Whales vs. Cruise Ships

Experts examine a fin whale in Vancouver

Earlier this summer "the Future" featured a report about an oil tanker that struck a humpback whale in Prince William Sound. Well, it seems that another ship has arrived to port with a whale on its prow. The Vancouver Sun reports that a cruise ship hit the carcass of a fin whale and dragged it to Vancouver. Scientists later found that the whale had nothing in its stomach and only a thin layer of blubber suggesting that the whale had suffered an illness. What's interesting about the Sun story is that the article is found in the "Health" section of the paper's online edition beneath headings such as "Family & Child," "Seniors," and "Fitness." I wonder if folks at the Sun have been reading and listening to recent reports in the Times and on Fresh Air about the surprising interactions between whales and humans, including instances where whales have playfully lifted small boats from the water and gently set them back on the surface. The most striking new information about whale behavior and physiology, however, is the recent report that the whale neocortex, the part of the brain responsible for higher-order thinking, is much larger (by percentage) than the human brain. Perhaps, argues Dr. Lori Morino, the whale neocortex is so highly evolved because during its evolution from a hippopotamus the whale experienced such dramatic changes in its physiology (e.g. losing limbs, moving its nose to the top of its head and developing sonar). No word yet on whether whales have started using Twitter though.

Fishin' With Dad

Ready to Fish

My Dad the rambler flew in from Denver Sunday evening. We chartered the U-Rascal for a day of sport fishing on Monday morning. Chris, the skipper, is known for finding the big ones. "People have been complaining that they can't find any fish, but they're just hanging around town," explained Chris. So we set a course for a fishing hole several miles from Kodiak near Afognak Island. As we steamed across Marmot Bay the clouds parted revealing a brilliant blue sky . The Gulf of Alaska spanned the horizon to our right, while the forests, peaks and cliffs of Spruce and Afognak Islands jutted from the sea on the left. Puffins, fulmars and kittiwakes flapped from our wake and the spouts of several whale pods were visible in the distance. After a 90 minute voyage we reached the coast of Afognak Island and dropped our jigs. Before long silver (coho) salmon and the prized king (chinook) salmon were tugging at our lines. Each fish seemed to fight harder than the last. Eventually we caught our limit (two each) of king salmon and as many silvers as we could reasonably eat. We then switched to halibut tackle and from the minute the baited hook sank to the ocean floor we were fighting the tasty flatfish. Needless to say, we soon caught our limit of halibut as well and set our sights on home port. The trip back, however, was just as exciting as the fishing. Pods of Dall's porpoise (known to reach speeds of 30 knots) surfed in our wake, humpback whales jumped skyward in full body breaches and fin whales (second in size to the blue whale) raced in front of our bow. When it was all said and done Dad and I had brought home about 100 lbs. of fish.

Determined to land a monster chinook

Whales vs. Tankers

Photo by Chuck Babbit

A murky report this morning from Prince William Sound, site of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, suggests that an oil tanker sailing to the oil terminal in Valdez struck a humpback whale. The report in today's Anchorage Daily News, however, does not make clear whether the impact of the strike actually killed the whale. KTUU reports that during the entire 30 year history of oil tankers transiting the Sound no one has ever seen a ship hit a whale. It's possible that the whale could have been dead at the time of impact or that the whale was in a sleep-like state at the surface, unaware of the oncoming ship. Marine mammals such as whales and dolphins sleep by resting one hemisphere of their brain while keeping the other active to maintain buoyancy (Listen to Radio Lab's fascinating podcast about animal sleep). Crewmembers of the tanker, named the Kodiak, most likely never saw the whale. Questions remain: Are tankers killing whales? Is the North Pacific humpback whale population experiencing a boom? Are whales not getting enough sleep? We'll have to wait and see - the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is on the case.

Oil tanker with escort

COASST

On Sunday Meghan and I participated in the University of Washington's Coastal Observation And Seabird Survey Team training. COASST is a unique citizen science program intended to monitor changes in marine environments through identification and data collection of dead sea birds that have washed ashore. Basically, we walk the same beach once or twice a month and record data on any birds that we find. During the training we learned how to identify birds by measuring their tarsus (leg) and beak length. (In case you were wondering my "beak" is a full cm longer than Meghan's.) Soon after Sunday's training we conducted our first survey. Although we did not record any birds, we did see a seal and young humpback whale offshore. We'll certainly let you know if we find a bird - we have to take pictures and send them in.

Meghan "COASSTing"

Kennicott whaling sans harpoons

To complete the final leg of our journey to Kodiak we boarded the M/V Kennicott, an Alaska Marine Highway System ferry. The Kennicott is the newest vessel in Alaska's fleet and will carry nearly 500 passangers. On our voyage we had lots of room to spread out as only 19 passengers were aboard.


After sleeping on the aft sun deck I awoke to cloudy skies and calm seas. Meghan continued to sleep. The air was crisp and inviting so I stepped out to the starboard rail. I watched the sea roll past and scanned the horizon. A few minutes past as my eyes adjusted to the vast new space in the distance. The grey sea was bound by mountains to the north and west. The first movement that I noticed was what I was sure to be the bright white sail of sailboat. I thought to myself, "this is a long way out for a sailboat." But then, suddenly, the sail seemed to vaporize and disappear. Before I could think another thought a second 'sail' appeared and disappeared. "Spouts of a whale," I said aloud to no one in particular. For the rest of the trip I searched the horizon for more.


About an hour later off the starboard and much closer to the Kennicott another pod of whales appeared. These whales were close enough to be identified as humpbacks. Although the fins of humpbacks might look like the dorsal fins of killer whales, this "finning" behavior is one way to identify humpbacks. Before the end of our voyage I spied at least three different pods of whales.