Went out for whale watch #6 today from Gloucester, on Capt. Bill and Sons with the Whale Center of New England. The weather here in New England has been decidedly unexciting lately, with more rain than anything else. On shore today, though, it was beautiful with sunny skies and some clouds – but not those of the threatening variety – and it was looking like we would have a nice trip. I had organized a group of friends and friends of friends from Camp Camp, and was really hoping to get a good trip in. Continue Reading »

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On most whale watches from the Northeast US, one of the many things that the naturalists will talk about is the danger to whales posed by fishing gear. Entanglement is a huge issue for whales and it is estimated that in the Stellwagen Bank area, 70% or more of the humpback whales bear scars from encounters with fishing gear. Efforts are ongoing to reduce the impact that fishing gear has on whales (like replacing floating line with sinking line), but the perfect solution has not yet been found.

Because minke whales are so fast moving and not as active at the surface as humpbacks, they are discussed less up in these parts. That made this story out of Canada about an entanglement injury on a minke whale very interesting to me. Take a look at the photos with the story to see the scar cutting right across the whale’s rorqual pleats. It is remarkable that this whale survives and has adapted to be able to feed despite the injury.

I’ve not had the misfortune of coming across an entangled whale while out on a whale watch. In this part of the world, whale watch boats that come across entangled whales are asked to both report them to the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies and wait with the whale until help arrives. Hopefully, as fishing gear adapts and is replaced, as ghost gear is removed from the ocean, injuries such as what happened to this minke, and has happened to hundreds of other whales, can become much less common.

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Today is the first annual UN World Oceans Day. What does this mean? It’s an effort to shine a spotlight on the state of our oceans. It’s easy to stand on most shores, look out at the horizon, and feel a lot of peace about how beautiful the oceans are. But unfortunately, our oceans are in trouble. Very serious trouble, actually. Trash getting into the water is a major one, leading to things like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. There are other places around the world where trash is collecting, but this is the largest. A comprehensive report on marine litter was just released today.

What can we do? Well, a lot, but here’s a start:

If you smoke, dispose of your butts in a container. Stamping them on the ground just means they will get washed into some waterway and it has been shown that the filters contain plastics that make water toxic to fish. And the butts are eaten by fish, turtles and other marine life, which also kills them. Butts are trash. They shouldn’t just be tossed around and beaches are not giant ashtrays.

If you like seafood, make sure you are choosing something that is sustainable. Aquariums like the Monterey Bay Aquarium keep a close eye on this issue. Here’s a list of “good” fish to eat in a relative list. Overfishing is a massively important issue, and really greatly ignored. Some people are starting to make a stand, including against high end restaurants serving highly endangered bluefin tuna. Don’t eat at restaurants that serve shark fin soup. Sharks are disappearing at alarming rates because of being finned for a soup, where the fins add no taste and it’s simply “fashionable” to eat. Now, sharks are disappearing so fast that manta rays are being caught in increasing numbers for the soup. Human greed and consumption is vastly outpacing the oceans.

Go on a whale watch. See the ocean at work with your own eyes. What people know about, they tend to better protect. Not near the ocean? There are a bunch of great IMAX films available on DVD which is like being right there. I rather like Deep Sea 3D, myself, and am looking forward to one day getting “Dolphins and Whales 3D” on DVD.

I am still learning about the oceans and the myriad wonders, mysteries and problems. A lot of people out there have posted hints as well, so Google it and see what you can do. We must all make the effort, or there will be no more fish, no more whales, no more coral reefs, etc etc. As the oceans go, so will go our entire planet. Just because we can’t see the bottom of the ocean from the surface, doesn’t mean there is no bottom. And as Lucy Lawless said in a PSA, “there is no Planet B”. (Yes the PSA is primarily about climate change, but the oceans’ ability to absorb carbon dioxide is key to our climate.) Taking care of the oceans means taking care of us and all of this planet’s residents.

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As my time on the Cape was drawing to a close for this Provincetown visit, I could not resist going out on one more whale watch.  At 10 AM, I boarded the Dolphin 8.  It was another gorgeously sunny day, but a little breezier than the day before so the waters were a little choppy again.  Being the day after the long weekend, the boat was also not terribly crowded.  Shaping up to be another grand day on the water.

Fin whale expert John Conlon was our naturalist today.  One of the best things about whale watching from Provincetown is that all of the naturalists have many seasons behind them and are very familiar with the terrain, the ecosystems, and the animals within them.  It makes a big difference, IMNSHO, to have that experience couching the experience of the whale watch.

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Today I went out on whale watch #3 for the weekend. Again, I found myself on the Dolphin Fleet’s Portuguese Princess, which was just fine. It was a beautiful day: sunny, little breeze, almost no clouds in the sky. So, everyone else seemed to want to go out, too, and the boat was fairly crowded.

