Finally, it appears that the mother and calf humpback whales that made a wrong turn and went into the Sacramento River on May 13Th, today are back in the Pacific Ocean.
Last night they were spotted close to the Golden Gate Bridge and hope was up for the scientists and government officials trying to help them find their way back to the ocean.
I have tried to get information to see if anybody has photographed the underside of the tail of the mother but I guess no one has.
A dear friend sent a photo of what appears to be the calf's tail though...
In any case, farewell to them and I hope the make it to their feeding grounds soon.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Thursday, May 24, 2007
The lost whales
I’m sure many of us have heard about the two wayward whales that swam north along the Sacramento River.
They were spotted on May 13tTh on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and they have been almost 12 days in a fresh water environment which they are not adapted to.
They were spotted on May 13tTh on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and they have been almost 12 days in a fresh water environment which they are not adapted to.
One of the articles I read said that Brian Gorman, a spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration mentioned "I wouldn't say there's a lot of optimism right now".
I’m wondering if those whales were here in our bay and if we have photographed them (or at least the mother) and included them in our catalog...I'll try to get in touch with some of the people up north trying to help those whales and ask them if they have photographed the mother's underside of the tail.
I can relate to these people's frustration of not being able to help them...last February here in our bay, a calf was ran over by a boat and left her injured... on February 11Th I was able to photographed the calf and the mother (shown in the photo above) which seemed to be doing OK at that moment however, that was the last time we saw them here and I wonder if the calf survived.
We may be able to answer this and other questions in the future if we continue to work on our photo identification project here in our bay.
The more we know about them and their migration habits, the more we will be able to help protect them.
What can you do to help? if you come to Puerto Vallarta and are thinking of going on whale watching tour, come with us and be sure that when you pay for a ticket to go see these beautiful giants, you are supporting a project that may help save the whales.
Monday, May 21, 2007
The annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Anchorage, Alaska
Well, while some of us are trying to do something to help the population of whales, some are doing exactly the opposite...
In the next 10 days, the eyes of the world will be in Anchorage, Alaska, where the International Whaling Commission is holding its annual meeting.
While pressure from Japan has built up to overturn the whaling ban, a recent poll in certain Carebean islands showed that the majority of the people from the very countries whose governments have voted in the past in favor of Japan´s agenda, do not really support the overturn of the whaling ban and they also think that their governments should have not voted to do so. As the article says, so much for democracy!
This is a link to a video part of the campaign launched by the US to help counterbalance for Japan's pressure to overturn the whaling ban.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NVORDMUtkk&mode=related&search=
I certainly hope that the madness and cruelty of the whaling years does not come back to haunt us.
You know, whales and dolphins have live on this planet for millions of years without causing significantly alterations to it.
In the next 10 days, the eyes of the world will be in Anchorage, Alaska, where the International Whaling Commission is holding its annual meeting.
While pressure from Japan has built up to overturn the whaling ban, a recent poll in certain Carebean islands showed that the majority of the people from the very countries whose governments have voted in the past in favor of Japan´s agenda, do not really support the overturn of the whaling ban and they also think that their governments should have not voted to do so. As the article says, so much for democracy!
This is a link to a video part of the campaign launched by the US to help counterbalance for Japan's pressure to overturn the whaling ban.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NVORDMUtkk&mode=related&search=
I certainly hope that the madness and cruelty of the whaling years does not come back to haunt us.
You know, whales and dolphins have live on this planet for millions of years without causing significantly alterations to it.
We humans have been here for only a few thousands of years and we have killed 'till their extinction, hundreds or maybe thousands of species already.
We have even managed to start a climate change that may threaten or very own existence.
If we can't save the whales, we may not be able to save ourselves.
http://www.discoverpacifictours.com
We have even managed to start a climate change that may threaten or very own existence.
If we can't save the whales, we may not be able to save ourselves.
http://www.discoverpacifictours.com
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Banderas Bay photo identification project (catálogo FIBB)
When Astrid Frisch of Ecotours gave me a letter of intent to participate in a grand catalog of the population of Humpback whales in Banderas Bay, on November 19th 2002, I had already more that 100 whales cataloged and I’m sure Isabel and Hugo of Open Air Expeditions probably had many more since they had been photographing them since 1996 already.
Astrid told me that the photographs that she was going to get from us will only be used in the catalog and that it was not going to be used for commercial benefit of any of our business.
This was the main reason that convinced me to join this project.
So we thought it was a great idea and if we were going to trust anybody with our work, that person was Astrid and we immediately got on board and have started to contribute to the Banderas Bay photo ID project.
At the beginning there were seven companies participating, Astrid Frisch of Ecotours; Isabel Cárdenas and Hugo Brodziak of Open Air Expeditions; Biologist Roberto Moncada of Instituto Tecnológico del Mar #6 (ITMAR), now ITBB; Biologist Sherman Hernández of the Centro Regional de Investigación Pesquera (INP); Oscar Frey of Ocean Friendly; Ricardo Farkas, Carlos Oliveira, Tyania Diffin, Christel Reimnick and Octavia Jolley of Vallarta Adventure and of course Alfredo Herrera of Discover Pacific Tours.
