Location: Hawaii
Pacific Whale Foundation researchers first spotted Humpback Whale #0580 in 1982 in the Maui Nui area with eight additional sightings occurring over the next 32 years. In 2014, this whale — forever now known as Eagle — was photographed by community scientist who donated the photo to the PWF Research team. The photo revealed a new scar on Eagle’s fluke that was likely the result of human interaction. PWF researchers spied this whale again in 2015 and 2019. As identifying and assessing major stressors, or threats, to whales and dolphins and developing science-based solutions to mitigate these problems is the primary goal of PWF researchers, these additional sightings are very important in better understanding their resilience to such stressors.
NMFS Permit #565