Maui leads in whale count sightings for islands statewide. The photograph was taken in South Maui waters. The Maui News/Gary Kubota

Maui led Hawai’i with 307 sightings during the Pacific Whale Foundation’s Great Whale Count on the last Saturday in March.

The count tallied 220 sightings on Oahu, 28 on the Big Island, 122 on Kauai, 11 on Molokai and 26 on Lāna’i. The total across all of the islands in four hours Saturday was 714.

The number of humpback whales in Hawai’i showed a peak of 1,947 sightings during a four-hour window in February, according to Pacific Whale Foundation chief scientist Jens Currie.

The counts in January, March and May were done on the last Saturday of the month on various parts of six islands including Maui.

The foundation said that across the main Hawaiian islands, weather conditions were mostly sunny during the count paired with light winds, calm seas and some vog.

A variety of other species were also spotted during the count including honu (green sea turtles), ʻilioholoikauaua (Hawaiian monk seals), manō (shark), naiʻa (spinner dolphins) and multiple bird species such as ʻiwa (great frigatebird), mōlī (Laysan albatross), koaʻe ʻula (red-tailed tropicbird), n�”n�” (Hawaiian goose), manu-o-kū (white tern) and more.

The ocean counts promote public awareness about humpback whales, the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary and shore-based whale watching opportunities.

Site leaders tally humpback whale sightings and document the animals’ surface behavior during the survey, which provides a snapshot of humpback whale activity from the shorelines of Kaua’i, Oʻahu, Molokai and Hawai’i islands.

Ocean Count is supported by the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation.

Both counts take place three times during peak whale season annually on the last Saturday in January, February and March.

Preliminary data detailing Sanctuary Ocean Count whale sightings by site location are available at OceanCount.org/resources/. Additional information is available at HawaiiHumpbackWhale.noaa.gov.

The Pacific Whale Foundation’s Great WhaleCount data can be found at PacificWhale.org/research/community-science/ with additional information at MauiWhaleFestival.org.

The Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary protects humpback whales and their habitat in Hawaiian waters where they migrate each winter to mate, calve, and nurse their young.