Overview

• The sub-adult humpback entered Sydney Harbour around 8 a.m. and prompted a temporary suspension of ferry services at Circular Quay.
• Transport for NSW Maritime vessels established a safety exclusion zone to guide the whale and prevent potential vessel strikes.
• NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service crews and marine scientists monitored the whale’s behavior and confirmed it was neither injured nor entangled.
• By midday the whale had been safely escorted through the harbour entrance and continued its roughly 10,000 km migration toward Antarctic feeding grounds.
• Increasing humpback numbers and shifting migration routes have led to more urban waterway encounters, underscoring the need for coordinated wildlife management.