Fossil fuel companies have set their sights on uncovering potential gas and oil deposits within the bight. The process would involve using seismic blasting to explore beneath the sea floor, just beyond the boundaries of where mother right whales raise their newborn calves. By sending out powerful, explosive bursts of compressed air every ten seconds, companies can detect the presence of hidden gas and oil deposits. The blasts are strong enough to penetrate rock and their deafening echo can travel thousands of miles underwater. You could imagine then how alarming and dangerous this would be for mother whales, who are already on high alert protecting their calves.

As soon as we made it to the shores of Western Australia, our team took to the sea with Scott as our guide to meet the whales. Right whales across the ocean were once relentlessly targeted by the whaling industry for their high oil and baleen content. Their slower pace, tendency to hug the coast, and the fact that they float after being harpooned made them the ideal catch for whalers, or the “right whale to hunt.” By the turn of the 20th century, their numbers were so low that an international ban was called in the 1930s. Despite the ban, right whales continue to slip closer to extinction.