Off the coast of Lahaina, researcher Meagan Jones Gray, Ph.D., and her associates are on the lookout for humpback whales. Humpbacks come to the islands every year around this time to breed and the waters off the coast of Maui are a hotbed for research.
Jones Gray, the executive director of the nonprofit Whale Trust, is leading a study across the Pacific Basin to better understand why humpback whales sing.
But this trip also means something more to her. It's the first time she’s been out for research on the organization's new boat, Makana.
Whale Trust used to have three boats, two they used for research and an older boat they kept in storage. Both of their operating research vessels were moored in the Lahaina harbor the day the August wildfire swept through.
“I would say we're one of the lucky ones. I mean, we only lost boats,” Jones Gray said.
“You know, it's significant to our organization and to the work that we do. But we also recognize that there's so many people in our ohana and our community that lost so much more.”
Jones Gray said they decided to name their new boat Makana to acknowledge support from the community.
“I think the name of the boat Makana, to me, is about just the way the community is coming together and supporting each other in any way we can,” she said.
Out on the water, Makana easily speeds through the choppy waves. The boat is a beautiful baby blue single haul that the organization purchased thanks to a generous donor.
Aside from inaugurating the research vessel, one of the Jones Gray’s goals for the day is to find and record what’s known as a singer.
“A singer is generally a lone male whale that produces a series of sounds that repeat over time that we describe as a song,” Jones Gray says. “So humpbacks are probably the most well-known for their humpback whale song. And one of the things that we study is the function of that song. In other words, why they sing.”
Whale Trust research associate and Ph.D. student Haley Robb Spears has also joined the day's expedition. Robb Spears is doing her own study on the hormone levels of humpback whales and breeding habits. She's also helping Jones Gray with other research.
Robb Spears readies a hydrophone to drop into the water to listen for singers. A spout just off the side of the boat indicates a possible candidate — we’re so close we can smell its fishy breath.
The whale slaps its pectoral fin repetitively on the surface of the water and we follow it as it joins two others. Robb Spears takes photos of their tails and makes notes on their behavior. This one is too active on the surface to be singing, but observation and identification are also a key part of their research.
“We'll look at all the whales that we see within one season and see if we see the same individual more than once,” Jones Gray explains. “And then we look across all the different seasons as well. So it gives us the reproductive history, their life history.”
After several hours on the water, the winds pick up and we have to head in for the day. But a few weeks later, Jones Gray follows up with some good news. They went back out on the water, and this time, she got her song.
It’s one of many songs Jones Gray has recorded over the years from Alaska to Hawai’i.
Now, she’ll continue comparing it to other songs recorded by researchers across the Pacific to unlock the mysteries of the humpback’s song.