Luckily, this was another one of those “I don’t know where to look!” watches where there was activity happening in virtually every direction. Our first “stop” was with some whales which were swimming somewhat casually. There were very few deeper dives so few looks at any flukes. The exception to this was one whale which kept rolling over and flipper slapping. Because of the bright sunlight, visibility was a little deeper into the water column than previously this weekend, so we could see a lot more just below the surface. Even though there were two other whales associated with the flipper slapper, that one was the only one really doing much more than just swimming. In the general vicinity there were other blows, so all told we had about 6 whales in the area. One was quickly identified as being Ventiska, thanks to her distinct dorsal.

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That pretty much sums up today’s whale watch. Went out again from Provincetown on the Dolphin Fleet’s Portuguese Princess. Weather was a little nicer. Still cool with a breeze but the sun came out while we were on Stellwagen Bank, no rain! Better weather also meant a more crowded boat. According to the naturalist, Mark Gilmore, there were around 200 people on board a 350-capacity boat. That was plenty crowded for me!

Our trip today took us a little farther away from shore as Race Point was out of sight. But once we found whales, it was rather like hitting the jackpot! We found Ventiska again, hanging out with a mother and calf. We got good looks at them, and could see several other spouts in the vicinity, though the whales at this spot were not being especially active at the surface.

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While we had a fantastic whale watch from Provincetown, over on Herring Cove Beach was a different whale activity: a necropsy. On the 22nd, a juvenile fin whale washed ashore. En route to Stellwagen Bank, we could see the whale, and a growing gathering of people, on the beach, very close to the parking lot at Herring Cove.

It’s a gruesome thing, but I’d never seen a necropsy, so once we came back to shore, I hopped in the car to go over. Much of the whale had already been removed by this time. It seemed still “whole” at around 10 when our whale watch boat passed by, but when I arrived at 2, it was apparent that no time was being wasted. This was, after all, a holiday weekend, and having a dead whale on a popular beach was not a good scenario.

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I am in Provincetown, MA for my annual Memorial Day Weekend getaway. When here, I squeeze in as many whale watches as I can manage, and I kicked that off today. Went on the Dolphin Fleet’s Portuguese Princess at 10 AM. Because it was cool and overcast, the boat was not very crowded which is a very nice treat. It still got a little competitive at the rails, but not nearly as much as it could have been were it a sunny and warm day.

The peril of a first in the day whale watch is the challenge of finding where the whales went overnight. We did not have any problem finding whales today. In fact, we found them so quickly that we were not even far off the Cape. The buildings at Race Point Light were easily visible throughout the trip. Our first sighting opportunity landed us amidst 10-12 humpback whales, including at least 2 cow/calf pairs, doing very active surface feeding. We saw some kick feeding and some great open mouth lunge feeding with wide open looks. Not yet eating solid food, we saw some breaching from one of the calves, too. They seem to know how to entertain themselves while mom is busy feeding. After this tremendous “show” for about half an hour, the bait fish seemed to have dispersed because the whales quieted right down. We could still see numerous spouts around, but the dramatic surface activity was much less.

We searched for some more whales and got quick looks at a few. Much to my delight, one of these whales was Salt! She may be the grande dame of Stellwagen Bank, but in my 50+ trips out, this is the very first time I had seen her. She was travelling with Cardhu but again they were being sort of quiet, just hanging out at the surface. We never even got a look at Salt’s flukes (good thing she has that distinctive dorsal fin!).

All told, we had about 19-21 humpback whales today and one distant look at a fin whale travelling through. Named whales ID’d during the trip included Salt, Cardhu, Lavaliere, Ventiska, and Ganesh. I am already eagerly looking forward to my next trip out. Since I am still shooting film, I won’t have photos to put up for a couple of days, but will do so as soon as I have them.

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It took me a little longer than planned, but I have posted my photos from the 2007 and 2008 seasons up in the blog. Just hit the gallery link, and enjoy!

Eventually, I may add earlier years but they have to be scanned so that may take a while…

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The good thing about whale watching in April is yay! whale watching season has started again! The tricky thing about whale watching in April is that it is early in the season and there is not as much happening out on Stellwagen Bank as would be later on. Still, thanks to the kindness of a friend, we went out on the New England Aquarium’s Voyager III.

Being on a Monday with school still in session, the boat was refreshingly not crowded. It was also a little chilly out on the water, but we were mostly prepared for that. There were a few people on the boat in shorts and without jackets, so I think they mostly stayed in one of the cabins.

Since there was still a very high density of right whales in Cape Cod Bay, the boat headed more to the north end of Stellwagen Bank in order to give the right whales some space. And again, since it was early in the season, there weren’t a lot of other whales around yet. Caught a passing look at a fin whale. Some minkes popped up around us as well. Our best look at a humpback was courtesy of Giraffe. She seemed to be doing some just below the surface feeding as we did get to see a bubble cloud. Got a couple of good looks at the flukes, too. There was another humpback whale in the distance but we didn’t close enough for a solid ID.

As usual, any whale watch where a whale is seen is a good day. But, I am also looking forward to more trips, hopefully, through the season as more humpbacks return to Stellwagen Bank.

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