The ability to save the lives of blackened seabirds caught in an oil spill will be enhanced later this year, thanks to plans for quickly mobilizing up to four times as many bird-cleaning stations.
Ideas for protecting Puget Sound's killer whales in an oil spill and for rescuing other marine mammals also are moving into high gear. It's all part of more sophisticated planning for spill prevention and response.
Oil-spill prevention has always been a top priority, but state regulations were overhauled following the Point Wells spill in 2004, when oil drifted across Puget Sound and landed on a beach in North Kitsap. The Dalco Passage spill near Tacoma the following year added to the urgency for better planning.
Out of the new rules, approved last year, came an understanding that plans for rescuing wildlife depend too much on a voluntary network of wildlife experts. Further lessons were learned in November, when more than 1,000 oiled birds were recovered in San Francisco Bay and moved to rehabilitation centers in California.
Planning to assist marine mammals during an oil spill is not as far along, but it is occurring on several fronts. Under current plans, oiled wildlife could move into available marine aquariums and other rehabilitation facilities in Washington state plus specialized facilities in California.
Since an oil spill is considered the greatest threat to the survival of the Puget Sound killer whales, a task force has identified methods of "hazing" to be used to drive orcas away from an oil slick. The effort is part of recovery planning for the orcas, listed as endangered by the federal government.
Suggested techniques include using recorded orca calls, banging on pipes that reverberate in the water, setting off explosive "seal bombs" and calling in the Navy to use its mid-frequency sonar. If adopted, the ideas would become part of the Northwest Area Contingency Plan, which spells out how one should respond to a spill.
Fred Felleman, Northwest consultant for Friends of the Earth, said he would like to see more details about when the various methods are effective. The pipes are relatively cheap, he said, and they could be stowed on all whale-watching boats in which operators have been trained.
Air guns, which release bursts of sound, could be especially effective, he said, because the sound levels can be dialed up or down depending on the conditions. The next step should be to determine where air guns and other equipment should be stored for quick deployment, he added.
Carlson said operational details will come out as the current round of planning continues. More research may be needed to see what techniques work the best.
In the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, a large number of killer whales just disappeared, said SeaDoc's Gaydos. Not one carcass was recovered, so researchers are not sure how the oil affected the animals. Researchers fear that a spill in Puget Sound could decimate the local orcas.
Carlson said Fish and Wildlife is working on a plan to respond to oiled sea otters, while plans for other mammals are in the works. It is important to know when to leave animals alone as well as when to take action, he said. Since seals and sea lions have a layer of blubber, they are less at risk than birds to die of hypothermia in an oil spill, he said.
"In our contingency planning, our focus has been mainly on birds," Carlson said, "but we're following the same track for marine mammals. The approach seems to work very well, ... and we may need to develop a 24-hour responsibility for marine mammals."
zaterdag 29 maart 2008
donderdag 27 maart 2008
Robson Bight update
March 27, 2008
Robson Bight update
Waiting, waiting…
When a barge dangerously laden with logging equipment, including a tanker truck of diesel fuel, spilled its load in the heart of the world’s best known orca habitat – the Ecological Reserve at Robson Bight - last August 20th, whale lovers were outraged, environmentalists dismayed, the public alerted, and even the oil industry took note.
Canada’s initial response, via its Coastguard, was to discount the possibility of serious impacts by claiming all the oil and fuel had been released and dispersed. Eventually, after being pressured by NGOs who raised the funds needed to conduct an underwater investigation, the governments of British Columbia and Canada commissioned an underwater inspection of the spill site. This was completed in early December. Months later, despite video evidence (www.livingoceans.org) that the tanker truck is intact and probably still full of toxic diesel fuel we are still waiting for an announcement that the next obvious step – cleanup – will be undertaken before the orcas return in early summer. Organising and conducting the cleanup will take time, once the decision is made, and time is passing quickly. Meanwhile, a ticking toxic time bomb is lying on the ocean floor 350m below Robson Bight.
