Near Antarctica's South Orkney Islands, scientists recorded 1,468 individual whales of six species in just 18 days, with huge feeding concentrations of humpback and fin whales. The whaling ban is working, and the ocean is proving it.
A Century of Silence, Then This
When commercial whaling was at its peak, the waters around Antarctica's South Orkney Islands ran red. Industrial whaling cut Southern Hemisphere populations of fin and humpback whales by more than 94%, leaving the waters around the Antarctic Peninsula and the South Orkneys largely empty of great whales. By the time the International Whaling Commission moratorium took effect in 1986, the seas were nearly empty.
Then the silence held. For four decades, the whales recovered, slowly, invisibly, without fanfare.
In early 2026, a team of independent scientists including whale researcher Ted Cheeseman surveyed the waters around the South Orkney Islands. In 18 days they recorded 1,468 individual whales of six species, with huge feeding concentrations of humpback and fin whales. Sea Shepherd, whose vessel Allankay carried independent scientists to the area, called them among the largest concentrations of great whales seen since the whaling moratorium.
>> "The South Orkney Islands are like an oceanic Serengeti for whales, an under-appreciated gem."
- Ted Cheeseman, whale scientist
The Ban That Worked
The commercial whaling moratorium is one of conservation's most debated success stories, contested by Japan, Norway, and Iceland, but ultimately held. Forty years later, the evidence is in the water.
Southern Ocean humpback populations have recovered significantly. Where individuals once struggled to find mates across a vast, empty ocean, more than 10,000 baleen whales are now estimated to gather to feed around the South Orkney Islands alone.
Speed Limits for Whales
On World Ocean Day, June 8, 2026, the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO) announced a voluntary 10-knot speed limit for its member vessels around the South Orkney Islands, from 1 November to 30 May, starting with the 2026-27 season.
Vessel strikes can injure or kill whales, and slowing down lowers the risk of collisions. The decision drew directly on whale sightings logged from ships and on the new survey data.
The Ocean's Long Memory
Humpback whales can live for about 80 to 90 years. The individuals feeding at South Orkney today may have been calves when the moratorium began. They remember nothing of the slaughter. They know only the water, the krill, and the other whales beside them.
The recovery is real. The work is not finished.
_Sources: International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators, "On World Oceans Day, IAATO announces new geofenced whale area around the South Orkney Islands", 8 June 2026. Peter Hammarstedt, "Antarctica's krill fishery has a whale-sized blind spot", Sea Shepherd Global, 26 October 2026. NOAA Fisheries, "Humpback whale" species profile._