How the Sanctuary Ocean Count works
On the last Saturday of January, February and March, volunteers at shore sites on Oʻahu, Kauaʻi, Molokaʻi and Hawaiʻi Island spend the morning counting humpback whales. The 2027 dates are January 30, February 27 and March 27. NOAA’s Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary runs the count, and you register on oceancount.org.
This site is independent and not affiliated with NOAA, the sanctuary or the Ocean Count program. This page summarizes the sanctuary’s census and behavior sheets and its site leader guide, on oceancount.org/resources.
What happens on count morning
Nine times through the morning, at 8 a.m. and every half hour until noon, the site leader scans the water for exactly 15 minutes (the results sheets call each scan a count period) and tallies each humpback at the surface, adults and calves separately. A whale already counted in that scan isn’t counted again. The last scan ends at 12:15 p.m.
The other volunteers fill in the behavior sheet, usually in pairs: one watches and calls out, the other writes. For each half hour they note how many adults and calves are in view and add a bar every time a whale breaches, slaps, blows or dives. Our behavior glossary gives the sanctuary’s definition of each behavior and what it looks like from shore.
Some sites sit on high cliffs and others on low rocks with surf. Volunteers never enter the water during the count, and the site leader can call it off if the weather turns.
Within an hour of the last scan, leaders send their tallies to the sanctuary. It posts them as preliminary data on oceancount.org’s results page: whales per 15-minute scan at each site, and an average per scan for each island.
How long before the first whale?
On Hawaiʻi Island in January and February, three out of four site-mornings from 2007 to 2026 had a whale within the first three scans (8 to 9:15 a.m.), and 87% had one by the end of the noon scan. Oʻahu and Kauaʻi sites were quicker in the same months: 89% and 95% within the first three scans. March is slower everywhere, and on Hawaiʻi Island only half of the March site-mornings had a whale by 9:15 a.m.
Show the numbers as a table
| Island, months | site-mornings | by 15 min | by 30 min | by 45 min | by 60 min | by 75 min | by 90 min | by 105 min | by 120 min | by 135 min |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaiʻi, Jan–Feb | 583 | 60% | 69% | 75% | 79% | 81% | 84% | 85% | 86% | 87% |
| Hawaiʻi, Mar | 275 | 33% | 44% | 49% | 53% | 56% | 59% | 60% | 60% | 60% |
| Oʻahu, Jan–Feb | 754 | 71% | 84% | 89% | 91% | 93% | 94% | 95% | 95% | 96% |
| Oʻahu, Mar | 359 | 56% | 71% | 77% | 79% | 82% | 84% | 86% | 87% | 87% |
| Kauaʻi, Jan–Feb | 482 | 84% | 94% | 95% | 96% | 97% | 99% | 99% | 99% | 99% |
| Kauaʻi, Mar | 226 | 67% | 80% | 83% | 86% | 88% | 90% | 91% | 92% | 93% |
How to join the 2027 count
Registration happens only on the program’s own site, at oceancount.org/registration. Each count has its own window, opening on the first Monday of that month at noon Hawaiʻi time and closing two weeks later. The table lists the 2027 windows as posted there on September 25, 2026. Register each person separately for each date, children included, and pick a site: a form without one doesn’t register you.
| Count date | Registration opens (noon HST) | Registration closes (noon HST) |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday, January 30, 2027 | Monday, January 4 | Monday, January 18 |
| Saturday, February 27, 2027 | Monday, February 1 | Monday, February 15 |
| Saturday, March 27, 2027 | Monday, March 1 | Monday, March 15 |
Each site has a volunteer limit, and the program handles large groups case by case. Questions about sites or registration go to the Ocean Count team through their contact page.
Bring a hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, water, a watch, a clipboard and pens or pencils. Binoculars or a spotting scope help but aren’t required; a beach chair or mat and rain gear are optional. Your site leader sets the meeting time, 7:30 a.m. or earlier, so you’re in place before the 8 a.m. scan.
What the count numbers mean
The sanctuary’s site leader guide says the census “does not claim to provide scientifically accurate results.” The guide describes it as a supplement to other research and a way to build awareness of the whales and of shore whale watching.
The totals in the sanctuary’s announcements add up every tally, so one whale can be counted several times: NOAA’s total of 4,325 humpbacks for the 2026 season, Ocean Count and Great Whale Count together, “may represent duplicate sightings.” To compare one count with another, use the island average per 15-minute scan. Our Ocean Count results chart that average from 2002 on, with a gap for 2005 to 2007.
Counting on Maui or Lānaʻi
Maui and Lānaʻi aren’t Ocean Count islands. Pacific Whale Foundation runs its own Great Whale Count there on the same three Saturdays, with separate registration that opens December 14, 2026 on its Great Whale Count page. Our Maui page covers how the two counts differ.