Great Whale Count

The annual Great Whale Count, part of Maui Whale Festival, brings volunteers together to count whales from shore as part of a long-term survey of humpback whales in Hawai‘i. This event provides a snapshot of trends in relative abundance of whales and is one of the world’s longest-running community scientist projects. 

2023 Great Whale Count events will take place in various locations on Jan. 28, Feb. 25 and March 25! If you would like to volunteer, we kindly ask that you select only ONE location for each month/date. Each Great Whale Count event is from 8AM – 12PM and volunteers must be able to participate the entire time. Mahalo! 

Partnership

Since 2019, the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary’s Ocean Count and Pacific Whale Foundation’s Great Whale Count have been conducted on the same days in January, February, and March, to collect data on whales from all the main Hawaiian Islands simultaneously. You can find the latest stats from both counts below. 

2023 Results for Great Whale Count