The Oceania Project

Established in 1988 by Trish & Wally Franklin,
The Oceania Project is a non-profit research
organization dedicated to the conservation and
protection of whales, dolphins and the oceans.

The first phase of a long-term study of the
Australian Humpback Whales has been
the major work of The Oceania Project.

This research continues to be made possible
by individuals who participate in The Oceania
Project's Internship Program.

To date, more than 1,300 interns have
joined the annual whale research expeditions.

Research Programs

Presently, there are five ongoing research
programs. One of which is a Photo Identification
survey commenced in 1992 to provide data for
the study of the behavior, social dynamics and
ecology of the Australian Humpback Whales.

Trish Franklin's observations and photo-id data
have already made a significant contribution
to documenting the recovery of the Australian
Humpbacks following their near extinction
due to commerical whaling in Antarctica.

Trish has taken and analysed over 40,000
Photo Identification data images. Her Fluke
Catalogue consists of over 3,000 individuals,
the largest digital data archive on Humpbacks
in the Southern Hemisphere.

This research has enabled Trish to document
the life histories of nearly 600 individual
Humpback Whales; many of whom we have
come to know extremely well as they migrate
annually up the east coast of Australia.

Information obtained from these research
programs adds to the body of knowledge
about Humpback Whales and also directly
contributes to the Australian Cetacean
Management and Monitoring Program.

The Humpback Icon Project

To celebrate the annual return of the Humpback
Whales, fifty Australian communities are
participating in the Humpback Icon Project.

Each of these communities has adopted a
known individual Humpback Whale from
The Oceania Project's Fluke Catalogue.

We kindly ask every community on Planet Earth
to adopt a Humpback Whale.

Whale Songlines

Humpback Whales travel in an unending cycle of migration between their birthplace in the inter-reef Lagoon of the Great Barrier Reef and Antarctica along the eastern coastline of Australia.

Their world is comprised of vast stretches of ocean where sounds emitted by the Humpback Whales can be heard over great distances.

Dr. Roger and Katy Payne were the first scientists to recognize that the unique sounds made by Humpback Whales were in fact conscious, complex evolving songs.

They found that the songs varied markedly from year to year and that "new variations are a learned trait which evolves".

The Humpback 'Songlines' repeat in cycles from anywhere between nine and twenty seven minutes. Individual Whales have been documented as singing continuously for up to twenty three hours.

Typically, the Songline begins in the high frequencies and descends to the lower frequencies as the cycles progress.

The Humpback Songlines are transferred from year to year and evolve in a similar fashion to the verbally-transmitted tribal lore of Aboriginal cultures from where the term Songlines is derived.

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