OUT TO SEA A WHALE OF A SEASON FOR OCEANIC OBSERVATION.Byline: Eric Leach Staff Writer VENTURA - Winter is typically the peak gray whale watching season in Southern California, but marine experts say an abundance of tiny shrimp and unusually cool water this summer are offering some of the most spectacular sightings around the Channel Islands. ``It's a wonderful whale watching season,'' said Clare Fritzsche, an administrator who works with the Channel Islands Naturalist Corps. ``We've been seeing humpback humpback: see hunchback. and blue whales, and we've even been seeing fin whales.'' Alex Brodie, fleet manager for Island Packers, which started its summer whale watching trips this month, said from his crew's standpoint, this is the best time of year to go whale watching. ``We have very cold water this year and the whales have been coming closer to shore. This year, several times, we've seen dolphins chasing fish, and then a whale comes along and eats the whole school of fish.'' Island Packers began its summer excursions July 3 and expects to continue into September. Officials say the whales are coming closer to the mainland and there is a greater variety than usual, apparently because of cooler water and an abundance of krill krill: see crustacean. krill Any member of the crustacean suborder Euphausiacea, comprising shrimplike animals that live in the open sea. The name also refers to the genus Euphausia within the suborder and sometimes to a single species, E. superba. , the tiny shrimp-like animals whales love to eat. The Channel Islands area has one of the largest concentrations of blue whales in the world, Brodie said. Authorities say blue whales are apparently the largest animals to ever wander the planet, and they eat about four tons of krill a day. Last week, the body of what was believed to be a 52-foot-long fin whale (the second-largest specie SPECIE. Metallic money issued by public authority. 2. This term is used in contradistinction to paper money, which in some countries is emitted by the government, and is a mere engagement which represents specie. of whale) washed up on the beach north of Faria County Park in Ventura. Because it was badly decomposed de·com·pose v. de·com·posed, de·com·pos·ing, de·com·pos·es v.tr. 1. To separate into components or basic elements. 2. To cause to rot. v.intr. 1. , officials could not say what might have killed it, but the death raised concerns about algae-produced domoic acid domoic acid An excitatory kainic acid analogue and neurotoxic glutamate agonist, which ↑ neuronal activity, causing food poisoning that has been poisoning sea lions recently off the Ventura County coast. On June 24, the California Department of Health Services Department of Health Services may refer to:
a cause of diarrhea, vomiting, salivation, lacrimation, depression, miosis, polypnea, tachycardia, hypothermia in cats. off the coast. The marine mammal sanctuaries in San Pedro and Santa Barbara are near capacity rehabilitating sick animals, including sea lions that eat anchovies and sardines and were poisoned by the acid. There are no known cases of whales dying from domoic acid poisoning on the West Coast, although they do eat some things that could be contaminated contaminated, v 1. made radioactive by the addition of small quantities of radioactive material. 2. made contaminated by adding infective or radiographic materials. 3. an infective surface or object. , officials said. ``We really don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. what the cause of death is,'' said Joe Cordaro, wildlife biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is a United States federal agency. A division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Department of Commerce, NMFS is responsible for the stewardship and management of the nation's living marine in Long Beach, referring to the whale in Ventura. ``If we get more washing up on shore, we would try to collect more information about what might be killing them.'' A few dead whales wash up in Southern California every year, and the population of some whales appears to be increasing in the Channel Islands area, which would naturally result in more animals washing up on beaches whether there is domoic acid or not, authorities say. Michelle Berman, assistant curator of vertabrae zoology at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History is the oldest museum in Santa Barbara, California, founded in 1916. The museum is located in Mission Canyon, immediately behind the Santa Barbara Mission. , examined the dead whale and said it appeared to be a female fin whale, or possibly a sei whale. A sei whale, however, would be very rare for this area, she said. Officials took a sample from the dead whale to be tested for domoic acid poisoning, but even if a whale has been exposed to the acid, the toxin probably wouldn't kill it, authorities said. ``High levels of domoic acid have been detected in blue whales that were still healthy and swimming around,'' Berman said. She said she had been out on the sea recently and agrees it is a good time for whale watching. ``There are certainly an abundance of whales right now. There's a lot of food right now for them.'' Brodie said the reason there is a concentration of whales here now is because this is the time of the year when a lot of cold, nutrient-rich water comes to the surface. ``The water is green with plankton plankton: see marine biology. plankton Marine and freshwater organisms that, because they are unable to move or are too small or too weak to swim against water currents, exist in a drifting, floating state. . The krill feed on the plankton, and everything from the fish to seabirds to the whales feed on the krill,'' he said David Siegel, professor of oceanography oceanography, study of the seas and oceans. The major divisions of oceanography include the geological study of the ocean floor (see plate tectonics) and features; physical oceanography, which is concerned with the physical attributes of the ocean water, such as in the Department of Geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara History The predecessor to UCSB, Santa Barbara State College, focused on teacher training, industrial arts, home economics, and foreign languages. Intense lobbying by an interest group in the City of Santa Barbara led by Thomas Storke and Pearl Chase persuaded the State , couldn't say whether the waters in the channel were colder than usual, but there was extensive upswelling of cold water in June. ``The ocean is highly dynamic, and changes almost daily in response to winds and local weather patterns. It can change rapidly,'' he said. ``Earlier this month we've had some very cold days. The upwelling up·well·ing n. 1. The act or an instance of rising up from or as if from a lower source: an upwelling of emotion. 2. of cold water was very extensive.'' The blue and humpback whales have been coming into the Santa Barbara Channel The Santa Barbara Channel is that part of the Pacific Ocean which separates the mainland of California from the northern Channel Islands. It is generally south of the city of Santa Barbara, and west of the city of Ventura. for five years on a consistent basis, and this year they are coming in closer, said Brodie, who has been making whale watching excursions for 19 years. ``Probably the most spectacular are the humpbacks. They are famous for their acrobatics acrobatics Art of jumping, tumbling, and balancing. The art is of ancient origin; acrobats performed leaps, somersaults, and vaults at Egyptian and Greek events. Acrobatic feats were featured in the commedia dell'arte theatre in Europe and in jingxi (“Peking ; they breach, slap the whales with their tails. They can also be real friendly. ``The blue whales are over twice the size of a gray whale. They are relatively easy to approach. We get some great looks at them. Fin whales are also impressive, just a little smaller than the blues.'' He said when most people think of whale watching in Southern California, they think of gray whales that migrate relatively close to shore in the winter. ``But it would be safe to say you could do whale watching year-round here,'' Brodie said. ``In total, there are some 28 different species of whales that we've seen here.'' Island Packers runs whale watching trips every few days out of Ventura Harbor and provides information through its Web site, www.islandpackers.com. The trips usually go out by Santa Rosa and San Miguel Islands, but recently they have been seeing the blues and humpbacks out by Santa Cruz and Anacapa, closer to the mainland than usual. Crews on the oil drilling platforms and commercial fisherman who spot whales sometimes provide Island Packers with tips about where to find them. The whale watchers say they have have been seeing about six to 12 whales a day. Eric Leach, (805) 583-7602 eric.leach(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 3 photos Photo: (1 -- color in Simi edition only) A blue whale's tail splashes in the ocean. Blue whales are believed to be the largest animals to have ever existed. Kathy deWet-Oleson/Special to the Daily News (2 -- color in Simi edition only) Onlookers watch as a humpback whale swims by their boat. Humpbacks are well-known for their acrobatic stunts. Scott Dunn/Special to the Daily News (3) Biologists take a sample from a dead whale that washed up near Faria Beach on Tuesday. Tina Burch/Staff Photographer |
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