Humpback Whales in Australia: Seasons and Rules

Dive Julian Rocks in the middle of winter and, while you are watching the grey nurse sharks, there is a fair chance you will hear whales you never see. Long moans and rising cries drift in from the blue, and on a good day the song carries through the entire dive. The singers are male humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), part of a migration that moves tens of thousands of whales up and down both coasts of Australia every year.

It is early October, and on the east coast the traffic is now heading south. Mothers with young calves are working their way back towards Antarctica, often closer to shore and in less of a hurry than on the trip north, while in Western Australia others are resting in Exmouth Gulf. For divers and snorkellers that means real odds of an encounter, and a set of rules that is stricter, and more varied from state to state, than many people realise.

## Humpback whales at a glance

Mature humpbacks are 15-18 m long and can weigh up to 40 tonnes, with pectoral fins up to 5 m long. Their heads, jaws and fins are studded with knobbly tubercles, and the shape and black-and-white pattern under each tail fluke is unique, which is how researchers tell individuals apart.

Humpbacks are baleen filter feeders. They feed mainly on Antarctic krill in the Southern Ocean, then migrate north in winter to mate and calve. Australia has two largely separate populations: a west coast population that breeds between North West Cape (Exmouth) and the Kimberley, and an east coast population that breeds in the Great Barrier Reef region. Gestation takes about 11.5 months, and calves stay with their mothers through their first year.

## When and where to see them

- **New South Wales:** Whales head north from around May and June and come back south from around August to November. Numbers seen from the coast peak in late June and July. - **Queensland:** Humpbacks move north along the coast between May and July and turn south in July and August. They use the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park from May to September to court, mate and calve. On the way south, about a quarter of the population enters Hervey Bay, where the main whale watching window runs from August to October. - **Western Australia:** From June the west coast population passes Ningaloo on its way to breeding grounds off the Pilbara and Kimberley. On the return trip, mothers and calves rest in Exmouth Gulf, and whales can be seen along the Ningaloo Coast until early November.

## Hearing whale song underwater

The long, complex songs are produced by males during the breeding season and migration. Nobody knows exactly why they sing, though a mix of courtship and territorial display is one suggestion. Research from the University of Queensland adds a twist: all the males in a population sing the same song at any one time. The song shifts gradually from year to year, and every few years it is replaced outright by a new, simpler song in what researchers call a cultural revolution.

You do not need to see a whale to hear one. NSW's official tourism guide describes mid-winter dives at [Julian Rocks](https://scubadownunder.com/dive-sites/julian-rocks) as accompanied by whale song, at a site better known for grey nurse sharks, [leopard sharks](https://scubadownunder.com/blog/leopard-sharks-in-australia) and [manta rays](https://scubadownunder.com/blog/diving-with-manta-rays-in-australia). Further south, divers at [Montague Island](https://scubadownunder.com/dive-sites/montague-island) are told to listen out for whale song in the cooler months while they swim with the island's [fur seals](https://scubadownunder.com/blog/sea-lions-and-fur-seals-in-australia).

## The rules for swimmers, snorkellers and divers

The federal EPBC rules apply in Commonwealth waters, which typically begin three nautical miles offshore. Closer in, each state sets its own rules. The common thread is a 100 m buffer before anyone gets in the water.

- **Commonwealth waters:** You must not enter the water closer than 100 m to a whale or approach closer than 30 m. If a whale approaches you, you are not in breach, but you must move slowly and must not touch it or swim towards it. The national guidelines add that nobody should swim with calves, pods containing calves, feeding whales, or disturbed, injured or entangled whales. - **Queensland:** A person in or entering the water must not be within 100 m of a whale, and boats must stay 500 m from humpbacks that are more than 90% white, such as Migaloo. In the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park you must not enter the water within 100 m of a whale or approach closer than 30 m, and in the Whitsundays Whale Protection Area boats must stay 300 m away. - **New South Wales:** Swimmers, snorkellers and divers may enter the water no closer than 100 m to a whale and must stay at least 30 m away, including from calves. For a mostly white whale the distance is 500 m. - **Western Australia:** Outside licensed tours, swimming with, feeding or touching whales is not permitted, and if a whale approaches you must keep 100 m away.

One rule applies directly to divers: under the national guidelines, and in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and NSW, underwater scooters are classed as prohibited vessels alongside jet skis and must stay at least 300 m from a whale.

## Licensed swim-with-humpback programs

Getting closer than the standard rules allow is only legal on an authorised program.

