Australia's east coast humpback whales: Satellite tag-derived movements on breeding grounds, feeding grounds and along the northern and southern migration.

At the time these tracks were generated, these were the first satellite tag deployments intended to deliver long-term, detailed movement information on east Australian (breeding stock E1) humpback whales. The tracking data revealed previously unknown migratory pathways into the Southern Ocean, with 11 individuals tracked to their Antarctic feeding grounds. Once assumed to head directly south on their southern migration, five individuals initially travelled west towards New Zealand. Six tracks detailed the coastal movement of humpback whales migrating south. One tag transmitted a partial southern migration, then ceased transmissions only to begin transmitting eight months later as the animal was migrating north. Northern migration to breeding grounds was detailed for 13 individuals, with four tracks including turning points and partial southern migrations. Another 14 humpback whales were tagged in Antarctica, providing detailed Antarctic feeding ground movements.Broadly speaking, the tracking data revealed a pattern of movement where whales were at their northern limit in July and their southern limit in March. Migration north was most rapid across the months of May and June, whilst migration south was most rapid between November and December. Tagged humpback whales were located on their Antarctic feeding grounds predominantly between January and May and approached their breeding grounds between July and August. Tracking distances ranged from 68 km to 8580 km and 1 to 286 days. To the best of our knowledge, this dataset compiles all of the long-term tag deployments that have occurred to date on breeding stock E1.