PCCS has tracked the life history of individual humpback whales since the 1970s. Our Gulf of Maine Humpback Whale Catalog contains detailed data on more than 2,500 individuals that we have identified in this region. We collect and curate information such as individual age, gender, relatedness, reproduction, behavior, distribution and human impacts.

The Gulf of Maine Humpback Whale Catalog is a powerful tool that we use to increase scientific knowledge and facilitate the wise management of this endangered species. Read our scientific publications for examples of how these data have been used. We also regularly share our data for bona fide research, conservation, management and education.

The catalog depends on our directed research cruises that span the feeding range of the Gulf of Maine population, from the waters off Nantucket to Nova Scotia. We also collaborate with whale watching companies and other organizations that collect data on local segments of this population. On a larger scale, we share information with the North Atlantic Humpback Whale Catalog (NAHWC), which studies humpback whales across all of the feeding and breeding grounds in the North Atlantic.

Gulf of Maine Humpback Whale Photo-ID Guide, 2012 version, update pending 942 individuals, 67 pages, 60MB** Individual humpback whales are identified by the pigmentation and shape of their ventral flukes (tail). A Gulf of Maine humpback whale photo-ID guide is available to the whale watching community at the link above. This guide is intended for educational use and includes many of the whales seen in recent years. This file is updated periodically. To ensure accurate and up-to-date information, please share the link to this page and not the file itself.

**Note: due to the large size of this file, the download time may be several minutes. You can right click on the file and select "Save target as" to save the file for offline viewing. You need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to open these files. Download it here.

We thank the following for sharing information with us: Allied Whale, Bar Harbor Whale Watch, Blue Ocean Society, Brier Island Whale and Seabird Cruises, Captain John Boats, Cape Ann Whale Watch, Dolphin Fleet, Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station, New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance, Quoddy Link Marine, Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, Whale Center of New England and others.