Hawaiian Waters Grow
Crowded With Whales
May 08, 2006 — By Alexandre Da Silva, Associated Press
HONOLULU — Greg Kaufman says his
whale-watching boat was doing everything by the book: cruising below 13
knots and staying 100 yards from any visible humpback as a crew member
scanned the ocean atop a lookout.
Still, it wasn't enough to prevent the Pacific Whale Foundation vessel
from running over a calf that surged from underneath March 9.
It was one of seven confirmed encounters in the current breeding season,
which is drawing to a close but already has set a record for such
accidents. Between 1975 and 2005, there were 33 reported strikes
involving whales and boats among the islands, with no more than three in
one single season.
Environmental groups call the trend alarming, but researchers hope it
has more to do with a rebound in the endangered species' population than
with negligent boaters.
"It's some combination of increasing number of whales and just boats and
whales in the same area at the same time," said Jeff Walters, co-manager
of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary.
The humpback population roaming the North Pacific, estimated at about
10,000, is believed to have been growing at an annual rate of about 7
percent since the mid-1990s. And as more whales swim to Hawaii from icy
feeding grounds off Alaska, Canada, Russia and Japan, boaters are
navigating around some 1,000 calves born in Hawaiian waters each year.
"As long as the population continues to get bigger, it's going to keep
happening," said Joseph Mobley, a professor at the University of
Hawaii-West Oahu who researches whales.
About 50 ships are involved in whale watching in Hawaii, carrying
300,000 passengers a year, mostly from Maui.
Calves pose a greater danger because they need to surface more often --
about every three to five minutes. But experts say the mothers, who
mated here last year, are getting used to the attention and also edging
closer to the vessels.
"It's kind of like driving in a school zone," said marine biologist
David Schofield of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Humpbacks, which were placed under international protection in 1966, are
also shielded under federal law. Boat drivers need to follow an
"approach rule" that instructs them to travel below 13 knots, never
leave the helm, post a lookout and stay 100 yards from whales.
Kaufman said a boat captain was doing just that when a calf surprised
everyone aboard the company's Ocean Spirit during an educational cruise
for two schools in Maui.
"No matter how many best practices we put into effect, when one surfaces
directly under your boat, there's nothing you can do about it," Kaufman
said.
Jeff Mikulina, director of Sierra Club of Hawaii, said he would like to
see stricter enforcement of regulations and perhaps a limitation on the
number of boats during the peak breeding season.
"We need to remember that we are the visitors here," he said.
Scientists are doing research on sonar that would detect whales as far
as five miles away, Mobley said. Initial tests have worked in calm
waters, but the system may not work in heavy trade winds, which blow
regularly in the islands. Propeller guards also could help reduce
accidents.
Boat captains are required to notify NOAA officials of any accidents by
calling a hot line. All but one of the seven whale collisions this
season were reported, and at least three involved whale-watching boats.
It's unclear what happens to injured whales, which despite their size
can quickly disappear, sometimes with fatal gashes and internal wounds.
It's also hard to find 40-ton carcasses, which can sink or be eaten by
sharks.
"Almost always we never find them," said Ed Lyman, who is in charge of
NOAA's response team. "It's like a needle in a haystack."
Source: Associated Press
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