The absence of official reaction to the evidence from the underwater inspection is puzzling, and disturbing. The only thing that seems clear is that once again the governments are dragging their feet. Possibly they are hoping the problem will go away if they ignore it long enough. That simply isn’t good enough. The orcas will return soon, probably in June & no later than July. If the fuel tanker isn’t removed by the time the orcas arrive, it will be considered too risky to do the job until they leave again in the fall or early winter. This means the cleanup could be pushed back to next spring. Meanwhile, the diesel might remain inside the tanker, or it might not. If it is released when orcas are present, the result could be catastrophic. Leaving it lying at the bottom with orcas swimming above is foolhardy and negligent. For the orcas’ sake, and to ensure the ecological integrity of Robson Bight, the job must be done now. Waiting any longer is not an option.
As a matter of urgency, please insist that Canada and British Columbia act now. Thank you.
Here are the contact details:
The Honourable Loyola Hearn, Minister
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
200 Kent St. Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0E6 Canada
phone: 1-613-992-3474
fax: 1-613- 995-7858
Eamail: Min@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
The Honourable Barry Penner
Minister of the Environment
P.O. Box 9047, Stn. Prov. Gov't.
Victoria, B.C.
V8W 9E2 Canada
phone: 1-250-387-1187
fax: 1-250-387-1356
Email: env.minister@gov.bc.ca
Robson Bight update
Waiting, waiting…
When a barge dangerously laden with logging equipment, including a tanker truck of diesel fuel, spilled its load in the heart of the world’s best known orca habitat – the Ecological Reserve at Robson Bight - last August 20th, whale lovers were outraged, environmentalists dismayed, the public alerted, and even the oil industry took note.
Canada’s initial response, via its Coastguard, was to discount the possibility of serious impacts by claiming all the oil and fuel had been released and dispersed. Eventually, after being pressured by NGOs who raised the funds needed to conduct an underwater investigation, the governments of British Columbia and Canada commissioned an underwater inspection of the spill site. This was completed in early December. Months later, despite video evidence (www.livingoceans.org) that the tanker truck is intact and probably still full of toxic diesel fuel we are still waiting for an announcement that the next obvious step – cleanup – will be undertaken before the orcas return in early summer. Organising and conducting the cleanup will take time, once the decision is made, and time is passing quickly. Meanwhile, a ticking toxic time bomb is lying on the ocean floor 350m below Robson Bight.
The absence of official reaction to the evidence from the underwater inspection is puzzling, and disturbing. The only thing that seems clear is that once again the governments are dragging their feet. Possibly they are hoping the problem will go away if they ignore it long enough. That simply isn’t good enough. The orcas will return soon, probably in June & no later than July. If the fuel tanker isn’t removed by the time the orcas arrive, it will be considered too risky to do the job until they leave again in the fall or early winter. This means the cleanup could be pushed back to next spring. Meanwhile, the diesel might remain inside the tanker, or it might not. If it is released when orcas are present, the result could be catastrophic. Leaving it lying at the bottom with orcas swimming above is foolhardy and negligent. For the orcas’ sake, and to ensure the ecological integrity of Robson Bight, the job must be done now. Waiting any longer is not an option.
As a matter of urgency, please insist that Canada and British Columbia act now. Thank you.
Here are the contact details:
The Honourable Loyola Hearn, Minister
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
200 Kent St. Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0E6 Canada
phone: 1-613-992-3474
fax: 1-613- 995-7858
Eamail: Min@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
The Honourable Barry Penner
Minister of the Environment
P.O. Box 9047, Stn. Prov. Gov't.
Victoria, B.C.
V8W 9E2 Canada
phone: 1-250-387-1187
fax: 1-250-387-1356
Email: env.minister@gov.bc.ca
woensdag 26 maart 2008
Run of Killer Whales Coming Soon to Central Oregon Coast
(Depoe Bay, Oregon) - It’s been happening for years on the Oregon coast, and yet it still remains a bit of a seasonal secret.
Each year, around April 15 or so, killer whales approach the area and patrol the central coast waters, looking for baby gray whales and maybe a few sea lions or seals to munch on. They are rarely seen in these waters, except at this time of year. And when it does happen, it’s in the Depoe Bay and Newport areas, but it’s often seen from Cascade Head all the way down to Florence.
