Fish and Game Q&A: Will painting my kayak scare away great white sharks?

In support of the California Department of Fish and Game and its effort to keep hunters and anglers informed, Outposts, on Thursday or Friday, posts marine biologist Carrie Wilson's weekly Q&A column. NOTE: This is Carrie's column from last Thursday, when I was on vacation and unavailable to publish it:

Question: I bought a former scuba kayak and have retrofitted it into a fishing kayak. I transformed the underside into what appears to be the underside of a killer whale (orca) because I figure if I’m going to be spending lots of idle time fishing, I don’t want, in any way, to attract the attention of great whites! The underside was totally white but now the outer edges are black with a small black patch at the rear so that it looks just like the characteristic underside of a killer whale. I also rigged up my two fins to drag out the back in case I ever found myself in dire need.

My reasoning here is killer whales and great whites are natural enemies, so if I paint the bottom like an orca, any great white within several hundred yards will take off. As I thought more about this aspect though, I now wonder if while I’m sitting in this thing for long periods of time, will I be more apt to be a target rather than a threat? Has there been any evidence of great whites attacking dead killer whales just like they attack dead regular whales? I’m wondering now if I am a soon-to-be "dead duck" instead of a brilliant kayak engineer! Please advise. Thanks. (Mark)

Answer: Well, I can safely say I’ve never gotten a letter and questions quite like yours, but it’s a refreshing change from the many regulation questions! I applaud your kayak engineering prowess. However, I’m not sure painting the hull of your kayak to resemble the underbelly of an orca, along with attaching fins that mysteriously drag out the back, will spook a white shark or prevent an attack.

Blue whale-watching trip departs Saturday morning from Santa Barbara

Blue whales have returned to the Santa Barbara channel and are presenting an amazing opportunity for whale-watchers.

To take advantage of the majestic leviathans' pause in the area during the summer months to feed on krill, the American Cetacean Society Los Angeles chapter is offering an all-day whale-watching trip on Saturday aboard the Condor Express out of Santa Barbara's Sea Landing.

The boat leaves at 8 a.m. and returns about 4 p.m., and is one of only a few all-day whale-watching excursions.

Heading toward the Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa islands 20 miles offshore, there is abundant marine life to be seen.

While sighting the mighty blue whale will be the main focus, humpback, minke and killer whales also frequent the area, as do various dolphin, seals and sea lions.

The fare includes a continental breakfast plus entry in a raffle. Food and beverages are available for purchase on board. Pre-registration is strongly encouraged.

Cost is $88 for ACS members and $99 for nonmembers. Visit the ACS-LA website or call (310) 548-7821 for information.

-- Kelly Burgess

Photo: Blue whales have returned to the Santa Barbara Channel, where the majestic leviathans are now teeming -- and revealing their flukes as they dive for food -- near Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa islands. Credit: Condor Express

Alaskans ponder a future with increased offshore drilling

Alaskans are passionate about many things, offshore drilling among them.

In case you missed it, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar held a public hearing on the topic Tuesday in Anchorage. Gov. Sarah Palin, who not long ago questioned the science used to make predictions regarding diminishing sea ice, implied that increased natural gas production on the outer continental shelf could help ease global warming.

Some but not all were in agreement, because another thing Alaskans are passionate about is the pristine nature of their environment. Proposed drilling sites include Bristol Bay and the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, the last two of which are home to Pacific gray whales and other marine mammals.

Marilyn Savage, a resident of Fort Yukon, was quoted on the KTVA website as  saying, "The offshore drilling will hurt the lifestyle of my people and my grandchildren and the unborn. They have no voice here, and if I am not speaking for them here, who is?" 

Those in support said jobs and revenue generated by drilling were important, while opponents claimed the risk to the environment would simply be too great.

Salazar, at least, is to be commended for visiting Anchorage and listening to the citizens. He said he has not yet taken a public stance on the issue, but Alaskans can probably look forward to more drilling in the not-too-distant future.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo: A protester in a polar bear suit waves a sign outside of the building where U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar held a public hearing in Anchorage on the federal government's proposed five-year oil and gas leasing program. Credit: Al Grillo / Associated Press

Olive the oiled sea otter -- of Facebook fame -- returns to wild

You might remember Olive the sea otter, found stranded on a beach in Monterey Bay on Feb. 21, all covered with oil from a natural seep.

She became famous during her rehabilitation after the launch of her own Facebook page, but on Tuesday morning she traded fame for freedom.

Olive, who was cared for at the Department of Fish and Game's Marine Wildlife Veterinary Care and Research Center in Santa Cruz, and fitted with a tracking device by scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, scampered from her cage at the same beach and took willingly to the vast blue ocean.

"Olive has been a great patient. She has taught us a great deal and will likely teach us much more about the pollution-related problems sea otters face," DFG vet Dave Jessup said in a news release.

Her release occurs during a lively and somewhat perilous season in Monterey Bay, though. Pacific gray whales are migrating north with calves and killer whales soon will lurk on the fringes of the deep canyons hoping to ambush whales and other mammals.

Here's hoping Olive has run out of bad luck; that she'll stay close to kelp, as otters generally do; and that she will steer clear of oil seeps and, by all means, hungry orcas.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo: Olive dines on a clam during rehabilitation. Credit: Department of Fish and Game

Arctic sea ice gone in 30 years -- what will become of wildlife?

We knew polar bears were in trouble, what with the Arctic ice they require for survival disappearing at an alarming rate.

