BajaNomad - Scientists fret over missing gray whales

Scientists fret over missing gray whales

SUNDOG - 10-24-2006 at 09:54 AM

TO SEE THE VIDEO CLICK HERE
http://www.livescience.com/php/video/player.php?video_id=gre...

Scientists fret over missing gray whales
Creatures failed to turn up at their traditional North Pacific feeding grounds

Updated: 6:42 p.m. PT Oct 23, 2006
Finding one 30-ton gray whale in the vast North Pacific might be like looking for a needle in a haystack, but finding 17,000 shouldn't be. But that's the situation researchers faced while searching for the creatures in their traditional summer feeding grounds last season—and the whales' absence has them concerned.

"We've just come off a second summer in Canada in which we've had next to no whales show up," said William Megill of Bath University in the UK. "Not only in our little area, but apparently throughout the traditional feeding areas from Washington on up north. We have no idea where the whales all went this year."

gray whales usually spend their summers feeding in the waters of the North Pacific, from northern California to the Bering and Chuckchi Seas, because these areas are rich in plankton. But lately these regions haven't seemed to provide enough food for the whales.

"We know that the Bering Sea has taken a beating over the last ten years, and that productivity has plummeted there, forcing the whales into new habitat," Megill said today.

But researchers haven't yet found where these new feeding grounds might be.

"Presumably they found other feeding areas, but they will have had to look hard," Megill said. "This suggests they may be quite lean this winter, particularly as this is now the second summer they've had to deal with this problem."

Megill plans to study the impact of these changed feeding patterns on the whales as they spend the winter in the warm lagoons off Baja California, where they breed and give birth to their calves.

The 6,000-mile journey between their summer and winter homes is one of the longest known mammal migrations on the planet.

Generally, the whales rarely feed in their winter breeding grounds in and around Baja, but researchers observed them trying to feed from the lagoon bottoms last winter.

"How much they were getting out of the mud they were sifting, I don't know," Megill said. "But there was a lot of it going on, more than I'm used to seeing. We're expecting to see the animals feeding even more in Mexican waters this year."

Although they were removed from the endangered species list in 1994 because populations had recovered after nearly being hunted to extinction, the gray whales still face an uncertain future.

The research is sponsored by Earthwatch, an organization that supports scientific fieldwork and offers volunteers the chance to participate.

© 2006 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

Bruce R Leech - 10-24-2006 at 01:07 PM

Maybe they got tired of The research sponsored by Earth watch, an organization that supports scientific fieldwork and offers volunteers the chance to participate. and found a new place where people will leave them alone.

DENNIS - 10-24-2006 at 01:12 PM

I think I saw Al G dancing with a whale at Hussongs the other night. I bet he took her home.

Taco de Baja - 10-24-2006 at 01:13 PM

^^^
Exactly!
I remember as a kid being able to see lots of whales migrating along the coast from the beach. Then the whale watching boats showed up and essentially chased the whales so far off-shore that you only rarely see them from the beach anymore.

Bruce R Leech - 10-24-2006 at 01:15 PM

if people really care about the whales they would leave them alone.

shari - 10-25-2006 at 01:25 PM

Strange article...they say the gray whale feeding grounds are rich in plankton but gray whales don't eat plankton...they are bottom feeders and consume huge quantities of amphipods, ghost shrimp, crab larvae, and my personal favorite, herring spawn on eel grass!! Rich feeding grounds are found where fresh water run off, creek mouths etc. are abundant which in turn supports the bottom critters grays love. Clear cut logging has destroyed many of these small creeks on the west coast and industrial pollution also threatens feeding grounds as wastes fall to the bottom and congregate there where the whales feed.
Whales are creatures of habit and they are extremely tolerant and will return to traditional feeding grounds even when there is alot of boat traffic...but enough is enough and they WILL change areas if there is too much harassment. But even feeding grounds that have become very toxic like Bellingham Bay, they still feed there and become sick puppies. Old habits die hard. I have seen far more under nourished whales these last few years than ever before which is no doubt caused by pollution, habitat destruction and plain harassment...hard to eat when you are being chased around by dozens of boats! I have witnessed a return of a behavior that grays developed when they were being relentlessly hunted in the lagoons. Gray whales are famous for this unusual behavior called evasive breathing where a whale will hide in a kelp bed or rocks and stay underwater just lifting its nostrils above the surface a tiny bit to breathe and instead of breathing normally where you see an exhale of condensed air (spout), the whale slowly opens it's nostrils and lets the air out bit by bit so as not to attract attention...thus no telltale spout! Smart eh! When hunting ceased, so did this behavior, but I began to see it in the feeding grounds off Vancouver Island when the whale watchers got out of control and the whales just couldn't get any eating time in. Interesting...sad but true.

abreojos - 10-27-2006 at 06:35 AM

If you have been to Luguna San Ignacio, you know they are very respectful with the whales. There is only a small part of the lagoon set aside for observation. The rest is off limits, even to kayaks. Mothers will lift their babies up to be pet and they will even follow you when your time limit expires and you depart the observation area. Unfortunately, this is not the case everywhere, but it is a sad fact of over human population, competition and greed. It is a truly remarkable experience. One you'll never forget. Maybe Canadians & Americans need to enforce the same regulations?