The killer whales are what are known as “transient” whales, meaning officials don’t know where they come from. They’re also more predatory, living off seals and baby gray whales.
Morris Grover, with the Whale Watch Center in Depoe Bay, says these are smaller and more shark-like in appearance than what are nicknamed the “friendly” whales, which visit here from the San Juan Islands and live on salmon.
“We see them in our waters every spring, usually arriving about April 15,” Grover said. “But some have already been spotted during the previous whale watch week. They are here to intercept the baby gray whales, as that is the time they usually arrive along the coast. They are usually here for a few weeks.”
In 2006, the killer whales lingered until the middle of July.
“That is a very long time for them, but it was obviously supported by local food for them,” Grover said. “We watched a pod of five around Depoe Bay and actually filmed them taking what we believed to be a seal in the south end of the bay. Seals and sea lions are fast in the water and orcas have to burn up a lot of energy to catch them. After all that work, only one seal will feed one orca. When they kill a baby gray whale, the whole pod can eat for a week.”
Grover said they sometimes can be seen coming into Yaquina Bay in Newport when they can’t find baby whales, attracted by the proliferation of seals and sea lions in the bay. Some years, they have also been known to linger at the edges of the bay’s jetties. One sighting in recent years was of a killer whale chasing a seal all the way through Yaquina Bay, almost as far east as Toledo.
“It’s all food related,” Grover said. “They come up here all the time. Basically, they will take the easiest prey.”
Grover said they are sometimes seen apparently “playing” with their food by tossing it back and forth, or slapping it with their tails. This unique behavior has to do with teaching their young how to hunt.
To catch sight of these killer whales, just like spotting any whale, Grover suggests patience, and head to a high vantage point. The Newport area has many of these, such as the lighthouse at Yaquina Bay, the Yaquina Head area, Don Davis Memorial Park in Nye Beach, and nearby at Cape Foulweather. The headquarters for the Whale Watch Spoken Here program is in Depoe Bay, at the seawall, and another good spot for seeing them as well.
One theory about why the killer whales have been more frequent in these waters in recent decades is that the sardine population has recently begun to recover from over fishing in the 30’s.
Grover said sardines come up through this region in what are nicknamed “bait balls,” where their numbers are so condensed they form a wall of fish, partially out of an instinct to protect their young. Staff at the Whale Watch Center in Depoe Bay can see them at times: they appear as a large, dark mass in the ocean.
Orcas here have been seen swimming around them with great frequency, forcing them to coalesce together even closer. Then, the whales will simply start to swim through them with their mouths open, sucking down this wall of fish in a kind of underwater all-you-can-eat buffet.
Grover emphasized that even once the Whale Watch Week is over – which is happening now until March 29 - there are still gray whales aplenty to be spotted, along with the coveted killer whale sightings. Gray whales are still migrating through here in great numbers until June. Then, the “summer” whales begin to show up, which tend to loiter on the central coast in large numbers for the summer before migrating again, because of the abundant food supply here. These really put on a show by coming quite close to shore.
“If you sit there for only five minutes and you spot a whale, then you’ve won the lottery,” Grover said. “It’s not likely. If you sit there for a half hour, it’s possible you’ll see one. If you sit for an hour, you’ll probably see one.”
In late May of 2006, Tiffany Boothe of the Seaside Aquarium photographed a pod of killer whales near the Sea Lion Caves. That event was a few days after a much publicized sighting of the same pod by staff at Sea Lion Caves
What staff there noted was that the orcas were swimming around the sea lions, but they weren’t disturbed by the presence of their usual predators. Grover thinks this was because either the whales were full and were not interested in the swimming sea lions, or they were trying to fool them into complacency so they could make a meal of them later on.
Boothe also noted the sea lions didn’t seem to be scared by the killer whales swimming around them
Source: http://www.beachconnection.net/news/killw032608_711.php
Each year, around April 15 or so, killer whales approach the area and patrol the central coast waters, looking for baby gray whales and maybe a few sea lions or seals to munch on. They are rarely seen in these waters, except at this time of year. And when it does happen, it’s in the Depoe Bay and Newport areas, but it’s often seen from Cascade Head all the way down to Florence.
