Marine Sanctuary Celebrates 20th Anniversary, Whale Sightings Up

By Ryder W. Miller

The 20th anniversary of the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary and the status of the Gray Whale, now passing north through the protected waters of the nearby sanctuary, allow us to explore the worthwhileness of the old activist expression: "Think Globally, Act Locally."

The local Gulf of the Farallones Marine Sanctuary is a piece of the traveling grounds of one of our West Coast totems, the Gray Whale, but over the last few years, the numbers of Gray Whales that have stranded along the West Coast has increased dramatically.

The Grays have been the focus of news stories over the last few years. To the north, the Makah Indians began indigenous subsistence hunting again when it was held up with a new environmental assessment required by federal courts. To the far north, the Inupiat Eskimos have been whale hunting.

To the south, plans for a salt plant in the Grays' birthing spot, the San Ignacio Lagoon, were derailed. Meanwhile, the number of Gray Whales along the coast may have increased to pre-exploitation numbers. Some estimate the number of Gray Whales along the coast to be roughly 26,000.

Like cars on a highway, Gray Whales pass north and south through the area each year. They don't travel in groups but rather like cars on the highway, said Juan Carlos Solis, an interpreter for the Oceanic Society which runs whale-watching trips through the sanctuary and north and south of the Bay Area through the Cordell Bank and Half Moon Bay.

But the number of strandings and number of whales entering San Francisco Bay have increased. Scientists are not sure what to make of the number of strandings. Many think the increase could be due to a variety of factors, including better stranding reporting, Gray Whale populations outgrowing their carrying capacity, pollution poisoning, food shortages, El Niño, changes in tides bringing more dead whales on shore.

The number of Gray Whale strandings have gone up from 1999 to 2000, with the west coast getting about 300 in 2000. The number of whales stranded went up by a factor of five from 1998 to 1999. Nineteen dead Gray Whales were also found around San Francisco Bay in 2000.

Joe Cordaro, a wildlife biologist for the National Marine Fisheries Service, said most of the stranded whales were found in emaciated conditions, except in San Francisco Bay.

"The whales that died in San Francisco Bay were more robust, with better blubber layers than the emaciated whales," said Cordaro.

The Gulf of the Farallones is just one of the marine reserves that the Gray Whales take advantage of on their way south from Alaska to Mexico. In Alaska, Gray Whales feed before beginning their journey. The Gray is unusual among whales in that they eat off the bottom, straining amphipods, a relative of shrimp, out of the mud. They put on a tremendous amount of weight to sustain themselves on their journeys north and south.

"Whatever the population is, they all go through," said Ueber, manager of the Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank Marine Sanctuaries and sections of the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary. "We have tried to institute some process to do a better count and find out why they are dead."

The Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary is working with the Marine Mammal Stranding Network to determine the actual number of deaths.

While there are long-standing concerns and unanswered questions about the wildlife at the marine sanctuary, the mood is hopeful.

"We are hoping for a good year for both mammals and birds," said Ueber.

Ueber said he was more concerned about the health and numbers of the Stellar Sea Lion than the Gray Whales. The number of Stellar Sea Lion births recorded on the southeast Farallone Island had decreased from roughly 20 per year in the 1970's to less than 10 per year.

The Cassin's Auklet population has also suffered dramatically, the population dropping 50 percent from previous numbers. The fearsome Great White Shark is now also endangered.

There is some good news at the sanctuary: the return of the Northern Fur Seal which is breeding again at the southeast Farallone Islands. They were gone for 170 years before they returned in 1996.

The Northern Elephant Seal reached peak capacity in 1983 and have since started breeding at the Point Reyes National Seashore. The return of the sardine population to sanctuary waters has helped the population of Brown Pelican; it is hoped that they will help the Tufted Puffins as well. Presently, there are only 40 pairs of Tufted Puffins on the Farallone Islands.

Many whales feed in the Farallones and Bodega Bay. The warm El Niño waters have introduced the Bottlenose Dolphin to the area and they have remained in sanctuary waters. Researchers have also shown that there are Albatross, which breed in Hawaii, that feed in the Gulf of the Farallones.

Ueber calls the local Farallones Sanctuary and other nearby sanctuaries "The Serenghetti Plains of the Ocean."

For information about events planned for the 20th anniversary of The Gulf of the Farallones Marine Sanctuary, to to: www.farallones.org. On May 17, the sanctuary association is conducting a lecture (7 p.m.) entitled "Whales, Dolphins and Their Prey."