Whale conservation in the Azores

Whale conservation in the Azores has an unexpected ally: ex-whalers. For over 100 years, whales in the Azores were hunted by North American ships that stopped at the islands to refuel – and then by local whalers who learned their trade from those same ships.

Whaling stopped here in 1983, after the International Whaling Commission Moratorium banned the capture of marine mammals in Portugal. You’ll find remnants of the industry all over the archipelago, including the ubiquitous stone vigias – watchtowers originally built to help whalers spot incoming prey.

While visiting whaling boats were ocean-sailing tall ships, the Azores’ whaling industry was considered largely sustainable, with local people favouring canoes and hand harpoons. Ex-whalers and vigias are a vital part of whale conservation today. The former whalers now make some of the best guides and data collectors.

“The skippers can look at the movement on the top of the water and they know what’s going on underneath,” says Amanda. “They’ll often turn around and get their camera out and you think, ‘Oh my God, something’s going to appear.’ They’ve seen it before. They’ve seen the patterns and they know the patterns… You realise how they’re reading the natural world.”

Whale watching tour operators in the Azores – including ex-whalers – have become some of the loudest voices supporting stricter regulations for the industry. They know how engine noise effects cetaceans and why sperm whale nursery groups should be protected. They, perhaps more than anyone, know about the vulnerability of whale populations – and how falling numbers impact an industry they rely on.

It’s really hard to judge whale populations. These animals like to keep conservationists on their toes by diving deep, living long lives and travelling huge distances for food and to breed. But it does seem that, on the whole, whale numbers are increasing in the Azores – and with it, the number of sightings. Whale tours are seeing very high numbers of encounters with sperm whales, fin whales, Bryde’s whales and killer whales (orca). Most tours report around a 98 percent success rate of seeing whales.

The North Atlantic right whale is the most endangered whale that swims through the Azores. Only 336 were known to exist as of 2020 – the lowest number in 20 years. Whaling decimated the population in the 19th and 20th centuries – these whales were so-named because they were the “right” whales for hunting – but these days collisions with ships, entanglement in fishing gear, habitat destruction, noise pollution and chemicals in the water are the main reasons why they’re in decline. It’s a stark reminder why whale conservation is so vital.