The killer whales are what are known as “transient” whales, meaning officials don’t know where they come from. They’re also more predatory, living off seals and baby gray whales.
Morris Grover, with the Whale Watch Center in Depoe Bay, says these are smaller and more shark-like in appearance than what are nicknamed the “friendly” whales, which visit here from the San Juan Islands and live on salmon.
“We see them in our waters every spring, usually arriving about April 15,” Grover said. “But some have already been spotted during the previous whale watch week. They are here to intercept the baby gray whales, as that is the time they usually arrive along the coast. They are usually here for a few weeks.”
In 2006, the killer whales lingered until the middle of July.
“That is a very long time for them, but it was obviously supported by local food for them,” Grover said. “We watched a pod of five around Depoe Bay and actually filmed them taking what we believed to be a seal in the south end of the bay. Seals and sea lions are fast in the water and orcas have to burn up a lot of energy to catch them. After all that work, only one seal will feed one orca. When they kill a baby gray whale, the whole pod can eat for a week.”
Grover said they sometimes can be seen coming into Yaquina Bay in Newport when they can’t find baby whales, attracted by the proliferation of seals and sea lions in the bay. Some years, they have also been known to linger at the edges of the bay’s jetties. One sighting in recent years was of a killer whale chasing a seal all the way through Yaquina Bay, almost as far east as Toledo.
“It’s all food related,” Grover said. “They come up here all the time. Basically, they will take the easiest prey.”
Grover said they are sometimes seen apparently “playing” with their food by tossing it back and forth, or slapping it with their tails. This unique behavior has to do with teaching their young how to hunt.
To catch sight of these killer whales, just like spotting any whale, Grover suggests patience, and head to a high vantage point. The Newport area has many of these, such as the lighthouse at Yaquina Bay, the Yaquina Head area, Don Davis Memorial Park in Nye Beach, and nearby at Cape Foulweather. The headquarters for the Whale Watch Spoken Here program is in Depoe Bay, at the seawall, and another good spot for seeing them as well.
One theory about why the killer whales have been more frequent in these waters in recent decades is that the sardine population has recently begun to recover from over fishing in the 30’s.
Grover said sardines come up through this region in what are nicknamed “bait balls,” where their numbers are so condensed they form a wall of fish, partially out of an instinct to protect their young. Staff at the Whale Watch Center in Depoe Bay can see them at times: they appear as a large, dark mass in the ocean.
Orcas here have been seen swimming around them with great frequency, forcing them to coalesce together even closer. Then, the whales will simply start to swim through them with their mouths open, sucking down this wall of fish in a kind of underwater all-you-can-eat buffet.
Grover emphasized that even once the Whale Watch Week is over – which is happening now until March 29 - there are still gray whales aplenty to be spotted, along with the coveted killer whale sightings. Gray whales are still migrating through here in great numbers until June. Then, the “summer” whales begin to show up, which tend to loiter on the central coast in large numbers for the summer before migrating again, because of the abundant food supply here. These really put on a show by coming quite close to shore.
“If you sit there for only five minutes and you spot a whale, then you’ve won the lottery,” Grover said. “It’s not likely. If you sit there for a half hour, it’s possible you’ll see one. If you sit for an hour, you’ll probably see one.”
In late May of 2006, Tiffany Boothe of the Seaside Aquarium photographed a pod of killer whales near the Sea Lion Caves. That event was a few days after a much publicized sighting of the same pod by staff at Sea Lion Caves
What staff there noted was that the orcas were swimming around the sea lions, but they weren’t disturbed by the presence of their usual predators. Grover thinks this was because either the whales were full and were not interested in the swimming sea lions, or they were trying to fool them into complacency so they could make a meal of them later on.
Boothe also noted the sea lions didn’t seem to be scared by the killer whales swimming around them
Source: http://www.beachconnection.net/news/killw032608_711.php
Killer whales make a splash
A huge pod of killer whales passed the coast of Eden, New South Wales, Australia on Good Friday, their trademark dorsal fins creating quite a ripple as they cut through local waters.
