Signal Tribune Newspaper

The fin and tail of the blue whale surfaced about five miles south of Long Beach Harbor.

Story and photos by Steven Piper
Editorial Intern

Thar she blows! After departing The Aquarium of the Pacific on Thursday, June 25 at 11:30am in a high-speed catamaran filled with media representatives, it only took an hour to locate an 80-foot blue whale (about the size of the catamaran) about five miles south of the Long Beach Harbor. To this day, the blue whale is the largest animal on the planet to have ever existed.
“With the blue whale being the largest animal, I thought it would be good,” said San Pedro resident Jenny Alabano, who had brought her eight-year-old son Ethan for his first whale-watching excursion.
Dan Salas, captain and CEO of Harbor Breeze Cruises, explained the procedure for locating the 270,000-pound creatures, which is accomplished without the use of sonar. According to Salas, it is best to navigate to an underwater ridge, which drops off from 1,000 to 2,000 feet deep. Apparently, this is where the blue whales prefer to feed. “We find out where the whales are feeding… This is how we locate them,” Salas said. A small spotter airplane is also occasionally used.
To actually spot the whale from the catamaran, people were advised to keep their eager eyes peeled for the plume of mist the whales emit from their blow spout when coming to the surface for air. The cloud of mist can be up to 20 feet high.
If future whale-watchers are lucky, such as this group was, the wind will blow the exhaled air in the boat’s direction. The result is a good whiff of stale, sultry whale breath (they would hold their breath for about six to seven minutes every time they dive for food).
Salas said he first started spotting the blues, as the species is sometimes casually called, about a month ago, which is about a month earlier than expected.
While scanning the horizon and navigating the boat past the seawall for the harbor, Salas described his whale-watching philosophy. As a constant friend to the whales, Salas holds large amounts of respect for the creatures. “I believe these whales are smarter than humans… They are spiritual animals,” Salas said. As a general rule, Salas always follows behind the whales at a respectful 100 yards. However, the curious animals did swim closer to the boat on a couple of occasions.
Meanwhile, Michele Sousa, senior marine mammal biologist for the Aquarium of the Pacific, displayed a bottle of krill, the main food source for the blue whale. Aquarium educator Kera Mathes said the massive whales consume up to 8,000 pounds a day of the shrimp-like animals, which are about one inch in length.

Sousa continued to inform people that the blue whales are still endangered. She said threats range from great white sharks, which can eat the whales when they are young, to cargo ships, which inadvertently hit two to four blue whales a year. “We teach stewardship for the ocean,” Sousa said.
As a part of that mission, the aquarium offers a variety of educational opportunities for kids five years old and up. For example, the Aquarium on Wheels is available for educators interested in off-site teaching opportunities. “It is a classroom on wheels… It is just like coming to the Aquarium, but mobile,” Sousa said.

More Information
http://www.aquariumofpacific.org