Dana Wharf is now offering sunset whale-watching tours

Dana Wharf in Dana Point is now offering sunset whale-watching tours every Friday and Saturday through April.

Departing at 4 p.m., these two-hour tours aboard the 95-foot Dana Pride offer whale-watchers the opportunity for unique photos, with the colors of sunset providing a different perspective.

Dana Wharf guarantees whale or dolphin sightings; otherwise, everyone aboard receives a voucher to come back for another trip during the current gray whale migration.

The cost for adults is $29, ages 3-12 $19, and seniors $24, and advance tickets are recommended. Reservations can be made online or by calling (800) 979-3370.

-- Kelly Burgess

Photo: A gray whale swims past fog-shrouded Santa Catalina Island on its southward migration to warm-water breeding grounds off Baja California. Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

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Blue whale communication subject of free lecture tonight in San Pedro

Blue whales have already been sighted this season off Southern California, and more will arrive in the coming months, delighting whale watchers out of Dana Point, Long Beach, Ventura and Santa Barbara.

Tonight is a good opportunity to learn more about Earth's largest inhabitants. John Hildebrand, a professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, will discuss blue whale communication from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro. The aquarium is located at 3720 Stephen M. White Drive.

The talk, part of the American Cetacean Society/Los Angeles chapter's monthly speaker series, is free, and the public is invited to meet Hildebrand beginning at 6 p.m. at nearby Puesta del Sol Restaurant at 1622 Gaffey St.

Part of Hildebrand's talk will focus on passive acoustic monitoring for the study of whales and dolphins.

— Pete Thomas

Photo courtesy of National Geographic Channel

Whale-watchers wanted for Saturday's 'ultimate' adventure to Catalina

There are at least five good reasons to shell out $65 and participate in Saturday's Ultimate Whale Watch adventure to the west end of Santa Catalina Island:

1) It's not your typical three-hour tour. This annual excursion, offered by the American Cetacean Society's Los Angeles chapter,   departs San Pedro's 22nd Street Landing at 8 a.m. and does not return until 5 p.m.

2) Unless you're prone to seasickness and mired in misery, you will encounter an array of sea life. I've been on a few of these and have never been disappointed.

3) Dolphins are likely to put on a better show than the whales. The teem by the thousands in the San Pedro Channel and are known for their playful behavior. They love to ride the bow wakes and peek upward at gawkers aboard the boat.

4) There will be expert naturalists aboard and they'll point out and identify all manner of wildlife, from sea birds to sea lions to porpoises and elephant seals.

5) Lastly, you probably will see at least one gray whale, and may encounter a dozen or more. This trip is timed to coincide with the peak of the northbound migration off Southern California. I've had trips where we saw gray whales, humpback, fin and minke whales. Yet last year we didn't seen any grays until the very end, when we were back along the coast.

But it's always a pleasant experience shared by people with a fondness for marine creatures and their environment. There are several openings for Saturday's voyage and those interested can call Bernardo or Diane Alps at (310) 548-0966, or email Bernardo at whalephoto@earthlink.net, or Diane at Diane.Alps@lacity.org.

Enjoy the adventure!

-- Pete Thomas

Photo: A Pacific gray whale travels north off the west end of Santa Catalina Island. The migration back to Arctic home waters is well underway. Credit: Pete Thomas / Los Angeles Times

Dolphin birth a magical reward for volunteer spotters off Palos Verdes

Sunday morning began magically for volunteers at the ACS-LA Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project. They watched a bottlenose dolphin give birth not far from the Point Vicente Interpretive Center on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

(Note: The file photo at right was taken at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. I'm using it merely to provide a close-up of a mother dolphin and calf. The photo below was shot Sunday by Hugh Ryono from the interpretive center.)

Ryono, a dedicated volunteer, sent this description Sunday afternoon:

"Early this morning at the gray whale census we had a group of coastal bottlenose dolphins swim along the kelp line. They proceeded to mill around the kelp in front of the Interpretive Center around one particular dolphin that had stopped and logged at the surface for a long time which drew our attention.