Eden is known globally for its fascination for a regular migrant population of whales and the killer whale sighting has excited scientists and enthusiasts in Eden and abroad.
Spy hop: One of the smallest killer whales from a huge pod which passed Eden on Friday.
On Friday afternoon there were quick reactions by whale enthusiasts Ros and Gordan Butt and the few locals who were lucky enough to be close by, as they leapt aboard the Cat Balou for the chase.
Eden resident Nick Haenig had his camera aboard and captured some special moments during the 45 minute cruise, providing the area with the first shots of killer whales taken for some time.
Whale spotter and retired fish spotter Maurie Egan was at the Eden Killer Whale Museum when he heard about the pod and was ecstatic about its arrival, as the wild orca was something he'd never seen before.
"A game fishing boat called the Coastal Patrol who phoned us," said Mrs Butt on Monday.
"The game fishing boat had seen them in North Bay but it turned out to be two miles outside the bay by the time we caught them.
"We reckon there were between 25 and 30 in the pod, and about six males with the big dorsal fins, one very small baby and the rest we presume were females or juveniles," she said.
The pod was heading south after being spotted off Merimbula earlier in the day.
"They were mainly just swimming, then they'd split into three different groups before joining up again, and at times the males were all hanging together," Mrs Butt said.
"It was amazing.
"Our last sighting was Melbourne Cup day 12 months ago, only the eighth time we've seen them in 21 years."
Whale researcher Dave Donnelly of Melbourne will use some of Mr Haenig's photographs to expand his whale database and will pick them up while in Eden for the launch of the Sapphire Coast Marine Discovery Centre's See our Seas documentary night on Saturday (see Page 8).
The pod had been cruising the Far South Coast with a report that a killer whale was sighted in Mallacoota on Thursday.
A Mallacoota tourist who visited Eden on Friday asked the boys at Fish, Dive, Camp about what she saw.
"A lady from Mallacoota asked us what had a long, fin this high," Michael Mashado said on Monday, indicating the height of his shoulder.
"She had been fishing in a boat off Mallacoota and thought it might have been a sunfish."
The boys saw a small, fast moving pod of killer whales on February 28 this year and also were privy to sperm whales breaching the week before the March fishing competition.
Source: Magnet
Eden is known globally for its fascination for a regular migrant population of whales and the killer whale sighting has excited scientists and enthusiasts in Eden and abroad.
Spy hop: One of the smallest killer whales from a huge pod which passed Eden on Friday.
On Friday afternoon there were quick reactions by whale enthusiasts Ros and Gordan Butt and the few locals who were lucky enough to be close by, as they leapt aboard the Cat Balou for the chase.
Eden resident Nick Haenig had his camera aboard and captured some special moments during the 45 minute cruise, providing the area with the first shots of killer whales taken for some time.
Whale spotter and retired fish spotter Maurie Egan was at the Eden Killer Whale Museum when he heard about the pod and was ecstatic about its arrival, as the wild orca was something he'd never seen before.
"A game fishing boat called the Coastal Patrol who phoned us," said Mrs Butt on Monday.
"The game fishing boat had seen them in North Bay but it turned out to be two miles outside the bay by the time we caught them.
"We reckon there were between 25 and 30 in the pod, and about six males with the big dorsal fins, one very small baby and the rest we presume were females or juveniles," she said.
The pod was heading south after being spotted off Merimbula earlier in the day.
"They were mainly just swimming, then they'd split into three different groups before joining up again, and at times the males were all hanging together," Mrs Butt said.
"It was amazing.
"Our last sighting was Melbourne Cup day 12 months ago, only the eighth time we've seen them in 21 years."
Whale researcher Dave Donnelly of Melbourne will use some of Mr Haenig's photographs to expand his whale database and will pick them up while in Eden for the launch of the Sapphire Coast Marine Discovery Centre's See our Seas documentary night on Saturday (see Page 8).
