Historic

In 1988, during the implementation activities of the Abrolhos National Marine Park, the researchers who worked in the region rediscovered a small surviving population of humpback whales, a species about which there was no formal record in Brazilian waters since the hunting ban in the years 1960. A specific line of research on this subject was then developed, initially by the Abrolhos Center, an institution that supported various activities in the Park.

With the dissolution of the Abrolhos Center, the Baleia Jubarte Project started to be executed autonomously by a pair of pioneers in research, documentation and conservation actions of the species in Brazil, Márcia Engel and Enrico Marcovaldi. Supported by a small group of enthusiasts, and obtaining scarce resources for fieldwork, they were able to structure a study and protection program for Brazilian humpbacks that continues today. In 1996, the Baleia Jubarte Institute was created to provide institutional support for the execution of the Project, and this year the work started to be sponsored by PETROBRAS Petróleo Brasileiro S / A, in a successful partnership that continues today.