Dr Olaf Meynecke from Griffith University’s Coastal and Marine Research Centre led the study of a world first trial of tracking migrating humpback whales using a suction tracker, paving the way for a less invasive mechanism for future tracking studies.
Using a customised animal tracking solution suction cup tag, which temporarily adheres to the whale's skin, Dr Meynecke was able to deploy tags in the Gold Coast bay regions and track the whales in real time using a GPS tracker.
The tags, measured about 20cm long and 10cm wide, were specially designed in a hydrodynamic shape for minimal resistance, and are watertight and pressure safe to depths of several hundred metres.
Dr Meynecke said that ideally for future studies, “we would like to modify the tag so that the antennae is out of the water enough to transmit after the tag comes off the whale, and extend the tagging time and focus on resting whales in the bays to study their behaviour further."