Minke Whale - Whale-human Interaction

Whale-human Interaction

Due to their relative abundance, minke whales are often the focus of whale-watching cruises setting sail from, for instance, the Isle of Mull in Scotland, County Cork in Ireland and Húsavík in Iceland, and tours taken on the east coast of Canada. Minke whales are frequently inquisitive and engage in 'human-watching'; however older minke whales are not as inquisitive as younger ones. In contrast to spectacularly acrobatic humpback whales, minkes do not raise their flukes out of the water when diving and are less likely to breach (jump clear of the sea surface). This, combined with the fact that minkes can stay submerged for as long as 20 minutes, has led some whale-watchers to label them 'stinky minkes'.

In the northern Great Barrier Reef (Australia), a swim-with-whales tourism industry has developed based on the June/July migration of dwarf minke whales. A limited number of reef tourism operators (based in Port Douglas and Cairns) have been granted permits by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to conduct these swims, given strict adherence to a code of practice, and that operators report details of all sightings as part of a monitoring program. Scientists from James Cook University and the Museum of Tropical Queensland have worked closely with participating operators and the Authority, researching tourism impacts and implementing management protocols to ensure these interactions are ecologically sustainable.

Minke whales are also occasionally sighted in Pacific waters, in and around the San Juan Islands of Washington State.

In 2010, a minke whale swam for two hours with a surfer who was stand-up paddle surfing from Santa Catalina Island to Dana Point in Southern California. The whale swam close to her, rolled around repeatedly alongside her, and blew bubbles beneath her board.