Research and long-term monitoring are essential to achieving the Sanctuary’s primary goal of protecting humpback whales and their habitat in Hawai`i. Although past research efforts have made significant advances in characterizing and monitoring humpback whales and their habitat, many unanswered questions and unknowns concerning habitat requirements, population size, distribution and dynamics, threats and impacts, and other important biological and ecological parameters remain.
Research efforts funded or coordinated by the Sanctuary focus on the Sanctuary and its surrounding area as well as other areas in the Pacific. Efforts are also made to collaborate with researchers working in other parts of the humpback whale’s range around the world.
Learn more about the Sanctuary's research program
Find out about other groups conducting permitted humpback whale research in the sanctuary.
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