A Whale Catalogue Built From Tourist Photos on the Turks Bank

by Turks & Caicos Islands Whale Project · HQ 🇹🇨 Turks and Caicos Islands

#marine-protection #education #photography

0whalesIndividual humpback whales in the TCI catalogueas of 2023-09-30 · may be outdated

0kmRound-trip migration documented between Iceland and the Turks and Caicosas of 2023-09-30 · may be outdated

0whalesReturning mothers identified on the Turks Bank in 2025as of 2026-04-01

The Turks & Caicos Islands Whale Project, founded in December 2021 by researchers Katharine Hart and Cathy Bacon with the TCI Department of Environment and Coastal Resources and Deep Blue Charters in Grand Turk, photographs the fluke of every North Atlantic humpback that visits the shallow Turks Bank between January and April. Its Humpback Whale Catalogue held over 430 individuals by 2023, and whale-watch operators, resorts and visitors contribute photos and videos through a citizen-science programme. In 2023 it documented the first round-trip migration between Iceland and the islands, about 12,453 km in a single year. By April 2026 the team had identified 13 returning mothers from the 2025 season, and Pinball had been recorded in ten seasons between 2007 and 2026.

visit website ↗Times of the Islands: Going Deeper (April 2026) ↗Times of the Islands: A Whale of a Project (2023) ↗First documented Iceland to Turks and Caicos humpback match (J. Cetacean Res. Manage. 24, 2023) ↗

Ways to help

Get involved

tciwhales@gmail.com

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