Winter Whale Count for Hawai‘i and Kaua‘i

Dennis Fujimoto

THE GARDEN ISLAND

LIHUE — Vog and a high overcast of clouds greeted Sanctuary Ocean Count volunteers on Saturday, March 29th  during the third and final Sanctuary Ocean Count for 2025.

“Across the main Hawaiian Islands, weather conditions were mostly sunny paired with light winds, calm seas and some vog which was decent conditions for observing whales,” said Cindy Among-Serrao, the Hawaii Island program coordinator, contractor with the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation in support of the NOAA Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary.

“A variety of other species were also spotted during the count, including honu (green sea turtles), ilioholoikauaua (Hawaiian monk seals), mano (shark), naia (spinner dolphins), and multiple bird species such as iwa (great frigatebird), moli (Laysan albatross), koae ula (red-tailed tropic bird), nene (Hawaiian goose), manu-o-ku (white tern), and more,” Among-Serrao said.

A total of 489 volunteers gathered data from the shores of Kauai, Oahu, Molokai and Hawaii Island during the Saturday Sanctuary Ocean Count. Volunteers from Maui and Lanai, doing the Great Whale Count by the Pacific Whale Foundation, working together with the sanctuary for the seventh consecutive year, participated in the last of three coordinated whale counts between the two groups in 2025.

The volunteers collected data from 41 sites across all the main Hawaiian Islands.