Whale sightings off south-west coast delight keen watchers

Warrnambool's Jill Stephens was delighted when she saw a whale near Lake Gillear, Warrnambool, on Sunday.

As she was leaving the lake she saw the whale, believed to be a Southern Right, breach multiple times in the distance.

"It was a fair way away but it was possibly a Southern Right by the look of it," she said.

"Usually around now you see them down in Portland, when they start reaching there you know they're on their way.

"It's getting exciting, I'm hoping there's lots around this year. In 2017 we had a big year, and saw up to 14 whales at Logans Beach!"

Portland photographer Nita Tonkin snapped two groups of two Humpback Whales at Cape Nelson on Sunday.

The whales migrate from sub-Antarctic waters where they feed, to the southern coastline of Australia in the cooler months of the year to breed.

People typically see them off the south-west coast from May until October, when they rest in waters off Portland, Port Fairy, Apollo Bay and the only established nursery in south-east Australia at Warrnambool's Logans Beach.

The whales are listed as endangered under the Commonwealth Government's Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

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