website.
Crewmembers for Mariner Cruises. From left, Owner/Operator Penny Graham, Captain Shaelyn Graham, Amy Tudor, Haylea O’Neil and Bethany Welch. c/o Amy Tudor.