**Ningaloo, Western Australia.** In-water humpback tours began as a trial in 2016, run by [whale shark](https://scubadownunder.com/blog/whale-sharks-in-australia) tour operators in the state waters of Ningaloo Marine Park and the Muiron Islands. From 2024 it became a permanent industry of 15 licensed operators, overseen by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA). Under DBCA's management program, licence conditions ban swimming with small calves (less than half the size of the accompanying whale), require a spotter aircraft to check for calves in a mother and calf protection zone, cap time with any whale or pod at 60 minutes, and allow only one swimmer group within 30 m of a resting whale. During the trial, operators generally finished by the end of October. DBCA points visitors to the Ningaloo Visitor Centre to find a licensed tour along [Ningaloo Reef](https://scubadownunder.com/dive-sites/ningaloo-reef).

**Hervey Bay, Queensland.** A trial began in 2014 and, after three incident-free years, the program was made permanent in 2017. It operates inside Great Sandy Marine Park, where commercial whale watching is limited to 20 authorities. When researchers studied the industry (published in 2021), free swimming was not allowed: swimmers held a mermaid line no more than 20 m long or sat on a submerged platform, no more than 10 people including guides could be in the water, nobody could enter within 100 m of a whale or move towards it, and no swims were allowed once a calf had been identified.

**Sunshine Coast, Queensland.** The east coast's swim-with-whale industry began off Mooloolaba in 2013. Before booking, ask the operator which permits it holds and how it places swimmers in the water.

## Are humpback whales dangerous to swimmers?

Humpbacks do not hunt people; they strain krill and small schooling fish. The danger is size and power. The national guidelines warn that risks to swimmers include injury and possible death from forceful interactions, and DBCA's risk assessment rates swimming with humpbacks as an inherently dangerous activity, citing the risk of being struck by a whale or a vessel.

Peer-reviewed research on the Hervey Bay industry notes that swimmers in Western Australia, Réunion Island and Tonga have suffered broken bones, bruises and scratches, generally from pectoral fin swipes and tail thrashes, and that incidents have occurred around mothers and calves. In August 2020 a woman on a Ningaloo humpback tour was flown to Perth with chest injuries after being hit by a whale's tail, [the ABC reported](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-03/humpback-whale-injures-swimmer-on-ningaloo-reef/12519042).

Queensland's warning signs of a disturbed whale include sudden dives, frequent changes of speed or direction, altered breathing and tail slaps. If you see them, the encounter is over.

## A conservation comeback

By 1962 commercial whaling had cut the east coast population to roughly 200-500 whales and the west coast population to 800-1,000. Most commercial whaling of humpbacks ended in 1963, and both populations have since grown at close to the maximum biologically plausible rate. The east coast population was estimated at 24,545 whales in 2015, and by 2022 the Threatened Species Scientific Committee found both populations close to, or greater than, their estimated pre-whaling levels and still increasing.

That recovery saw the humpback deleted from the Vulnerable category of the EPBC Act in February 2022. The IUCN lists the species as Least Concern. Humpbacks remain protected: under the EPBC Act it is an offence to kill, injure, take, trade, keep, move or interfere with a cetacean. The pressures have not gone away, including vessel strike, entanglement in fishing gear, shark control equipment and marine debris, and underwater noise. Giving every whale its legal space keeps that comeback on track.

## Sources

- [Australian National Guidelines for Whale and Dolphin Watching 2017 (DCCEEW)](https://www.agriculture.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/aust-national-guidelines-whale-dolphin-watching-2017.pdf) - [Humpback Whale Listing Advice, Threatened Species Scientific Committee](https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/species/pubs/38-listing-advice-26022022.pdf) - [Rules for watching marine mammals (Queensland Government)](https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/plants-animals/animals/discovering-wildlife/watching-wildlife/watching-marine-mammals/rules-for-watching-marine-mammals) - [Whale, dolphin and dugong watching regulations (Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority)](https://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/about-us/legislation-and-polices/whale-dolphin-dugong-watching-regulations) - [Approach distances for whales, dolphins and dugongs (NSW Environment and Heritage)](https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/animals-and-plants/native-animals/approaching-marine-mammals-in-nsw/approach-distances-for-whales-dolphins-and-dugongs) - [Whale migration: The facts (NSW National Parks)](https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/get-inspired/stories/whale-migration-the-facts) - [Nyinggulu (Ningaloo) Coast visitor guide (DBCA)](https://exploreparks.dbca.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2024-06/nyinggulu-ningaloo-coast-visitor-guide.pdf) - [The Behavioural Impacts of Commercial Swimming With Whale Tours on Humpback Whales in Hervey Bay (Frontiers in Marine Science)](https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.696136/full)

Header photo: A humpback whale breaching off Nelson Bay, New South Wales, during the southern migration (26 September 2019). by Paul Balfe, [CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Humpback_breaching_-_Flickr_-_PaulBalfe.jpg).