The pod had been cruising the Far South Coast with a report that a killer whale was sighted in Mallacoota on Thursday.
A Mallacoota tourist who visited Eden on Friday asked the boys at Fish, Dive, Camp about what she saw.
"A lady from Mallacoota asked us what had a long, fin this high," Michael Mashado said on Monday, indicating the height of his shoulder.
"She had been fishing in a boat off Mallacoota and thought it might have been a sunfish."
The boys saw a small, fast moving pod of killer whales on February 28 this year and also were privy to sperm whales breaching the week before the March fishing competition.
Source: Magnet
woensdag 19 maart 2008
Rare White Killer Whale Spotted In Alaskan Waters
ScienceDaily (Mar. 19, 2008) — Scientists aboard the NOAA research vessel Oscar Dyson in the North Pacific have sighted a creature of great rarity and even myth: a white whale.
The white killer whale was spotted with its pod about two miles off Kanaga Volcano, part of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, on February 23. At the time, Kodiak-based Oscar Dyson was on a research expedition for NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center, assessing pollock fish stocks near Steller sea lion haulout sites.
The white whale is a fish-eating type of killer whale, as were all the killer whales photographed on the expedition. Fish-eating killer whales are the most frequently seen whales around the Aleutian Islands during the summer. The winter sightings represent important evidence that they may be common year-round.
Holly Fearnbach, a research biologist at NOAA’s National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle, was able to photograph the whale’s white fin and back. “With hundreds of killer whales documented around the Aleutian Islands, this was equivalent to finding a needle in a haystack,” she said.
“Despite the typical stormy weather that makes research operations very difficult in the winter, the scientific team on Oscar Dyson has been pulling in a huge amount of planned research data,” said Alaska Fisheries Science Center director Doug DeMaster. “Extraordinary sightings like this white whale are icing on the cake.”
Few white killer whales have ever been seen, according to Fearnbach, much less scientifically documented.
This whale is likely not a true albino because it still has signs of darker pigmented areas on its body. However, because of its prominent coloring, the white whale serves as an indicator for movements of killer whales in the North Pacific.
White killer whales have been sighted previously in the Aleutian Islands as well as in the Bering Sea and off the Russian coast. Scientists are working to confirm whether or not the whale sighted Feb. 23 is the same animal as any of those previous seen.
Besides fish and marine mammal researchers from the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Oscar Dyson also carried a bird observer from the US Fish and Wildlife Service. All added to scientific knowledge about the marine ecosystem of the Aleutian Islands in winter.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 70 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.
Source: Science Daily
The white killer whale was spotted with its pod about two miles off Kanaga Volcano, part of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, on February 23. At the time, Kodiak-based Oscar Dyson was on a research expedition for NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center, assessing pollock fish stocks near Steller sea lion haulout sites.
The white whale is a fish-eating type of killer whale, as were all the killer whales photographed on the expedition. Fish-eating killer whales are the most frequently seen whales around the Aleutian Islands during the summer. The winter sightings represent important evidence that they may be common year-round.
Holly Fearnbach, a research biologist at NOAA’s National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle, was able to photograph the whale’s white fin and back. “With hundreds of killer whales documented around the Aleutian Islands, this was equivalent to finding a needle in a haystack,” she said.
“Despite the typical stormy weather that makes research operations very difficult in the winter, the scientific team on Oscar Dyson has been pulling in a huge amount of planned research data,” said Alaska Fisheries Science Center director Doug DeMaster. “Extraordinary sightings like this white whale are icing on the cake.”
Few white killer whales have ever been seen, according to Fearnbach, much less scientifically documented.
This whale is likely not a true albino because it still has signs of darker pigmented areas on its body. However, because of its prominent coloring, the white whale serves as an indicator for movements of killer whales in the North Pacific.
White killer whales have been sighted previously in the Aleutian Islands as well as in the Bering Sea and off the Russian coast. Scientists are working to confirm whether or not the whale sighted Feb. 23 is the same animal as any of those previous seen.