"The bottlenose was motionless in the water, just floating at the surface. When it finally submerged, it came up with a floppy dorsal-finned calf alongside it. We could see the mother dolphin push the calf to the surface a couple of times with her rostrum or with her pectoral fins.

"The attached composite image is of the mother dolphin pushing the calf to the surface with her rostrum. It's a fuzzy picture as I didn't have my long lens. In the insert you can just make out the mother dolphin's dorsal fin and in front of her the flopped over dorsal fin of the calf.

"Kind of a nice way to start a morning."

The volunteers see things both mundane and miraculous as they monitor goings-on in the San Pedro Channel daily from sunup to sunset. If you'd like to volunteer, call Alisa Schulman-Janiger at (310) 519-8963 or e-mail janiger@bcf.usc.edu. Or simply show up and ask how you can become involved.

And don't forget the long lens, if you have one.

--Pete Thomas

Photos: Associated Press (top); Hugh Ryono (bottom)

Cruel dolphin slaughter in Japanese village of Taiji in spotlight again

Here's the sad joke of the day: Japan slaughters thousands of dolphins, then, when pressed to defend the annual massacre, comes up with this statement:

"The Japanese Government position on this matter is based on ongoing scientific research in this area. The utilization of dolphins in this manner is sustainable and is carefully monitored."

Sound familiar? Japan uses the same argument to support its annual whale hunt in Antarctic waters. Yet few if any scientists outside Japan acknowledge any scientific gain that comes from killing whales.

The newspaper West Australian, in an article today, chronicled a recent visit to Taiji, Japan, to witness waters turning blood-red inside a cove within a national marine park.

"Between September and March, 2,300 dolphins are slaughtered in Taiji, while more than 20,000 can be killed elsewhere under the Japanese Government’s quota system," the West Australian reports.
   

Whales and dolphins increasingly threatened by noise pollution, scientists say

Those who don't believe man is a blight on the planet ought to ask the whales.

But shout loudly, because they're a little hard of hearing these days.

So say environmentalists and government representatives gathered for a meeting of the U.N.-backed Convention on the Conservation of Migratory
Species of Wild Animals.

They cite noise pollution caused by increased commercial shipping, seismic surveys and military sonar -- which the U.S. Navy will soon use during training off Southern California, just in time for the gray whale migration -- as major threats to the survival of many species of marine mammals.

All these sounds and painful pings make it increasingly difficult for whales and other mammals to communicate with song. They also lead to mammal strandings.

Mark Simmonds, director of the Britain-based Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, described it as a "cocktail-party effect" in an Associated Press story. "You have to speak louder and louder until no one can hear each other anymore," he said.

Aside from noise pollution is climate change, scientists said, that is altering ocean chemistry to cause sound to travel farther through water.

And to think there once was a time when all the whales had to worry about were the harpoons of whalers. Their future does not look bright.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo: A humpback whale launches like a missile in the Santa Barbara Channel. Credit: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times

Whales and dolphins on display now off Dana Point

This is an impressive photo of Risso's dolphins at play, snapped by marine biologist Morgan Richie during a recent trip aboard the Ocean Adventure out of Dana Wharf.

It's a reminder that one doesn't need a whale migration to witness exciting events at sea.

But for marine mammal enthusiasts, it's also exciting that Pacific gray whales -- mostly juveniles well ahead of the migration -- are already being encountered, and prime whale-watching season is only eight weeks off.

Donna Kalez, spokeswoman for Dana Wharf Sportfishing and Whale Watching, said passengers have  recently seen blue whales, minke whales and fin whales, and on Sunday made the landing's first gray whale sighting of the season.

Dana Wharf's official whale-watch season begins Nov. 28. For most other landings, opening day is Dec. 26. But Dana Wharf is currently running daily excursions from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., and weekend excursions from 1 to 3 p.m. and 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.

The late-afternoon trips cost $29 for adults and $19 for children 12 and younger. The 1-3 p.m. weekend trips, aboard the high-speed Ocean Adventure, cost $49 and $29.

I'm of the opinion that there's no reason to wait for the gray whales. They're boring compared with some other mammals, such as leaping dolphins. Any time's a good time for surprises. I'll be boarding soon, camera in hand.

-- Pete Thomas