The Southern Hemisphere Blue Whale Catalogue (SHBWC) is an international collaborative effort to improve knowledge of blue whales in the Southern Hemisphere. It brings together photo-identification catalogues maintained by researchers and institutions, enabling comparisons of individual whales across regions. Specially designed software supports the sharing of catalogues, hosts multiple collections, and helps users conduct inter-regional comparisons. A majority of blue whale catalogues in the Southern Hemisphere are currently contributed to the project.

By comparing records from different regions, the SHBWC aims to support research into key questions about Southern Hemisphere blue whale populations. These include identifying population boundaries, understanding migratory routes, and developing model-based abundance estimates. The catalogue is intended for researchers and institutions working on blue whale photo identification, and contributions from these groups are welcome. Access to the system requires a username and password provided by the administrator; interested researchers can contact [email protected] to ask about the process.