But most of us did not know the extent of trouble facing these and other critters, such as walruses, Pacific gray whales, killer whales and fish stocks (not to mention humans, who will experience rising water levels).

Lead paragraph in an Associated Press story today out of Washington: "Arctic sea ice is melting so fast most of it could be gone in 30 years."

Because of recent ice loss, Arctic surface air temperatures are warmer than normal, and much warmer than scientists expected to find.

A report on the issue, by Muyin Wang of the Joint Institute for the Study of Atmosphere and Ocean and James E. Overland of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, will appear in Friday's edition of the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

They expect the area covered by summer sea ice to decline from about 2.8 million square miles to 620,000 square miles within 30 years. That represents serious shrinkage, with frightening implications for wildlife and humans.

Said Wang in a statement: "The Arctic is often called the Earth's refrigerator because the sea ice helps cool the planet by reflecting the sun's radiation back into space. With less ice, the sun's warmth is instead absorbed by the open water, contributing to warmer temperatures in the water and the air."

-- Pete Thomas

Photo: As ice melts, fewer polar bears are able to survive at sea like this family did in the past. Credit: Steve Amstrup / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Whale watching from shore? Volunteering may be just for you

Imagine yourself propped in a chair with one or two others atop the Palos Verdes Peninsula, gazing out over the windswept Pacific. It has become wintry and cold and there are no other people around, and no boats on the water.

Then it happens: a humpback whale launches out of the ocean and breaches dozens of times in succession. You're in awe, but you take careful note of what's happening.

Then the whale sinks out and you resume your duties, awaiting more sightings, perhaps of a lone gray whale, of a majestic blue whale,  of thousands of dolphins or perhaps a great white shark or a pod of orcas.

This is the day in the life of a volunteer for the Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project, which is in its 26th season of tracking numbers and trends -- and in dire need of volunteers.

(Schedules are flexible but there is an urgent need for Sunday mornings, Mondays and Fridays.)

No experience is necessary; you'll be trained on site and meet other nice people with a deep appreciation for the ocean and its mammalian critters. Spotters man the patio from sunrise to sundown at the Point Vicente Interpretive Center, and have already counted more than 60 gray whales during a migration that has yet to reach its peak locally.

Killer whale named Chopfin is anything but camera shy

I received the accompanying photo of Chopfin the killer whale after an item I posted Tuesday on the recent sightings locally of Chopfin and his frequent companion, an adult female cataloged as CA216.

So I thought I'd share. The photo was taken by Cody Martin in Monterey Bay on Aug. 26, 2007. (Chopfin is a transient killer whale that feeds on marine mammals and has been documented preying on gray whales off Monterey.)

I had the pleasure of meeting Martin, a budding marine biologist from El Segundo, on an all-day whale-watch trip last March. He was 12 at the time and it was a rare sighting in itself: a kid actually enjoying the great outdoors.

"It's just such a mystery; you never know what you're going to see," Martin said on a day during which we saw very few whales.

Anyway, Outposts thanks Cody for taking an interest, and for sharing this great photo.

--Pete Thomas

Photo: Chopfin and his frequent companion, CA216, who is identifiable by the narrow black streak on her saddle, cruise the Monterey coastline in 2007. Credit: Cody Martin

Whale watchers should be on the lookout for Chopfin, the transient orca

When the storms clear out and the ocean is again calm and navigable, marine mammal enthusiasts will venture out in search of Pacific gray whales migrating south to Mexico.

What they might encounter, though, are killer whales that have been seen sporadically in recent weeks off Orange County and Los Angeles. These "transient" orcas prey almost exclusively on marine mammals and perhaps are taking advantage of an abundant California sea lion population in the San Pedro Channel.

The most prominent member of this small sub-pod of transients is "Chopfin," who has a severely damaged dorsal fin.

In all, 150 transient killer whales have been photo-cataloged by researchers Alisa Schulman-Janiger and Nancy Black. None is as easily identifiable or as mobile as Chopfin, who is catalogued as CA217.

So if you're heading out anytime soon, definitely keep an eye peeled for Chopfin and his posse.

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

Killer whales face difficult times too

Times are hard for just about everyone -- including orcas that can't find enough food.

A disturbing story from the Associated Press pertains to Southern Resident orcas, or killer whales, from the Puget Sound area.

It cited the prolonged absence and presumed death of seven Southern Resident killer whales and quoted Ken Balcomb, senior scientist at the Center for Whale Research on San Juan Island as labeling the situation "a disaster."

Balcomb added: "The population drop is worse than the stock market," and that's deadly serious.

The Southern Resident pod of orcas was listed as endangered in 2005. There are now only 83 live animals, and the recent drop probably is related to a precipitous decline in king salmon where the mammals feed.

That helps explain why some of the orcas began to appear south of their normal range off the Pacific Northwest.

The photo below was taken last January by researcher Nancy Black of Monterey Bay Whalewatch off Monterey. That was one of a handful of sightings off California.

Among the missing is K7, venerable matriarch of K Pod. She was believed to have been born in 1910, so age clearly was an issue for her as well. Also missing since last December's count are two females and their calves.

With luck, maybe these mammals will resurface and the overall population will rebound. And the same thing goes for the stock market.

--Pete Thomas

Top photo: Southern Resident killer whales K20 and K38 are shown off the San Juan Islands in 2006. Credit : Center for Whale Research
Bottom photo: Numerous Southern Residents frolic off Monterey last January. Credit: Nancy Black