SEA WORLD LOSES CONTACT WITH J.J. OFF SAN DIEGO.

Byline: Sherry Joe Crosby Daily News Staff Writer

J.J., the orphaned gray whale, is lost at sea.

The wandering cetacean shed the second of her two satellite tracking transmitters in the waters off San Diego, leaving researchers at Sea World San Diego to rely on occasional sightings by sea and air, officials said Friday.

``Nobody knows how this is going to turn out, and J.J. still has a lot of challenges ahead of her,'' said Pam Yochem, senior research biologist at Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute. ``But based on what I've seen the past couple of days, I'm optimistic.''

Without the tracking devices, looking for J.J. in the vast Pacific Ocean will be like ``looking for a needle in a haystack,'' said Joe Cordaro, coordinator of the California Marine Mammal Stranding Network.

``We won't be able to track her at all. It's disappointing we lost the transmitters because we were hoping to get good scientific data,'' Cordaro said.

J.J., released Tuesday into the Pacific Ocean near San Diego Bay, was last seen Thursday morning near Imperial Beach, south of Point Loma.

Early reports indicated she was swimming energetically and acting like a typical young California gray whale, including diving for as long as six minutes and foraging along the ocean floor for food.

``She just cooked. She was swimming well and swimming strongly for hours at a time,'' said Yochem.

The 19,000-pound mammal, rescued last year near Venice and nursed back to health at Sea World, also appeared to be avoiding hazards such as boats and piers.

``We saw her doing things about approaching boats, kayakers and piers,'' Yochem said. ``She didn't just blunder into them. She checked them out before approaching them.''

J.J. was declared missing Friday after the second transmitter package was recovered late Thursday south of San Diego. The first package was found Wednesday near Coronado.

Fastened on her back and near her blowhole, the transmitters could have been lost as J.J. scoured the ocean floor, Sea World officials said. While one recovered transmitter was undamaged, the other was scratched and splintered, possibly from scraping against the ocean bottom.

``Gray whale behavior involves rolling over and rubbing on the ocean bottom,'' Yochem said.

The transmitters, attached by toggles inserted into J.J.'s blubber, were designed to break away under pressure. Scientists had anticipated losing them but had hoped to track the whale for 18 months, until the batteries ran out.

Scientists didn't want to implant permanent tracking devices because J.J. still is growing and could have developed health problems from them. ``J.J. had less than three inches of blubber in the area and we didn't want to do anything more invasive,'' Yochem said.

Researchers said they have other methods of monitoring the mammal.

``We're hoping we can use photo identification techniques routinely used with other large whales to study her movements and behavior,'' Yochem said.

J.J. sports a red, white and blue label, known as a ``spaghetti tag,'' which is difficult to rub off and is visible from boats and planes. The whale also has distinctive gray, white and black markings on her body and tail flukes.

He said he isn't concerned about J.J.'s seeming reluctance to join other whales on their migratory journey north to Alaska.

``It doesn't matter whether she's in Alaska, Mexico or California as long as she's able to find food,'' Cordaro said. ``I won't be concerned unless she's high and dry on a beach somewhere.''

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Map

MAP: J.J. LOST

J.J. the orphaned gray whale, has stayed within a 15-mile radius of Point Loma, where she was released Tuesday. Researchers have recovered both transmitters - one found Wenesday near Coronado and the other Thursday south of San Diego.

Daily News