Hi justin, glad our love for the Island and its aquatic residents shines through! 

there are many reasons a whake would not make the journey, most of the time the whales fate is not sealed. There is no food source in the hawaiian waters to sustain a large population but the odd whale can find enough to survive. They are usually just tired and need longer to recover, sometimes making the trek later in the year. But you are right some are either approaching the end ir ar injured or unheathy and in such cases they may just be waiting forcthe inevitable, unless a whale gets back to the feeding grounds at somepoint to fatten up, the prognosis is not good!

we should state its pretty rare, most years all the whales leave the waters and head for the feeding grounds, its very rare to see whales out if season 

Thanks

Steve

And the second thing,  I was wondering if a whale stays back, will it be ok that it did not make the journey or???

Thank you again and have a wonderful day.   

Hi Bill, 

Yeah, the Whale’s arrival every winter is a great reason to head to the Aloha State! 

We never really thought of that, the two non-contiguous States both linked by the Whales Migration! Pretty cool!

The Population is still growing, although it’s nearly back to Pre Whaling Levels, The world population is still down (80,000 from 125,000). We do not believe a serious resumption of hunting will occur, certainly not on this population. There is just not the desire for whale products anymore. Whale Oil is a thing of the past and Whale meat is not a desired product in the States. I also hope we have learned the lesson of the past and just do not want to harm these intelligent majestic Creatures. 

However, there are still other threats! Pollution, Climate Change, Habitat Destruction, Fishing Entanglemt, Ship Collisions, and Marine Noise (Whales are very sensitive to sound) are amongst the most serious theats! 

None of these should seriously affect the thriving Population in Hawaii/Alaskan Waters, Apart from the unknown effects of ClimateChange, these could seriously affect the food supply in the warming Northern waters and who knows what effect this could have on Whale Populations! That’s the thing with Climate Change, it could actually have a positive effect on the Whales, we don’t really know!

Steve

You mentioned the population has grown back from 1,600 to now about 20,000.  Will that trend continue or will restrictions on whaling be eliminated?