There are believed to be about 2, 000 blue whales in the northeast Pacific, and about 10, 000 worldwide.
Two companies in town offers tours in search of these peaceful creatures, spying minke whales, humpback whales and sometimes blue whales.
Their pioneering study of blue whales in this area reveals its significance as breeding and feeding grounds for the largest creature on earth.
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This brings humpbacks, minkes and king-of-the-sea blue whales steaming through the area, as well as chatty white belugas, which otherwise are seen only in the Arctic.
In the 17th century the waters around southwest England were home to blue whales, as well as large numbers of porpoise, dolphins, and blue and thresher sharks.
The largest animals on Earth, blue whales can grow up to 90 feet long, still a fraction of the size of cargo ships that can stretch 1, 200 feet.
Research director Jaime Jahncke said the number of blue and others whales is four to five times greater than in 2004, increasing the likelihood of ship strikes.
Nerys Sanders, coastguard watch assistant at Swansea Coastguards, said staff at the base near Mumbles lighthouse first saw about 60 or 70 of the dark blue-grey whales about half a mile from the shore.
The first two phases of Navy-funded testing (on blue, finback and gray whales) started in fall 1997 off California.
The peninsula is a haven for wildlife: humpback whales in the crystal blue water, elephant seals beached on Pleneau Island, squawking adelie, chinstrap and gentoo penguins, and wheeling cormorants, petrels and terns.
The waves conceal whales, dolphins and sea turtles, and the western beaches are covered with armies of blue-backed soldier crabs that rear up on their hind legs and flee in panic at the approach of a human foot.
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