Missing Whales

MrBillM - 10-27-2006 at 08:34 AM

IF there are fewer Whales migrating, I am SURE that it has to be a result of something the Bush Administration did or didn't do.

Nancy Pelosi will bring the Whales back.

Taco...

Tomas Tierra - 10-27-2006 at 09:10 AM

i think in your evaluation you have left out the increased pollution in the socal bight over the years.. we still see tons of them from the beach here in Oxnard..and have had several CLOSE encounters in the last few years surfing..

we will see what happens this year.. seems like they come closer on the way back up in the spring..maybe showing the kids the way north??dunno..

haven't seen any yet this year, but its early.

[Edited on 10-27-2006 by Tomas Tierra]

capt. mike - 10-27-2006 at 12:03 PM

save the whales............harpoon a fat chick.

Cincodemayo - 10-27-2006 at 12:18 PM

Nuke GAY whales.

Bill she will bring gay whales to the SF BAY with her support of NAMBLA.

[Edited on 10-27-2006 by Cincodemayo]

bancoduo - 10-27-2006 at 02:39 PM

Maybe the Jap.....s. ate them. :light:

vgabndo - 10-27-2006 at 03:30 PM

Sundog: An interesting post, thanks. I hope the Mexicans are doing better than before with their limitations on close contact with the Grays. In Mag Bay a dozen years ago we actually had to tell our boat driver to "knock it off" because his whale chasing was obviously not right by anyone's standards.

Shari: Thanks for your educated insight. I always thought that Grays were plankton eaters. Would you say that the whales we sometimes see around Isla San Ildefonso when the water is thick with krill might be Sei whales? Do they strain plankton? :?:

A good thread until "you-know-who" came along and encited the deltas to spoil it with politics, racism, sexism and homophobia. :barf:

toneart - 10-27-2006 at 03:53 PM

Just ignore the hate-wingers and they will retreat to the Off Topic hole.

Bruce R Leech - 10-27-2006 at 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by abreojos
If you have been to Luguna San Ignacio, you know they are very respectful with the whales. There is only a small part of the lagoon set aside for observation. The rest is off limits, even to kayaks. Mothers will lift their babies up to be pet and they will even follow you when your time limit expires and you depart the observation area. Unfortunately, this is not the case everywhere, but it is a sad fact of over human population, competition and greed. It is a truly remarkable experience. One you'll never forget. Maybe Canadians & Americans need to enforce the same regulations?

if you teach them to trust Man they will want to shake hands with the harpoon ships also

what they need is a natural environment. and that means leave them alone,

[Edited on 10-27-2006 by Bruce R Leech]

bancoduo - 10-27-2006 at 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Cincodemayo
Nuke GAY whales.

Bill she will bring gay whales to the SF BAY with her support of NAMBLA.

[Edited on 10-27-2006 by Cincodemayo]

I never heard of NAMBLA until you mentioned it. I googled it and now I know where you guys are coming from and where your interests lay. The only conclusion I can come too, is you are latent homosexuals. Probably dealing in internet porn.

:moon::moon:

[Edited on 10-28-2006 by bancoduo]

Missing whales etc.

Bajalero - 10-27-2006 at 07:55 PM

1st , Bruce , you may be a terrible speller but your ability to say important things in a simplistic manner makes you one of the most intelligent posters on this forum.
"if you teach them to trust Man they will want to shake hands with the harpoon ships also"

Regarding the whales, I seriously doubt there is any sudden or singular reason the whales are a no show in their normal areas . I find the article a little odd also - smacks of a little hometown hit and run freelancing with no real backup except for a couple of obscure names places and hypotheticals.

Now , here is something I hope a few of you true lovers of Baja will respond to, especially those who can write in spanish.(not a requirement) .

Someone posted a link that took me to the seawatch website . They're asking for support in lobbying against opening up a much larger portion of the Cortez to long liners and gill netters. Evidently this Mexican legislation is being pushed through rapidly and in a somewhat covert fashion and time for responses is of the essence. Check out this webpage for yourselves , a form letter is there in spanish and english . If you decide to send it try to personalize it and make sure you check out the map of the proposed new open areas for longlinnig/gillnetting activity.

http://www.seawatch.org/newsroom/proposed_regulations_sample...

lero

vgabndo - 10-27-2006 at 08:03 PM

Lero, I'm glad you brought up that site again. Although I didn't personalize my letter, I did send out two of the Spanish form letters. My impression is that they will count numbers and not pay much attention to whether the letters seemed to be original.

We never know if anyone is listening when we do these things, but it seems to be about all we can do. (Aside from obeying the Mexican game laws and only taking what we can eat.)

The videos of what it looks like down below when we see our Mexican neighbor's nets in the water were an eye-opener.