This entry was posted on Friday, February 13th, 2009 at 10:42 pm and is filed under About, History, Information, Migration, Sites, Snorkeling, Snuba, Watching, Whales. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
A few days ago the captain of Prince Kuhio, a local whale watching and snorkel vessel, reported coming across a mom/calf group that appeared to be acting strangely. He reported them logging on the surface, barely moving, and not interacting with each other; all behaviors he felt were abnormal. He made a call to the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary and a response was mounted.
Within an hour the Sanctuary’s David Mattila, Ed Lyman, and Ben LaCour, along with Prince Kuhio naturalist, Katie Grove-Velasquez were on the water looking for the animals. However, all the mom/calf groups they came across that afternoon looked healthy and well. No boat struck, entangled animals, or otherwise unwell were seen. Pictures were taken of those animals that were assessed and activities were documented. The question still remains. What happened? Did the captain see animals in trouble? Quite possibly. There are threats to Hawaii’s humpback whales, including ship strikes and entanglements. If there were animals that were struck by a vessel, they could have moved off and were not able to be found. It is also possible that the captain had come across a new birthing. To date, the birthings have not been documented. Perhaps the mother and calf were just resting. Moms and calves do rest a great deal while in Hawaii’s waters in preparation for the long journey ahead. Even if the rescue team had found the injured animals they are not always able to help them. If they were entangled, the team would have done their best to cut the lines entangling them. If they were injured, photos would be taken and particulars documented, but not much more could be done for the whales.
If vessels in Hawaiian waters, commercial or private, find whales that appear to be in trouble, they are asked to call either the NOAA Fisheries Hotline (888.256.9840) or United States Coast Guard (808.244.5256). All boaters should have these numbers programmed into their cell phones. For your safety do not make any attempt to approach these endangered whales within 100 yards. However, standing by to maintain a fix on their position until authorized help arrives is extremely valuable. By working together, we can help these animals.
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:40 am
benefits of acai…
here’ s one of the songs from the album i just released. the song is……