Besides fish and marine mammal researchers from the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Oscar Dyson also carried a bird observer from the US Fish and Wildlife Service. All added to scientific knowledge about the marine ecosystem of the Aleutian Islands in winter.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 70 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.
Source: Science Daily
maandag 10 maart 2008
Pod of orcas gatecrashes beach demo
Who needs a plastic model when the real thing comes calling?
These elegant orcas brought an abrupt end to a demonstration of how to save a beached whale when they cruised past Mt Maunganui's Main Beach yesterday.
Star of the demonstration - part of Seaweek at Mt Maunganui - was a blow-up plastic replica of an orca.
But it was quickly forgotten when the real orcas dropped in.
Many of the hundreds of people at the beach ran to the water's edge to catch a glimpse of the creatures, which came within 30m of shore.
The pod of about half a dozen orcas glided around rocks on Moturiki (Leisure Island).
Lifesavers paddled out on surfboards for a close look at them, and a surf club inflatable boat tailed them until they reached the Tay St surf area, about 1km south of Main Beach.
Orcas are not uncommon in the area, especially at this time of year, and sometimes come into Tauranga Harbour in search of food.
They forage along the sandy floor for stingrays - New Zealand orcas are the only known orca group that eats stingrays as a staple food.
Orcas, also known as killer whales, also eat other food such as fish, squid, dolphins, sharks and seals.
Source: The New Zealand Herald
These elegant orcas brought an abrupt end to a demonstration of how to save a beached whale when they cruised past Mt Maunganui's Main Beach yesterday.
Star of the demonstration - part of Seaweek at Mt Maunganui - was a blow-up plastic replica of an orca.
But it was quickly forgotten when the real orcas dropped in.
Many of the hundreds of people at the beach ran to the water's edge to catch a glimpse of the creatures, which came within 30m of shore.
The pod of about half a dozen orcas glided around rocks on Moturiki (Leisure Island).
Lifesavers paddled out on surfboards for a close look at them, and a surf club inflatable boat tailed them until they reached the Tay St surf area, about 1km south of Main Beach.
Orcas are not uncommon in the area, especially at this time of year, and sometimes come into Tauranga Harbour in search of food.
They forage along the sandy floor for stingrays - New Zealand orcas are the only known orca group that eats stingrays as a staple food.
Orcas, also known as killer whales, also eat other food such as fish, squid, dolphins, sharks and seals.
Source: The New Zealand Herald
vrijdag 7 maart 2008
White Killer Whale Spotted Off Alaska
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The white killer whale spotted in Alaska's Aleutian Islands sent researchers and the ship's crew scrambling for their cameras.
The nearly mythic creature was real after all.
"I had heard about this whale, but we had never been able to find it," said Holly Fearnbach, a research biologist with the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle who photographed the rarity. "It was quite neat to find it."
The whale was spotted last month while scientists aboard the Oscar Dyson, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research ship, were conducting an acoustic survey of pollock near Steller sea lion haulout sites.
It had been spotted once in the Aleutians years ago but had eluded researchers since, even though they had seen many of the more classic black and white whales over the years.
Fearnbach said the white whale stood out.
"When you first looked at it, it was very white," she said Thursday.
Further observation showed that while the whale's saddle area was white, other parts of its body had a subtle yellowish or brownish color.
It likely is not a true albino given the coloration, said John Durban, a research biologist at NOAA's Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle. That's probably a good thing — true albinos usually don't live long and can have health problems.
Durban said white killer whales have been spotted elsewhere in the area twice before: in 1993 in the northern Bering Sea around St. Lawrence Island and in 2001 near Adak in the central Aleutians. There have also been sightings along the Russian coast.
While Alaska researchers have documented thousands of black and white killer whales in the Bering Sea and the Aleutians during summer surveys, this was something new and exciting, Durban said.
"This is the first time we came across a white killer whale," he said.
The scientists observed several pods over a two-week period. The white whale was in a family group of 12 on a day when the seas were fairly rough. It was spotted about 2 miles off Kanaga Volcano on Feb. 23.
The ship stayed with the whale for about 30 minutes.
"Everybody actually came out and was taking pictures," Fearnbach said. "It was a neat sighting for everybody."
