COUNTING THE WHALES

Marine experts from around the world have gathered on North Stradbroke Island off the east coast of Australia to monitor migrating whales .

During daylight hours - and until the end of July - researchers are clustering at Point Lookout on Frenchman's Beach for scientific whale watching.

Biologists and marine mammal experts from around the world are currently completing this year's Australian East Coast Humpback Whale Survey, which is undertaken by the Cetacean Ecology and Acoustics Lab (CEAL) from the University of Queensland.

"It's an excellent spot here at Straddie," says UQ whale researcher Dr David Paton to 612 ABC Brisbane's Anne O'Keeffe.

"It's one of the best whale watch spots in the world - we're right on the edge of the migratory corridor."

Currently, whales are completing their northern migration, migrating from their feeding grounds in Antarctica up to their breeding grounds in the Great Barrier Reef.

"We're now at the peak of the migration and we're getting 100-plus whales a day coming past," says Dr Paton.

Already this season, researchers have counted more than 900 whales, and spotting them is relatively easy from the viewing platform at Frenchman's Beach.

"It's the equivalent to counting sheep come through a gate," says Dr Paton.

"We know that the bulk of the animals - over 90 per cent - are visible from land at this point on the coast."

The researchers work in teams of five to spot the whales - one mans a theolodite to record the location of the whale, one records the data, while the others act as spotters.