Blue whales dine in treacherous waters off L.A.'s coast. LA TIMES SAVE THE WHALES!

[sce56]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-blue-whales-20111007,0,6430497.story
Endangered blue whales, because they increasingly feed near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, are at risk of being hit and killed by the enormous ships heading to and from the complex.




By Tony Barboza, Los Angeles Times

October 7, 2011
The waters near the nation's largest port complex have become a bustling feeding ground for increasing numbers of blue whales, putting the endangered animals at greater risk of being hit and killed by the enormous ships moving in and out of the harbor, according to researchers who've been tracking them for nearly two years.

The whales, which migrate along the coast of California and are regularly spotted from May to December, are congregating in such numbers in the midst of this virtual freeway of ship traffic that the spot has become "the area of densest concentration close to shore in all of California," said research scientist John Calambokidis. Daily appearances by the world's largest animal feeding along an underwater drop-off outside Los Angeles Harbor have been a huge draw for sightseers. But the underwater buffet of krill, the shrimp-like crustaceans the whales feast on, is in the path of a major shipping lane and puts them in danger of being hit and killed by vessels leaving the port.

"While this is a unique and exciting opportunity to have these animals out here, it also puts them at great risk," said Calambokidis, co-founder of the Olympia, Wash.-based Cascadia Research Collective. Over the last decade, dozens of whales off the California coast have been injured or killed by ships, and scientists think the slowly recovering population of about 2,500 West Coast blue whales is especially vulnerable.

Four blue whales were struck and killed by vessels in 2007 near the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary off the coast of Santa Barbara, raising the alarm of federal wildlife officials, who now monitor the whales from the air and use their coordinates to issue notices asking freighters to voluntarily slow down. With the increase in blue whales near the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex, Calambokidis said, "now we're worried about here."

[abelenkpe]

1. Whales? Here? Woo Hoo!

and yeah, we do need to do more to protect them :)

[sce56]

2. Killer whales linger in Alaska river, and scientists wonder why? Can You Say Tipping Point!

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011/10/three-killer-whales-linger-in-fresh-water-alaskan-river.html

Why have three killer whales spent three weeks in an Alaska river? And is the fresh water harming them? Those questions have marine mammal scientists scratching their heads. The whales have been spotted in the Nushagak River, not far from the village of Dillingham, about 330 miles southwest of Anchorage. Their arrival was no cause for concern. Dillingham residents say whales are regular visitors in the fall. But usually the killer whales, also known as orcas, stay downriver toward the ocean. And they have never been known to stay this long. Then there's the spotty orange gunk visible on their backs and dorsal fins.

In an interview with The Times, biologist Barbara Mahoney of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it looked as if the orcas had an infection that could be related to stress brought on by the animals being out of their normal habitat. It could be a fungus that only grows in fresh water, she said, or it might be there because the animals are moving more slowly.

"Nobody knows exactly what causes it," Mahoney said. "But that orange color has been witnessed before in other whales that wound up in fresh water."

In a statement, NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service said it had just been alerted to the whale situation, and as of Thursday evening had no plans to intervene. The agency is consulting with orca experts to decide what to do. If the whales don't leave of their own accord in a few weeks, NOAA will most likely intervene, Mahoney said. "We are monitoring the situation with the expectation that if things don't happen fairly soon we will have to have some type of response," she said. "By the end of October, things start freezing up around here."

[sce56]

3. A measly 8 votes in 11 hours what happend to the people here that fought for the environment you

know mother earth and her more beautiful creatures?

[saras]

4. Whales hanging out in LA? Still hopeful, even after the singing fad faded

Whale song never really caught on beyond a few introductory albums, but I hear that they can rap, and they're PISSED.

[xchrom]

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