 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| . |  |
. |
Blue Giants Of The Deep Off Los Angeles Coast
Los Angeles (AFP) California, July 20, 2007 An enormous beast emerges from the depths of the Pacific, and passengers aboard a nearby tour boat are awestruck. The sight of a blue whale coming up for air is, quite literally, breathtaking. "Look, another one!" a passenger cries. Then another, and another, and another. In the space of two hours, eight of these behemoths of the deep breach the surface. Once hunted to the brink of extinction, and still endangered, these huge mammals are in rare abundance on this tour for journalists and experts on the decks of the tour boat Christopher operated from Long Beach, California. "This is the chance of a lifetime," said Dan Salas, the chief executive and owner of Harbor Breeze cruises and captain of the Christopher. "We had eight individual sightings today," Salas marvels. Dudley Wigdahl, curator, birds and mammals, Aquarium of the Pacific Long Beach, is similarly effusive about the spectacle. "It's always very exciting, you feel like a little kid," Wigdahl says. At first glance, the appearance of so many blue whales is all the more unusual because of the immediate environment. The waters off polluted Los Angeles are often contaminated by sewage or floodwaters, while Long Beach terminal sees and endless flow of cargo ships traveling to and from the port. Yet the creation of a marine sanctuary around California's Channel Islands in 1980 means that the whales are happy to linger, munching on krill -- and delighting whale-watchers -- at their leisure. Unlike the smaller gray whales, which migrate up the California coastline to the Bering Sea, blue whales feed near the surface, making spotting them easier for whale-watchers. However, the relatively small numbers of the blue whale -- there are only around 5,000 in the entire northern Pacific region -- means that sightings remain rare. In summer, boatloads of tourists set out on ships like the Christopher with the hope of an encounter with the animals. "When children see them, they're mesmerized," says Salas. "It's a life-changing experience. They're surprised there's so much life out there." Under United States laws, encounters with blue whales must be from a distance, with boats not allowed to come within 100 meters (yards) of the animals. Sarah Marquis, a spokeswoman for National Marine Sanctuaries, said environmental protection agencies tried to use the whale-watching trips to get their message across. "People do care for creatures they can identify with," Marquis said. "We're more dependent on the ocean than we think." It remains to be seen how climate change may be affecting blue whales in the northern Pacific. A recent study of gray whales in the same region indicated the animals were losing weight because of diminished food stocks. However, whale-watchers in California have said that the blue whales' arrival has come earlier than usual this year. "Usually, we don't see them here before August," Salas said. "I don't know if this relates to global warming, but I know that the ocean is changing, right before our eyes."
Source: Agence France-Presse Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Follow the Whaling Debate
Warming Causing Gray Whales To Lose Weight
San Francisco (AFP) July 12, 2007Scientists on the US Pacific coast are increasingly observing emaciated gray whales in what they fear is a sign that global warming is wreaking havoc in the whales' Bering Sea summer feeding grounds. The scientists fear that the same phenomenon is cutting back reproduction in the Pacific whale population to the point it could be facing a new crisis, after recovering in the mid-1990s and graduating from the endangered species list. |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2007 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
