Orcas and Gray whales face off a half mile off Palos Verdes coast during migration [PHOTOS]
Photo by April O. House
Although the family often interacts with humans, there are laws against humans interacting with them.
Alex Smith, a local boater from Hermosa Beach, watched in horror over the weekend as a boat with a group of people followed too closely to a whale and almost t-boned another boat. “There are a lot of [idiots] out there,” said Smith. “People drink and don’t pay attention to what they are doing. They are ignorant of the animals and disrespectful…. Two years ago I heard that a guy on a jet ski used a whale as a ramp and jumped off of it. Those are the kind of horror stories that are really tragic and people doing stuff like that ruin the experience for everybody. It’s going to hurt the animals and scare them away.”
He suggests that if you see a whale, put your engine in neutral if you are within 100 yards or 300 feet of the creature. He also reminded boaters that it is illegal to feed them and put chum in the water hoping they will come to your boat. “You could drive next to them and hit their head,” said Smith. “People don’t understand that that they aren’t just that little spot you see – they are huge.”
April O. House, a Cabrillo Whale watching naturalist and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society volunteer, also cautions that the plastic bags, packaging and other plastic items we purchase, use and toss out don’t always make it into recycling and whales and other marine life have been found with those types of things in their stomachs.
Although the recent interaction with the adult gray whale was unusual, it isn’t unheard of, and killer whales are not typically graphic creatures. In fact, “orca” is becoming more commonly used for this species than the traditional name, “killer whale.”
“People get the idea of killer whale as a people and whale killer,” Schulman-Janiger explained. “They don’t kill people and they don’t all kill whales… it’s an undeserved reputation. They are very good predators, but people see a killer whale and think, ‘It’s going to kill me!’ It’s never happened. They have never killed or harmed a person purposefully in the wild.” Although transient killer whales specialize in marine mammal prey, other types specialize in fish, and never harm marine mammals.
However, even though killer whales have never harmed a human in the wild, humans have seen killer whales do astonishing things to other animals, mainly and most frequently, the sea lion.
Photo by Alex Smith.
“Every day [when the orcas were seen in the Santa Monica Bay] they were documented eating sea lions,” said Schulman-Janiger. “They are the only predator besides the great white shark that eats them.”
Although killer whales don’t prey on adult whales, they do go after juvenile gray whales, especially when they make their way to the Arctic on their first trip north with their mothers.
Recently, local whale-watchers have spotted orcas playing with sea lions – batting them back and forth in the water and the air – after causing an apparently gruesome death. The truth, according to Schulman-Janiger, isn’t that they are torturing the sea lions (or dolphins, which have also been the object of such orca behavior); instead, they are teaching their juveniles hunting techniques in a controlled environment when the prey is unable to fight back. They often carry around the animal for long periods of time, encouraging the juveniles to practice the techniques that the adults use to hunt.
This season has already seen a record number of southbound gray whales, up to 308 from 154 last year. Daily there can be anywhere from 10 to 27 whales crossing the Redondo Canyon on their way to Baja California. Researchers estimate the high number of grays can be attributed to an earlier southbound migration season; some may also be migrating closer to shore. Researchers also think it will be a banner year for calves and suggest that quite a few of the whales are pregnant following two consecutive outstanding feeding seasons in the Arctic. This is good news for gray whale populations that have been both on and off the Endangered Species list in recent years.
But the occasional presence of calves on the southbound journey also is a somewhat troubling indicator on another front.
“It was originally thought that gray whales gave birth to their young only in the warm waters of Baja California, but [with global warming] in the last 15 years that has changed,” said Diane Alps, Cabrillo Whalewatch, President of the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Cetacean Society. According to Alps, because of the receding ice coverage, the whales are being forced further north during their feeding season. The whales head south at the same time they always have, but because they are forced to swim longer distances, they often give birth before reaching their destination.
Still, the species is at present bouncing back and moving through the RedondoCanyonin record numbers. People aboard the Voyager and other vessels have been lucky enough to spot the grays as well as smaller whales and dolphins almost every day in recent weeks and possibly until the end of May. Orcas continue to be seen inSanta Monica Bay, where a pod of seven was spotted earlier this week.
“I would think and hope we have not seen the last of them,” said Schulman-Janiger.
Taylor Hall, 5, and her grandparents Joyce and Steve Stepanek and brother Mason were on the Voyager and spotted their first gray whale last Friday. “It was cool,” said Hall. “I haven’t seen whales before.”
Added her grandmother Joyce, “I thought it would be a fun day-outing and a different experience. It’s been an adventure.”
A view of Redondo Beach in late afternoon from the whale watching boat the Voyager. Photo .
The Voyager provides two whale watching trips daily at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., weather permitting. To book tickets, visit their website at http://www.voyagerexcursions.com