Leave the rare humpback alone, says LI professor
By Joe Haberstroh
September 1, 2003
Paul Forestell will never forget his first encounter with the rare white whale Migaloo, who has been at the center of an international hullabaloo in recent days.
It was in 1992, when Forestell, now a professor at Southampton College of Long Island University, was working on a project about humpback whales in Australia. Forestell had seen thousands of humpbacks in the wild. He believed he knew what to expect. Then he spotted the white whale in Hervey Bay, north of Brisbane.
"I thought it would be this shoddy, scratched up whale," he says. "This thing glowed in the water. It seemed like a sacred being."
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For more than a decade, the 46-foot-long whale, the world's only documented albino humpback whale, has been a subject of fascination along the eastern coast of Australia. More than 50 sightings have been reported, although there were none for three seasons until this summer.
Forestell, of Southampton, bristled in recent days after hearing that the whale had been struck by a trimaran off Australia, though he was not seriously injured. Then pictures surfaced that had been taken by a scuba-diving photographer who authorities said had gotten too close to the animal. Migaloo had already been the prime target for the profitable local whale-watching fleet.
Forestell and other researchers applauded a decision earlier this month when Australian environmental officials declared Migaloo a "special interest" animal. The designation allows the officials to keep people away from the whale.
The action came at the request of one of Forestell's former research collaborators in Australia. But then, the same authorities announced a plan to attach a radio-tracking device to the whale in an effort to protect it. Forestell said researchers believe the device would draw more attention to Migaloo.
"They're operating like they need to manage the whale," he says. "And, they don't. They need to better manage the people."
Migaloo is estimated to be 17 years old, about half his species' normal life span. He has been seen accompanying a female whale and calf, appears in annual migrations, and is normal in most respects other than his lack of color.
Because they were hunted for so many years, humpback whales are a well-documented marine mammal. No albinos were ever noted, either by the whalers who hunted them, or the generations of scientists who have studied them, Forestell said. Scientists have identified Migaloo by his distinctively curved dorsal fin, as well as a unique bump on the left side of his head. Albinism is evidence of a genetic defect, but it is not necessarily a health problem. The animal's lack of pigment, however, may make it more susceptible to the sun's harmful rays. Migaloo has been sprouting odd welts in recent years, which Forestell surmises were caused by the sun.
Because Migaloo is so readily identifiable, he has served as a marker for whale groups and has "helped us better understand the migratory pathways of humpback whales in the South Pacific," Greg Kaufman, president of the nonprofit Pacific Whale Foundation in Hawaii, said in a statement.
It was Forestell who popularized the whale's name. After he confirmed the whale's presence in Hervey Bay in 1992, he approached Aboriginal elders and asked them what name might fit the unusual creature. They suggested "Migaloo." The name, which roughly translates to "white fella," refers to a white person who is not indigenous to Australia.
They further told Forestell that the whale, by virtue of his ghostly appearance, could be taken as a messenger from the "spirit world." Forestell says Migaloo should not be treated as a "rock star, with all the attendant attention."
Rather, he says, the white whale should be left alone.
The Whale Watch
It's only natural that the appearance of an albino whale named Migaloo near Australia would draw comparisons to a certain marine mammal featured in Herman Melville's epic "Moby-Dick.'' How they stack up:
MIGALOO
SPECIES: Humpback whale
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MOBY-DICK
SPECIES: Sperm whale
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BORN: Between 1986 and 1989
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BORN: 1851
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SIZE: 60,000 pounds
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SIZE: 120,000 pounds
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COLOR: All white
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COLOR: "Snow-white wrinkled forehead''; body streaked with white.
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NAME MEANS: "White fella'' in Aboriginal language
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NAME MEANS: Possibly adapted from Mocha Dick, a large real-life whale seen near Mocha, an island off Chile.
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ENCOUNTERS WITH BOATS: Apparently struck 30-foot trimaran off Australia Aug. 16; no injuries.
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ENCOUNTERS WITH BOATS: Destroyed fictional whaling vessel Pequod, killing all crew members except one.
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UNUSUAL CHARACTERISTICS: Rare albinism, apparently only one of its kind in world.
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UNUSUAL CHARACTERISTICS: Inscrutable, had habit of turning on pursuing whale boats and destroying them.
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STATUS: Named "special interest whale'' by Australian government.
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STATUS: Described by book: "All the subtle demonisms of life and thought; all evil...were visibly personified, and made practically assailable in Moby-Dick.''
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SOURCES: Paul Forestell, Southampton College;
The Courier-Mail, Brisbane, Australia;
"Moby-Dick'' by Herman Melville
Copyright © 2003, Newsday, Inc.
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