"A new digital platform, Blue Corridors, showcases 30 years of tracking data revealing global whale migrations and mounting threats from ships, fisheries and climate change."
"Every year beginning in October, thousands of humpback whales start to leave their warm nurseries in the Eastern Tropical Pacific—an ocean stretch spanning the west coast of Mexico to the northern tip of Peru—to embark on a remarkable and hazardous journey of more than 5,000 miles to feed in Antarctica.
As they travel to the Southern Ocean they must navigate a gauntlet of obstacles, from busy shipping lanes to lost or abandoned fishing gear called “ghost nets” that drift in the abyss, posing a constant risk of entanglement. Against these odds, the whales continue to chart their course, relying on instinct and memory, the Earth’s magnetic field, ocean currents, underwater mountain ranges and other topography to reach their final destination.
Until recently, these migrations have remained largely invisible to human eyes. But a new online platform, BlueCorridors.org, brings them into focus. The digital map displays key routes—sometimes called “whale superhighways”—scientists say need more protection to ensure some of the planet’s largest whales can safely swim between breeding and feeding grounds and other important areas around the world where they socialize or nurse their young.
“You can’t protect what you can’t see, and now, we can clearly see some of the migratory corridors whales depend on,” said Chris Johnson, a marine scientist that leads the Protecting Whales and Dolphins Initiative at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which launched the platform in June. “Protecting these connections between critical habitats is essential—not only for nature, but for the people who depend on healthy oceans.”"
Teresa Tomassoni reports for Inside Climate News September 7, 2025.
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