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Many of them head for the coasts of New Zealand and Australia where they congregate in the tropical waters of the Great Barrier Reef and Harvey Bay in far north Queensland for mating, birthing and calving.

From the end of June and early July the whales can regularly be seen along the eastern Australian coastline, where whale watching has turned into a popular pastime and lucrative ecotourism business for the winter season, which lasts until November when the humpbacks head back to Antarctica to feed on krill.

Juanita Ryder from Sydney’s True Blue Cruises said this week they have been taking up to 100 people a day – including many tourists from the UK and Europe – for a $75 (£37) boat trip outside the heads of Sydney Harbour to watch the whales as they swim past in the Tasman Sea.

At Harvey Bay in Queensland, whale watching tour operators were this week busy preparing for their annual visitors.

Jill Perry, who has run Harvey Bay Whale Watch with her husband Brian for the past 23 years, said they see on average up to 500 whales and take approximately 12,000 people on whale watching tours each season.

Another popular location for sightings is the cliffs at Cape Byron, where most of the whale group converge before moving north again.

Wally Franklin, a whale researcher and director of The Oceania Project based at Byron Bay, said the population of the migrating humpbacks is improving.

However he added the population is still only 20 per cent of what it was before the last period of commercial whaling in Australia in the late 1960s. He said by the time whaling ceased, the humpback population had been reduced to only 150 individual whales.

Mr Franklin, who later this month will head to Harvey Bay for his annual research expedition, said Migaloo’s distinctive appearance means he is an ‘ambassador’ for the humpbacks.

“His white colouring gives him special significance, and he certainly demands respect because of that,” Mr Franklin, who is producing an album of whale songs which features Migaloo’s song, said.

“And because he is so distinctive and so well known he is somewhat of an ambassador for his group of whales.

“It’s quite an extraordinary experience to be in his presence.”

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