More migrating whales are getting recorded along Australia's east coast, but the rising numbers are also resulting in more of the animals dying from entanglements or strandings this year, according to wildlife authorities and whale-watching operators.
"It's thought that this year there'd be anywhere from 33,000-35,000 humpback whales coming down the coast," the ABC news channel quoted major whale-watching operator Simon Millar as saying on Sunday.
The whales migrate north in May and return around September toward warmer waters in the Southern Hemisphere.
A huge humpback whale spotted at sea near Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia. /VCG Photo
"We're seeing more and more whales every year," said Millar, who runs his charter out of New South Wales state capital Sydney and coastal town Merimbula.
"We found a pod of 50 to 60 killer whales one day off Sydney," he said.
But the recovering whale population is also fueling an increase in the number of cetaceans caught in entanglements - with marine debris and industrial activity - and carcasses found, state parks and wildlife service officer Susan Crocetti told the channel.
"As the population recovers - we're talking about 33,000 humpback whales - we're going to expect there to be some mortality of those animals," she said.
Parks officers recorded about 20 incidents of entangled whales off the state coast in this season alone.
A small boat is dwarfed by a huge humpback whale as she swims alongside it. /VCG Photo
The rise in whales stranded on beaches is another reasonable indicator of a rising population, marine park veterinarian Duan March told the channel.
"We have been to a few dead animals on the beach and those numbers are increasing, and I think what we're seeing is an increasing number of strandings based on an increasing number of animals," he said.
(Cover: A huge humpback whale swims alongside a small boat. /VCG Photo)