Discussion about what Humpback Whales are doing in the Pacific Ocean this spring. Steve Stripling and I chat on the Big Alaska Show about whale behaviors and migration from Hawaii, Mexico and Central America as they return to Alaskan waters to feed during the summer.
Swimming within arms length of whale Glenn J. Barr understands how to interact.
Whales Without Borders News
Glenn J. Barr understands how to interact with whales
Glenn J. Barr understands how to swim with whales
Listen to my recent Whales Without Borders radio interview on The Big Alaska Show.
Four Column 10-21-2014 Playlist
Different stages in the decomposition of a whale carcass support a succession of marine biological communities.
The ocean’s depths are supplied by nutrients falling down from the surface waters said NOAA. The agency reports that when whales die and sink, the whale carcasses, or whale falls, provide a sudden, concentrated food source and a bonanza for organisms in the deep sea.
Different stages in the decomposition of a whale carcass support a succession of marine biological communities. Scavengers consume the soft tissue in a matter of months and organic fragments enrich nearby sediments for over a year.
The whale skeleton itself can support rich communities for years to decades, both as a hard surface for invertebrate colonization and as a source of sulfides from the decay of organic compounds of whale bones.
Microbes live off of the energy released from these chemical reactions and form the basis of ecosystems for as long as the food source lasts.
At deep-sea levels, this forms a new food web and provides energy to support single- and multi-cell organisms and sponges, thus adding to the ocean’s food chain.
If a whale falls in the ocean and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?
While there is no answer to that version of the age-old philosophical question, marine biologists do know that marine organisms are there to eat it when it lands on the bottom. It???s a called a whale fall.
https://www.app.com/story/sports/outdoors/fishing/hook-line-and-sinker/2014/10/16/ocean-facts-careful-whales-falling/17375115/
The mother was pushing her Calf out of the water to take it’s first breaths.
During a day of whale watching around Big Sand Cay. We encountered a pair of Humpbacks, Mother and Calf. The mother was pushing her Calf out of the water to take it’s first breaths. We observed at the surface from our boat for several minutes before getting in the water to have a closer look. This 60s clip is what we saw in the water, the magical encounter as the pair swam by us.
Published on Oct 19, 2014
Concerns over beluga whales delay Energy East pipeline project
A possible threat to the endangered beluga whales in the St. Lawrence River and TransCanada Corp.???s $11-billion Energy East pipeline project has run into another stumbling block in Quebec as public opposition mounts.
The Calgary-based pipeline company is still awaiting provincial government permission to continue its exploratory and drilling work on a planned export terminal at Cacouna, a key calving site for the belugas, despite the lifting of a temporary court injunction on Oct. 15.
TransCanada had a work timetable it wanted to complete before the ice forms on the river.
The company???s goal was to return to work after it submitted to Quebec???s environment ministry a revised plan for noise abatement and other measures to protect the belugas, but it is still waiting for the green light after having done so last Wednesday.
Oct. 15 is viewed as the end of the mother belugas??? calving period. Ministry officials were not available to comment Sunday but the company said it had proactively increased the exclusion zone for marine mammals before receiving the notice of non-compliance and it had obtained all proper procedures in obtaining authorization .
The work permit expires at the end of November.
The Energy East project involves the conversion of a natural-gas pipeline, as well as construction of a new line through Quebec and New Brunswick, to carry 1.1 million barrels a day of Western Canadian crude to refineries and export facilities in the two provinces.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other politicians have called the project a nation-builder. In a show of support for Energy East, New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant is scheduled to meet with business and political leaders in Alberta beginning Monday and also tour a TransCanada operations centre as well as visit the oil sands.
Meanwhile, Quebec environmental groups said that about 38,000 signatures have so far been collected on a petition urging Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard to halt the Cacouna drilling permanently.
The Cacouna project is ???in the heart of the belugas??? vital habitat,??? said Michel B??langer, president of Nature Qu??bec.
???People are very concerned.???
TransCanada should not be allowed to do any work on East Energy in the province, said Mr. B??langer, until it has undergone a full and rigorous review by the Bureau d???audiences publiques sur l???environnement, Quebec???s environment regulation agency.
TransCanada is expected to file for federal regulatory approval later this month.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/concerns-over-beluga-whales-delay-energy-east-project/article21158740/
Thousands of gray whales begin annual southern migration
Thousands of gray whales begin annual southern migration to Mexico from their feeding grounds in the Arctic, where near-record low ice coverage last spring allowed pregnant females to get early access to food.
In the coming weeks, more than 20,000 gray whales will begin their annual two-month, 5,000-mile journey south ??? from the Arctic Circle, past San Diego, to warm lagoons off Baja California.
The pod has been feeding over the past four months in the Chukchi Sea and northern Bering Sea.
Gray whales travel 10,000 to 14,000 miles round trip every year — from feeding grounds near the Arctic to breeding lagoons in Baja California.
Credit: Washington State Dept. of Ecology
Above: Gray whales travel10,000 to 14,000 miles roundtrip every year — from feeding grounds near the Arctic to breeding lagoons in Baja California.
Near-record low ice coverage when they returned to the North Pacific last spring allowed pregnant females to get early access to vital feeding areas, increasing their chance for a full-term pregnancy, said Wayne Perryman, fisheries biologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla.
Pregnant females fast during the four-month round-trip migration, so it???s important for them to fatten up quickly upon their return in May, Perryman said.
Now that the whales have gained enough blubber, expectant females will lead the pod south to their birthing waters, he said.
https://www.kpbs.org/news/2014/oct/13/fattened-gray-whales-low-ice-arctic-set-journey-so/