The Habitat of Humpback Whales

Northern Hemisphere

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National Marine Sanctuaries

In the North Atlantic, there are two separate wintering populations, one in the West Indies, from Cuba to northern Venezuela, and the other in the Cape Verde Islands and northwest Africa. During summer, West Indies humpbacks congregate off New England, eastern Canada, and western Greenland, while the Cape Verde population gathers around Iceland and Norway. There is some overlap in the summer ranges of these populations, and West Indies humpbacks have been documented feeding farther east. Whale visits into the Gulf of Mexico have been infrequent but have occurred in the gulf historically. They were considered to be uncommon in the Mediterranean Sea, but increased sightings, including re-sightings, indicate that more whales may colonize or recolonize it in the future.

NordNordWest, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE

The North Pacific has at least four breeding populations: off Mexico (including Baja California and the Revillagigedos Islands), Central America, the Hawaiian Islands, and both Okinawa and the Philippines. The Mexican population forages from the Aleutian Islands to California. During the summer, Central American humpbacks are found only off Oregon and California. In contrast, Hawaiian humpbacks have a wide feeding range, but most travel to southeast Alaska and northern British Columbia. The wintering grounds of the Okinawa/Philippines population are mainly around the Russian Far East. There is some evidence for a fifth population somewhere in the northwestern Pacific. These whales are recorded to feed off the Aleutians, with a breeding area somewhere south of the Bonin Islands.
An isolated, non-migratory population feeds and breeds in the northern Indian Ocean, mainly in the Arabian Sea around Oman. This population has also been recorded in the Gulf of Aden, the Persian Gulf, and off the coasts of Pakistan and India.

Southern Hemisphere

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Gregory "Slobirdr" Smith, CC BY-SA 2.0

In the Southern Hemisphere, humpback whales are divided into seven breeding stocks, some of which are further divided into sub-structures. These include the southwestern Atlantic (stock A), the southeastern Atlantic (stock B), the southwestern Indian Ocean (stock C), the southeastern Indian Ocean (stock D), the southwestern Pacific and Oceania (stocks E and F), and the southeastern Pacific (stock G). Stock G breeds in tropical and subtropical waters off the west coast of Central and South America and forages along the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, the South Orkney Islands, and to a lesser extent Tierra del Fuego. Stock A winters off Brazil and migrates to summer grounds around South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. Some stock A individuals have also been recorded off the western Antarctic Peninsula, suggesting an increased blurring of the boundaries between the feeding areas of stocks A and G.

Stock B breeds on the west coast of Africa and is further divided into Bl and B2 subpopulations, the former ranging from the Gulf of Guinea to Angola and the latter ranging from Angola to western South Africa. Stock B whales have been recorded foraging in waters to the southwest of the continent, mainly around Bouvet Island. Comparison of songs between those at Cape Lopez and the Abrolhos Archipelago indicate that trans-Atlantic mixings between stock A and stock B whales occur. Stock C whales winter around southeastern Africa and surrounding waters. This stock is further divided into C1, C2, C3, and C4 subpopulations; C1 occurs around Mozambique and eastern South Africa, C2 around the Comoro Islands, C3 off the southern and eastern coast of Madagascar, and C4 around the Mascarene Islands. The feeding range of this population is likely between coordinates 5°W and 60°E and south of 50°S. There may be overlap in the feeding areas of stocks B and C.

Gary Bembridge from London, UK, CC BY 2.0

Stock D whales breed off the western coast of Australia and forage in the southern region of the Kerguelen Plateau. Stock E is divided into E1, E2, and E3 subpopulations. E1 whales have a breeding range off eastern Australia and Tasmania; their main feeding range is close to Antarctica, mainly between 130°E and 170°W. The Oceania stock is divided into the New Caledonia (E2), Tonga (E3), Cook Islands (F1), and French Polynesia (F2) subpopulations. This stock's feeding grounds mainly range from around the Ross Sea to the Antarctic Peninsula.