Humpback Comeback

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, commercial whaling practices devasted whale populations worldwide. In a report as part of Call to Earth, CNN follows renowned nature photographer and conservationist Chris Fallows as he documents the resurgence of humpback whales on the South African coast.

Through global protections and dedicated conservation methods, humpback whale numbers have increased steadily. Fallows is best-known for his images of great white sharks and says he hardly ever encountered big groups of humpbacks when he was first out photographing sharks. He explains, “These super groups of whales have really only been around for probably the last 10 years or so. Before that, they were extremely difficult to find, and in recent times, as their population has started to recover, we’ve ever increasingly started seeing big, big groups of these whales, which has been truly incredible. It’s one of the great, positive news stories on the ocean.”

Though the population has rebounded since the international ban on commercial whaling, new dangers have emerged, with climate change, entanglement in fishing gear, and ship strikes now some of the biggest threats.

Fallows says he hopes his work will motivate further conservation efforts, telling CNN, “Obviously, one of my key objectives is to create works of art that are amongst the best in the world. But equally, I think my primary objective is to inspire people, and I think that is a way to connect people with the ocean and hopefully create more ambassadors to make sure that they, like me, love these animals and realise the importance of conserving them.”

CNN joins Fallows and his wife, author and naturalist, Monique as they get up close to a super group. The pair have special permits from the South African government to be within 300 metres of the majestic creatures. Monique describes the intricacies of the job, “I would say maybe 70% of my attention is making sure that I’m not going to impact an animal in any way in terms of where the boat is. So, I’m extremely aware that is the number one focus when we are out there.”

Their days in the water are also dedicated to collecting data to share with environmental authorities like the Department of Forest, Fisheries and the Environment and capturing photo IDs of individual whales for a conservation project called Happy Whale that helps track their movements non-invasively.

Fallows has spent the better part of three decades photographing some of the planet’s most legendary and imperilled wildlife, but the comeback of the humpbacks paints a different picture, “They are incredibly important animals, and for me, the humpback is really the phoenix that gives all species that have turned to ashes hope that they too could rise again.”