The whale appeared to be a healthy, adult male about 25 to 30 feet long and weighing upward of 10,000 pounds.
The nearly mythic creature was real after all.
"I had heard about this whale, but we had never been able to find it," said Holly Fearnbach, a research biologist with the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle who photographed the rarity. "It was quite neat to find it."
The whale was spotted last month while scientists aboard the Oscar Dyson, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research ship, were conducting an acoustic survey of pollock near Steller sea lion haulout sites.
It had been spotted once in the Aleutians years ago but had eluded researchers since, even though they had seen many of the more classic black and white whales over the years.
Fearnbach said the white whale stood out.
"When you first looked at it, it was very white," she said Thursday.
Further observation showed that while the whale's saddle area was white, other parts of its body had a subtle yellowish or brownish color.
It likely is not a true albino given the coloration, said John Durban, a research biologist at NOAA's Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle. That's probably a good thing — true albinos usually don't live long and can have health problems.
Durban said white killer whales have been spotted elsewhere in the area twice before: in 1993 in the northern Bering Sea around St. Lawrence Island and in 2001 near Adak in the central Aleutians. There have also been sightings along the Russian coast.
While Alaska researchers have documented thousands of black and white killer whales in the Bering Sea and the Aleutians during summer surveys, this was something new and exciting, Durban said.
"This is the first time we came across a white killer whale," he said.
The scientists observed several pods over a two-week period. The white whale was in a family group of 12 on a day when the seas were fairly rough. It was spotted about 2 miles off Kanaga Volcano on Feb. 23.
The ship stayed with the whale for about 30 minutes.
"Everybody actually came out and was taking pictures," Fearnbach said. "It was a neat sighting for everybody."
The whale appeared to be a healthy, adult male about 25 to 30 feet long and weighing upward of 10,000 pounds.
donderdag 6 maart 2008
Scientists spy mythic white orca in the Aleutians
H. Fearnbach, NMML, NMFS permit 782-1719Fisheries biologists cruising the remote Aleutian Islands on a pollock survey caught sight of one of the North Pacific’s rarest creatures: a white orca.
Rather than sporting the species’ iconic black-and-white markings, the animal swimming with its fish-eating pod two miles off Kanaga Volcano exhibited almost no visible pigment, according to scientists with the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Seeing the animal’s off-white dorsal fin breaking through the roiling waves as it cavorted with its family group made for an extraordinary moment.
“With hundreds of killer whales documented around the Aleutian Islands, this was equivalent to finding a needle in a haystack,” said Holly Fearnbach, a research biologist who was able to photograph the whale’s white fin and back.
The scientists were aboard the NOAA research vessel Oscar Dyson, conducting assessments of pollock fish stocks near haul-outs of the endangered Steller sea lion. About two miles off Kanaga Volcano, on Feb. 23, the white orca swam into view with its pod.
The white whale is a fish-eating type of killer whale, as were all the killer whales photographed on the expedition. Fish-eating killer whales are the most frequently seen whales around the Aleutian Islands during the summer. The winter sightings represent important evidence that they may be common year-round.
“Despite the typical stormy weather that makes research operations very difficult in the winter, the scientific team on Oscar Dyson has been pulling in a huge amount of planned research data,” said Alaska Fisheries Science Center director Doug DeMaster. “Extraordinary sightings like this white whale are icing on the cake.”
Few white killer whales have ever been seen, according to Fearnbach, much less scientifically documented.
This whale is likely not a true albino because it still has signs of darker pigmented areas on its body. However, because of its prominent coloring, the white whale serves as an indicator for movements of killer whales in the North Pacific.
Other sightings of a white killer whale have been reported previously in the Aleutian Islands as well as in the Bering Sea and off the Russian coast. Scientists are working to confirm whether or not the individual whale sighted Feb. 23 has been reported earlier.
Besides fish and marine mammal researchers from the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, /Oscar Dyson/ also carried a bird observer from the US Fish and Wildlife Service. All added to scientific knowledge about the marine ecosystem of the Aleutian Islands in winter.
Source: Alaska Report
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