BajaNomad

Isla Guadalupe Beaked Whales

gringorio - 12-19-2017 at 07:40 PM

Hi everyone,

The final campaign video from my last gig with Sea Shepherd was finally posted to youtube. This campaign was in support of Cuvier's Beaked whale research at Isla Guadalupe, some 220 miles, more or less, southwest of Ensenada. My role was drone operator. The science team had a very successful mission and spotted quite a few pods over the three weeks we were at the island.

Sea Shepherd Isla Guadalupe Beaked Whales

woody with a view - 12-19-2017 at 08:07 PM

Coolio!

Pacifico - 12-19-2017 at 08:47 PM

Nice! Did you see them have any interactions with the white sharks there?

gringorio - 12-19-2017 at 08:52 PM

Quote: Originally posted by woody with a view  
Coolio!


I thought so too! :bounce:

gringorio - 12-19-2017 at 08:56 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Pacifico  
Nice! Did you see them have any interactions with the white sharks there?


We didn't, though we did see white sharks cruising near the surface on several occasions. There are lots of elephant seals and sea lions so I suspect the white sharks were looking for them near-shore. There were also two to three shark diving boats out of Ensenada. They had shark-proof cages that the tourists would dive in while the crew dragged parts of tuna carcasses near them. They were all stationed near the shore and sea lion/elephant seal colonies...

BigBearRider - 12-19-2017 at 09:02 PM

Quote: Originally posted by gringorio  
Quote: Originally posted by Pacifico  
Nice! Did you see them have any interactions with the white sharks there?


We didn't, though we did see white sharks cruising near the surface on several occasions. There are lots of elephant seals and sea lions so I suspect the white sharks were looking for them near-shore. There were also two to three shark diving boats out of Ensenada. They had shark-proof cages that the tourists would dive in while the crew dragged parts of tuna carcasses near them. They were all stationed near the shore and sea lion/elephant seal colonies...


Awesome! Do you have a negative opinion of the Ensenada shark dives?

Mexitron - 12-20-2017 at 07:31 PM

Nice video!

elgatoloco - 12-20-2017 at 07:37 PM

:cool:

gringorio - 12-22-2017 at 08:36 PM

Quote: Originally posted by BigBearRider  


Awesome! Do you have a negative opinion of the Ensenada shark dives?


Just some observations: The shark dive operations appear to drag or place large tuna carcasses near the shark dive cages so the divers can get a good view of the sharks that are attracted. My view is this unnaturally attracts sharks close to the seal and elephant seal colonies. Sure, sharks may already be attracted to these areas, but the added attraction of tourist bait does not help the pennipeds. We also regularly picked up fresh trash from these shark-dive boats in the form of beer cans and plastic wrappers.

basautter - 12-23-2017 at 07:38 AM

Very cool! Thanks for sharing. :bounce::bounce:

shari - 12-23-2017 at 07:51 AM

what a great project you participated in...as usual wonderful photography! I especially liked the educational program they did on the Island. It is nice to see Sea Shepherd sharing resources with researchers. I also appreciate your observations of the shark dive industry.

Thanks so much for sharing this...would you mind if I share the link to the Cetal Fauna facebook page & Alisa Schuman in San Diego?

gringorio - 12-31-2017 at 05:33 PM

Quote: Originally posted by shari  
Thanks so much for sharing this...would you mind if I share the link to the Cetal Fauna facebook page & Alisa Schuman in San Diego?


Glad you enjoyed it! Yes, please feel free to share the video on Cetal Fauna.

Happy New Year!

Whale-ista - 12-31-2017 at 08:45 PM

Amazing, educational & beautiful- thanks for posting!

How do you recruit people for these research programs?
Are they all students/investigators or do you need volunteers to help as well?

gringorio - 1-14-2018 at 01:09 AM

In this case, Sea Shepherd had already made arrangements with the biologists as they did for prior expeditions. So the biology positions were determined by the biologists themselves.

If you're interested in crewing/volunteering on the R/V Martin Sheen or other Sea Shepherd ships, you can fill out an application here as I did:

Sea Shepherd Crew Application

[Edited on 1-14-2018 by gringorio]

bajamary1952 - 1-14-2018 at 11:45 AM

By chance are you on the John Paul DeJoria patrolling here in San Felipe Bay. I see it every day when I'm camping at Campo Turistico No. 1.
By the way, there is a Vaquita Sanctuary built to the north of the Campo which people told me is vacant. Also someone in the bay in front of the Campo is trying to farm totoaba so I wonder how successful that has been.

gringorio - 1-15-2018 at 09:54 PM

Quote: Originally posted by bajamary1952  
By chance are you on the John Paul DeJoria patrolling here in San Felipe Bay. I see it every day when I'm camping at Campo Turistico No. 1.
By the way, there is a Vaquita Sanctuary built to the north of the Campo which people told me is vacant. Also someone in the bay in front of the Campo is trying to farm totoaba so I wonder how successful that has been.


I'm not... I'm scheduled to return to the Farley Mowat in early February. I'm not familiar with the totoaba farm you mention, but there's this: Totoaba Farming

Here's a video I took of the empty vaquita pen by San Felipe, not the same as the vaquita refuge:

Vaquita Pen

gringorio - 1-15-2018 at 10:06 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Pacifico  
Nice! Did you see them have any interactions with the white sharks there?


We didn't, but we did see a few white sharks cruise by our ship, just under the surface. Pretty cool!