The coast is coming alive again with spectacular displays of breaching humpback whales as thousands make their way north after a summer of feeding in Antarctic waters, toward the sub-tropical waters of the Great Barrier Reef to breed.

Hunter photographer Melissa New captured the acrobatic display of a group of juvenile whales between Blacksmiths and Redhead Beach while on a whale watching tour earlier this week.

The sight of younger whales off the coast heralds the early stages of the annual migration, with adults following the youngsters up the coast typically between April and June.

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Commercial whaling, which began in Australia shortly after European colonisation and continued until 1978, had devastated whale numbers after southern right and blue whales became scarce and hunters began targeting humpbacks on the east coast killing thousands.

But a permanent ban on whaling introduced at the end of the 1970s and, scientists posit, favourable environmental conditions resulting in an abundance of food, whale numbers have been steadily increasing over the past few decades.

Now, it's estimated around 35,000 whales make the voyage of around 10,000 kilometres, the sight of which injects around $53 million into the Port Stephens tourism economy annually.

Frank Future, a whale watching tour operator at Port Stephens, said this week that the number of people keen to get up close to the whales has bounced back after the pandemic severely interrupted last year's season.

"Our numbers have been pretty steady. There's plenty of people coming up from Sydney," he said.

"Port Stephens is probably the most visited location outside of Sydney at the moment."