A total of 151 humpback whales counted by volunteers at Cape Solander at the annual whale census held last Sunday.
This compares to 86 spotted on the whale census day in 2016.
It brought the total number of whales sighted since the the official 2017 whale watching season started on May 24 to 2330.
But there was an even bigger surprise yesterday, which was a record day for the whale count: 224 whales sighted in one day, the highest ever spotted in one day since the Cape Solander whale count began, which is now in its 20th year.
Cape Solander in Kamay Botany Bay National Park was one of five National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS)-hosted locations for the national humpback whale migration census day held each year by marine mammal rescue organisation ORRCA.
Hundreds of members of the public turned out to help in the 2017 whale census day which was conducted by four Cape Solander whale count volunteers and three ORRCA volunteers.
The annual whale count is an opportunity for the public to help gather information to build a snapshot of whale movements and behaviours.
This year’s humpback whale migration will see about 30,000 humpback whales pass by the NSW coast, up from just 200 to 500 estimated to have been left in the 1960s after decades of whaling.
