Ocean Magic II Day

On morning Ocean Magic II trip we found Dall’s porpoises in Haro Strait. We then headed over to Henry Island were J pod was heading north. The subgroups were traveling slowly and a few logged, rested, at the surface. Spieden / J18 the 63 year old matriarch was further out in the mid channel. Shachi / J19 and her year old calf J41 traveled closer to shore. On the noon trip we found J and K pods along North Pender Island milling about and foraging. Cappuccino / K21 an adult male and Lobo / K26 a spouting male were sighted. On the afternoon trip we had reports of J’s and K’s heading east through Active Pass. We decided to go for the extra long trip as the weather was clam and we were making good time. The anticipation grew and was well worth the wait as we entered Georgia Strait we could see the whales breaching and proposing in the very calm water. On the way home we stopped off at Trail Island to assist with a UBC water quality sampling project.

J & K pods

A gorgeous morning on the Ocean Magic II led us into the epic waters of Rosario Strait. There we found J and K pods breaching off Bird Rock as they headed southwest though the channel. The whales foraged and several high-speed fish chases were witnessed at the surface. On the noon trip the whales were off middle Bank heading north up Haro Strait. The whales were spread out in small groups with J1 / Ruffles out in mid channel. We then stopped off Discovery Island and viewed the young harbour seals, eagles, and turkey vultures in the area. On the afternoon trip we found K and J pods further north off San Juan Island. Some whales were just offshore breaching several times at the end of the day.

L12's

Today on the Ocean Magic II we met up with the L12’s in Juan de Fuca Strait. The whales were heading out west through the peaks of the choppy sea. The groups were spread out, foraging, and were going on long dives. The 76 year old matriarch, Alexis / L12, and adult male Mega / L41 were identified. Alexis a grandmother of three offspring (Mega / L41, Matia / L77, and Calypso / L94) lead the group. The mother of these whales, L11, went missing during the winter of 2000 / 2001. L pod spends more time in the western waters of Juan de Fuca Strait than either J or K pods. The whales then joined up into a resting line and headed out west into the distance.

Monday - July 10, 2006

The noon trip on the Ocean Magic II was exciting to see the whales in the swells of the choppy sea. K pod was further north of Lime Kiln traveling south while J pod was further south heading north. Both family groups milled about and foraged in the area. The animals were quite dynamic by breaching in the active water. On the afternoon trip we met up with K pod traveling south off Stuart Island. Lummi the oldest southern resident female, 96 years old, was sighted as was Sequim / K12. Sequim’s youngest offspring Rainshadow / K37 was sighted proposing with Raven's new calf born last month K39.

Kelping off Victoria

On today’s noon trip on the Ocean Magic II all three pods were sighted together, traveling east off the shoreline of Victoria. While K pod went around Trial Island, the others swam close to shore through Enterprise Channel. The whales took advantage of the kelp beds as they swam slowly and ‘kelped’, rubbed their flukes and dorsal fins through the smooth blades of brown algae. We later headed over to Race Rocks Ecological Reserve and viewed the female elephant seals that are quite rare for this area.

Northern elephant seals have post-reproductive feeding excursions in the open sea for more than two months. Male range is typically further north than females. They forage for fish and squid at depths between 300 and 1500m for up to 25min by slowing heart and metabolic rates. The males are larger than females, as is their proboscis, which is used for dominance by production of loud repetitive vocalizations in crowded rookeries. Dialects are distinctive between regions (Le Boeuf and Pentrinovich 1975).

Sequim & Rainshadow

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K12 / Sequim, born 1971, and her fourth calf K39 / Rainshadow, a male in born 2004. Sequim's mother, K4, died so now she (K12) is the matriarch of the K4 matriline.

L pod

Oceansun / L25


Today’s noon trip on the Ocean Magic II brought us north of Henry Island were we found L pod in a resting line. Whales rest by shutting down activity in one half of their brains so they can still use the other half to voluntarily respire. Oceansun / L25 a 78 year old female seemed to wake before the others as she spy hopped twice nearby and traveled south for a bit, perhaps in pursuit of prey, before heading back to the resting group.

US Navy Sonar Testing

FACING LAWSUIT, NAVY DECLARES ITSELF ABOVE THE LAW IN HIGH-INTENSITY SONAR FIGHT

Underwater Sonic Assault Threatens Marine Mammals Near New Ocean Sanctuary; Pentagon Rejects Simple Steps to Fix Longstanding Problem Before Giant War Game

LOS ANGELES (June 30, 2006) - With the U.S. Navy facing a lawsuit to stop its illegal use of high-intensity sonar in a massive practice exercise that began this week, the Pentagon today took the unprecedented step of declaring the military exempt from the basic law protecting whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals. The drill is taking place in a 210,000 square nautical mile area near the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument, created just two weeks ago by President Bush.

The suit was filed on Wednesday by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and other conservation groups after the Navy ignored requests for a safe resolution of the problem and forged ahead with its sonar plans for the biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) maneuvers. High intensity, mid-frequency sonar is a technology that has been directly associated with mass strandings of marine mammals around the world.