We also have the support of the University of Guadalajara, Department of Sciences, Campus Puerto Vallarta, which has given us a cubicle to work in as well as students that are doing social service, to scan and help us catalog the photographs.
Unidos para la Conservación, A.C.
And the October Hill Foundation which has contributed financially to our cause.
Today, our FIBB catalog has photographs of tails of Humpback whales in our bay from 1996 to 2006 divided as follows:
991 identified individual whales and 1,299 recaptures (whales that have been photographed in the past in our bay).
This is tremendous effort from everyone’s part, provided we don’t have financial support from our government and we have to sell photographs to be able to finance this project.
Hats off to all of our clients-friends that have paid for a ticket to come on our tours and help us that way, to go out and be able to photograph these whales.
Astrid told me that the photographs that she was going to get from us will only be used in the catalog and that it was not going to be used for commercial benefit of any of our business.
This was the main reason that convinced me to join this project.
So we thought it was a great idea and if we were going to trust anybody with our work, that person was Astrid and we immediately got on board and have started to contribute to the Banderas Bay photo ID project.
At the beginning there were seven companies participating, Astrid Frisch of Ecotours; Isabel Cárdenas and Hugo Brodziak of Open Air Expeditions; Biologist Roberto Moncada of Instituto Tecnológico del Mar #6 (ITMAR), now ITBB; Biologist Sherman Hernández of the Centro Regional de Investigación Pesquera (INP); Oscar Frey of Ocean Friendly; Ricardo Farkas, Carlos Oliveira, Tyania Diffin, Christel Reimnick and Octavia Jolley of Vallarta Adventure and of course Alfredo Herrera of Discover Pacific Tours.
We also have the support of the University of Guadalajara, Department of Sciences, Campus Puerto Vallarta, which has given us a cubicle to work in as well as students that are doing social service, to scan and help us catalog the photographs.
Unidos para la Conservación, A.C.
And the October Hill Foundation which has contributed financially to our cause.
Today, our FIBB catalog has photographs of tails of Humpback whales in our bay from 1996 to 2006 divided as follows:
991 identified individual whales and 1,299 recaptures (whales that have been photographed in the past in our bay).
This is tremendous effort from everyone’s part, provided we don’t have financial support from our government and we have to sell photographs to be able to finance this project.
Hats off to all of our clients-friends that have paid for a ticket to come on our tours and help us that way, to go out and be able to photograph these whales.
It was estimated that before their exploitation by the whaling industry, the population of Humpback whales in the north pacific was between 15,000 and 20,000 individuals (Rice 1978). After the whale hunt moratorium only between 1200 and 1400 of them remained.
Recent studies estimate the population of Humpback Whales in the Gulf of California to about 2000 of them.
The population referred to as “the coastal stock” which is distributed along the Mexican Coast Line (Banderas Bay, Chamela, Isabel Island, and The Marias Islands) and also by the whales distributed in the waters around the Baja California Peninsula, from Bahía Magdalena in the West Coast to the Bay of La Paz in the Gulf of California, was estimated in 1992 to be 1,813 individuals (918-2,505) (Urbán 2001).
In 2004 Frisch estimated that the population of Humpback whales in Banderas Bay could be between 750 and 2,200 individuals.
The data base provided by the FIBB Catalog could contribute to our knowledge and conservation of the Humpback Whale.
The number of photographs contributed by each participant are as follows:
Open Air Expeditions 289; INP 132; Discover Pacific Tours 335; Ecotours 639; Ocean Friendly 308; Vallarta Adventure; 474.
Recent studies estimate the population of Humpback Whales in the Gulf of California to about 2000 of them.
The population referred to as “the coastal stock” which is distributed along the Mexican Coast Line (Banderas Bay, Chamela, Isabel Island, and The Marias Islands) and also by the whales distributed in the waters around the Baja California Peninsula, from Bahía Magdalena in the West Coast to the Bay of La Paz in the Gulf of California, was estimated in 1992 to be 1,813 individuals (918-2,505) (Urbán 2001).
In 2004 Frisch estimated that the population of Humpback whales in Banderas Bay could be between 750 and 2,200 individuals.
The data base provided by the FIBB Catalog could contribute to our knowledge and conservation of the Humpback Whale.
The number of photographs contributed by each participant are as follows:
Open Air Expeditions 289; INP 132; Discover Pacific Tours 335; Ecotours 639; Ocean Friendly 308; Vallarta Adventure; 474.
I personally would like to thank Norma & Ray Hammett and Frank and Shiley Todd from Trenton, MO; Jerry & Charlotte Shull from Kansas City, MO; Ed & Teresa Abussaffy from Edmonton Alberta; Sandra Leonard from Hacienda Mosaico in Puerto Vallarta and many, many more friends for their invaluable help in this project. To all of you my most sincere thanks.
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