to Ketos Ecology’s Angola Cetacean Research pages is located on
the west coast of Africa in the south-east Atlantic Ocean
(latitude 5–17ºS), and has a coastline exceeding 1650 km length.
The area has a combination of temperate waters in the south and
tropical waters in the north, and provides a variety of habitat
types for marine fauna. is known about the marine mammal species
inhabiting Angolan waters, and until recently most information
was based on historical catches of large whales. Heavy
exploitation of whales on the west coast of Africa commenced
towards the end of the 18th century, with whalers arriving at
Angola before 1770. Between 1909 and 1916 modern shore-based and
floating whaling stations were established at Lobito, Baia dos
Elefantes, Mossamedes, Porto Alexandre and Baia dos Tigres.
Reviews of whaling records by Townsend (1935) and Best (1994)
indicate that humpback and sperm whales were the most frequently
captured species off Angola, with significant catches also of
blue, fin, sei and Bryde’s