Gray whale success story may be a myth

[Barrett808]

Source: Associated Press

Gray whale success story may be a myth
By SETH BORENSTEIN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- One of the great success stories of the ocean, the return of the Pacific gray whale, may have been based on a miscalculation, scientists reported Monday in a study based on whale genetics.

What was assumed to be a thriving whale population actually is at times starving from a dwindling food supply, said study co-author Stephen Palumbi, a Stanford University marine sciences professor. And global warming is a chief suspect.

Scientists may have underestimated the historical number of gray whales from Mexico to Alaska, according to the study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. And that may have led to a misdiagnosis of what is behind surprising die-offs over the past few years and the appearance of many so-called "skinny" whales.

Earlier this month the National Marine Fisheries Service reported that at least 10 percent of gray whales returning to one of their four main calving and breeding lagoons off Baja California showed signs of being underfed.

"This is a hint of a problem," Palumbi said. "Our antennas should be up. Our antennas should be asking if the ocean is capable of supporting life the way it used to."

Read more: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/331137_whales11.html

[Hell Hath No Fury]

1. I ask you to think of...

the restaurant chain Red Lobster.

Think of your local one. Imagine how much seafood that one Red Lobster goes through each day.

Now imagine how many Red Lobsters there are in the country, and imagine how much seafood they go all through in one day.

And now think of all the Sizzlers and McDonalds and Applebys' and Olive Gardens and local restaurants and fish shacks and households that serve some sort of seafood. And imagine how much seafood they go through in one day.

And now multiply that by millions of resturants and households in hundreds of countries across this plant.

In just one day.

It amazes me there is a single fish or crustacean or cephalopod left in the oceans. :cry:

[Barrett808]

2. Indeed, the oceans are almost completely fished out

If we're to have a future on this planet, we'll need to close the oceans to fishing for about a century.

[Semi_subversive]

3. I recently stayed at Sekiu WA for a night

on my annual ride. Sekiu's about 50-60 miles west of Port Angeles. I could look out at the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Vancouver Island from the door of my motel. I made a short ride to Neah Bay and sighted a gray whale surfacing about 200 yards offshore. At about 10:00 that night, in bright moonlight, several of us guests at the motel were treated to the same whale feeding in the tide line about 100 yards out. About a dozen times it came up with its head maybe 5-6 feet above the surface. It was an incredible thing to witness. We watched it and heard it spouting for over an hour. I can't imagine not having those beautiful creatures around. I saw a Bald Eagle the next day while riding south of Port Angeles. I hope they're not next to go.

[Barrett808]

4. Who knows, that might have been the whale the Makah just killed

It was a resident gray they brutally slaughtered. I hope the Feds come down on them like a ton of bricks.

[Semi_subversive]

6. I hope it wasn't the one

It had been there for a couple of days already. I was there on July 31 and August 1.

[0rganism]

5. perhaps this is a side effect of oxygen-depleted "dead zones"

the gray whale feeds on sea-floor crustaceans, numbers of which are much reduced in hypoxic areas that may have been favorite feeding areas of the grays.

[Barrett808]

8. Entirely possible...

There's a huge dead zone off the Oregon coast. OSU researchers called it "a crab graveyard for miles and miles" when they saw how large it's become.

[olddad56]

7. This is so sad...

the sadest part is that the by the time something is done, it will be too late.

[xchrom]

9. recommend -- the whole thing pisses me off.

[Barrett808]

10. Thanks for the rec.

:D

[xchrom]

11. you're welcome -- i wish i could do it more.

[The Stranger]

12. Congratulations, your planet is dying.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

14. No, she's being murdered. n/t

[BrotherBuzz]

13. The western Pacific gray whales number only in the hundreds?

First of all, I never knew there were two sub-species; western Pacific gray whale, and eastern Pacific. gray whales. I thought I was viewing the California gray whale, and I have to believe there are more than just a few hundred because I can count twenty-thirty whales in only a few hours during the peek of two month migration past the California coast. Numbers seem odd. Are the Asian whales migrating down the California coast, too?

[northzax]

15. you have your directions mixed up

(I do it all the time) the Eastern Pacific is on the West Coast of the US, and the Western Pacific is adjacent ot Asia. it is the Asian whale population that numbers probably just under 300, and the Eastern whale population (commonly called California Grays) numbers about 25-26,000.

[BrotherBuzz]

16. Ah, now that make complete sense. Thanks