"This is an historic and unprecedented retreat by the U.S. Navy from our national commitment to protect whales, dolphins and other marine life," said Joel Reynolds, a senior attorney at NRDC and director of its Marine Mammal Protection Project. "It's not that the Navy can't comply with the law; it's that the Navy chooses not to."

In a two paragraph memorandum, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England excused the Navy for a period of six months from any and all provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) in its use of high-intensity, mid-frequency sonar. The memo from Deputy Secretary England states that in that period, the Navy will work with "the Department of Commerce to address the regulatory authorization process and expedite the analysis and regulatory steps necessary to come into full compliance with the requirements of the Marine Mammal Protection Act." (Click here for PDF file of memo.)

In other words, the Pentagon today acknowledged that its use of mid-frequency sonar does not comply with the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Numerous mass strandings and mortality incidents have been associated with sonar use, including events in Hawaii, Washington State, North Carolina and the Bahamas. Whales exposed to high-intensity sonar have been found bleeding from the eyes and ears, with lesions in their organ tissue. Biologists worry that whales found dying on beaches are only the tip of an iceberg, and that many more are dying at sea.

"Whales and other marine mammals shouldn't have to die for practice," said Reynolds. "The Navy has more than enough room in the oceans to train effectively without injuring or killing endangered whales and other marine species. When the Navy decides to stage a war game in the middle of some of the richest underwater habitat on earth, it is legally obligated to take simple, common sense steps to protect that ecosystem."

Among preventive measures that the Navy has refused to accept: a larger safety zone at all times around the sonar source, as the Navy uses for other sonar systems; adding an extra spotter on board ships during all sonar training; reducing the sonar power level at night or at other times when spotters' visibility is compromised; and avoiding areas in or near significant marine mammal habitat like whale breeding and feeding areas and migratory routes.

During the last RIMPAC exercise in 2004, a group of over 150 melon-headed whales stranded in Hanalei Bay on the island of Kauai following a Navy sonar exercise. After that incident, NRDC and other organizations approached the Navy about the need for planning, review, and mitigation measures to prevent a recurrence. The filing of litigation this week followed the Navy's refusal to include adequate protective measures or to obtain legally required permits and review.

Despite the Marine Mammal Protection Act exemption invoked today by Deputy Secretary England, the groups say the Navy is also operating in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act, and they plan to vigorously pursue the pending lawsuit regardless of today's action.

"The rule in this country has always been that no one is above the law, including the military," said Richard Kendall, a litigation partner at the Los Angeles law firm of Irell & Manella and co-counsel for plaintiffs in the lawsuit. "We intend to continue our efforts to force the Navy to mitigate its sonar use in RIMPAC by prosecuting the Navy's other violations of law."

The lawsuit was brought by NRDC in conjunction with the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the Cetacean Society International, the Ocean Futures Society, and Jean-Michel Cousteau. It was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, in Los Angeles.

http://www.nrdc.org/media/pressreleases/060630a.asp

The sonar testing has been put on hold until the next court hearing on July 18 (King5.com).

Navy gets permit to use sonar that may affect whales, dolphins
Judge temporarily bars Navy use of sonar that may harm whales

Superpod!

All three pods were in spread out today along the west side of the San Juan Island. We met up with the whales off Hanna Heights as they foraged and traveled north. The new K pod baby, K39, was sighted and the whales were quite active with lots of repeated breaches and vocalizations.

K & L pods

Aerial scan


Synchronized spyhop


Flash / L73


Hugo / L71


Mt. Baker


An amazing day on the water with K and L pods. The whales were quite active with lots of percussive behaviour, aerial scans, and a synchronized spyhop by two individuals! Flash / L73 and was identified as well as Hugo / L71.

Offshore Killer Whale

A third group of killer whales, called offshores, have been discovered as a distinct population off the coast of North America. They are found in large groups of 30 to 60 individuals. They have been seen as far south as southern California and as far north as southeast Alaska. They are smaller than resident and transient killer whales. Their dorsal fin shape and mottled saddle patches resemble resident killer whales suggesting a closer common ancestor than with transients. Offshores have been recorded emitting discrete call types and their teeth are ground down from suspected shark prey.

On August 29, 1997 a dead killer whale was reported drifting 17 miles
offshore. It took the Strawberry Isle Marine Research Society’s small research boat eleven hours to tow the carcass to Strawberry Isle, with many re-fueling visits from whale-watching boats. The 5.5m (18ft) female orca’s saddle patch and dorsal fin identified her as O120, a member of the elusive offshore group of killer whales. No clear cause of death was found, though her heavily worn teeth and thin blubber suggest that she may have been old and far removed from her home in more southern waters.

After year of bleaching the bones in the sun, Society member Dominique Dupuis (Pipot) and a crew of volunteers put in close to 700 hours scrubbing and treating the bones with a non-toxic penetrating epoxy. Pipot and Robinson Cook created the ingenious orca-sized framework that supports the skeleton. The Build-A-Whale exhibit has inspired people in classrooms and at community events all over Vancouver Island, and will continue touring after it leaves the BC Experience.