New Research Programme - Launching Autumn 2027
ONE OF THE WORLD'S LEAST KNOWN WHALE HIGHWAYS
Every year, more than 600 pygmy blue whales make a 5,000-kilometre journey between Antarctic feeding grounds and breeding aggregations in the Banda Sea — passing through the Ombai-Wetar Strait off Timor-Leste twice annually.
This corridor crosses the Indonesian Throughflow — the largest transfer of ocean water on Earth. Despite its ecological significance, almost no long-term scientific datasets exist for this route. Population size, individual health, and the relationship between migration timing and a changing ocean are almost entirely unknown.
The Blue Highway changes that. Operating aboard S/Y Nora Simrad, our team will conduct the first systematic, multi-year survey of this corridor — combining photo-identification, drone photogrammetry, and oceanographic profiling in one integrated programme.
A newly documented sighting record in the Philippines raises the possibility that the migration extends further north than previously mapped — toward a potential contact zone with North Pacific blue whales. We are uniquely positioned to investigate.
EDGE OF THE PACIFIC
The whales leave Antarctic and sub-Antarctic feeding grounds in late autumn, travelling north through the Eastern Indian Ocean past the Australian coast, and through the narrow straits of the Indonesian Archipelago.
Our research vessel surveys the corridor through the Timor Sea and Ombai-Wetar Strait — one of the primary outlets of the Indonesian Throughflow — into the Banda Sea, covering both the northward and southward migrations each year.
A repeatedly sighted individual nicknamed "Bughaw" in the Philippines' Bohol Sea raises the question of a far longer northern reach — and whether the Indo-Australian pygmy blue whale makes contact with North Pacific blue whales at this boundary. This project is uniquely positioned to find out.
FOUR INTEGRATED QUESTIONS, ONE EXPEDITION
POPULATION IDENTITY & CONNECTIVITY: Photo-identification of individual whales via fluke and flank pigmentation, cross-referenced against catalogues in Australia, Antarctica, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines.
BODY CONDITION & CLIMATE: Drone photogrammetry to assess individual nutritional status — tracking whether warming oceans are disrupting the food supply these animals depend on.
DRONE SURVEY
OCEANOGRAPHIC PROFILING: Continuous surface temperature, salinity, and productivity measurements along the full transect — mapping the physical ocean environment across both seasonal survey windows.
NORTHERN RANGE EXTENSION: Investigating whether migration extends beyond the Banda Sea toward the Philippines and Palau — a potential inter-subspecies contact zone with North Pacific blue whales.
COME ABOARD, DO REAL SCIENCE
Paying participants sail and work alongside our research team aboard S/Y Nora Simrad, contributing directly to data collection on one of the ocean's most extraordinary migration routes. Whether you're a researcher, citizen scientist, potential funder, or simply passionate about the ocean — we want to hear from you.
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