Humpback whales seen at Arcachon

FISHERMEN have posted up two videos of humpback whale sightings off the Atlantic coast near Arcachon, Gironde at the weekend.

In one, by Sébastien Périn, a whale can be seen swimming alongside a fishing boat, and the other one, by YouTube user BTony33, shows a whale leaping out of the sea several times (the jumps are at 1:20 and then several starting at about 2:33).

Une baleine à bosse au large du Bassin d'Arcachon

Mr Périn, who spotted the whale as his boat was heading out to sea, told France Bleu: “We were pleased, you don’t see them often – I’ve been fishing 14 years and it’s only the second time I’ve seen one near the coast. Unlike dolphins which we see quite regularly, whales are rare.”

Adult humpback whales measure around 13-14m long and can weigh 20-40 tonnes.

Olivier Van Canneyt of the Observatoire Pelagis in La Rochelle told Sud Ouest they get “one or two” reports of humpback whale sightings along the Atlantic coast every year but they seem to be increasing.

They are typically young whales, not yet adults, looking for favourable habitats for feeding in, he said.

He said they often go to colder north Atlantic waters for the summer before coming down the Atlantic coast to reproduce in warmer waters in late summer – and some young whales spend time in these waters exploring them.

The sightings follow two separate rare sightings of killer whales off the Brittany coast earlier in the year, which were described as exceptional by the Observatory for Marine Mammals, a network of associations monitoring sea life.

One was by a tourist who captured footage of a killer whale following a pleasure boat from the beach at Ploumanac’h, Côtes-d’Armor on his mobile phone. A day later a diver, Yannick Liscouët saw two more as he headed out to sea on his boat at Plérin in the bay of Saint-Brieuc, also in Côtes-d’Armor.

Mr Liscouët told Connexion it was a magnificent moment: “I live opposite the sea and the previous evening I saw a big black fin above the water with my binoculars which seemed too big for a dolphin.

“When I sailed out early the next morning at around 7.30 there was no doubt. I saw the huge dorsal fin, the whale came up to breathe and then dived down. I turned round and saw another big black shadow under the water.

“There were two. They gave off a sense of majestic power and at the same time they were so quiet, completely streamlined and perfectly formed for moving silently through the water.”

He said he was not frightened as despite their size (the biggest can grow to 9m) and their English name, killer whales are not dangerous to man in the wild. He had been diving in these waters since he was seven and this was his first whale sighting.

Fanny Gandolphe of the Observatory said previous sightings included two years ago in the bay at Mont Saint-Michel and two days later by a diver at the Ecréhou Islands off the coast of Jersey.

The Observatory is keen for people to send in details if they spot any type of whale, seal or dolphin to help them build up a picture of sea life. You can get in touch with them on their website, by email or phone and there is also a smartphone application.