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9 Soundings January 2009 Soundings: the Newsletter of the Monterey Bay Chapter of the American Cetacean Society. 2009 Item Type monograph Publisher American Cetacean Society. Monterey Bay Chapter Download date 09/10/2021 05:13:41 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/1834/22118 Soundings American Cetacean Society- Monterey Bay Chapter January 2009 PO Box H E, Pacific Grove, CA 93950 www.starrsites.com/acsmb INSIDE THIS ISSUE January Meeting Calendar…………………..……2 Date: Thursday, January 29, 2009 JAPAN SELLS ICELANDIC WHALE MEAT…………………...3 Monthly meeting at Hopkins Marine Station, Lecture Hall. Boat SEVEN SOUTHERN RESIDENT Works Building (Across from the American Tin Cannery Outlet Stores). KILLER WHALES MISSING!....…4 Meeting is open to the public WHALES' TEETH ARE AID TO MATING …………………...........5 Time: 7:30 PM. PLEASE JOINUS AT 7:00 FOR President’s Message …………..6 REFRESHMENTS SIGHTINGS……………...……7 Speaker: Steve I. Lonhart, Ph.D. Notable Books………………….7 Title: Characterization of rocky intertidal and kelp forest habitats Membership …………………..8 along the Big Sur coast The Big Sur coastline is a scenic edge of the continent accessed by Artwork Credits California’s State Highway One. President Franklin Roosevelt was at the Grand Opening of the 139 mile section of the highway from Morro Bay to Fin Whales Page 3: Carmel and the Big Sur coastline is a large part of that stretch of road. In http://www.australianfauna.com/imag 1966, at Bixby Bridge, Lady Bird Johnson dedicated Highway One as es/finwhale.jpg California’s first Scenic Highway. Killer Whale Page 5: Robin Makowski People from all over the world come to California to drive this road, frequently stopping to enjoy the breathtaking views which are often from Right Whale, Page 9: Richard Ellis locations 200 to 300 feet above sea level with a vertical drop to the ocean below. In the summer the highway is a tourist attraction but in the winter, during the rainy season, the highway can be treacherous because of landslides from the mountains above. The dangers of the highway are never more risky than after wild fires strip the hills and mountain faces of stabilizing plants and trees like those which occurred last summer. On the other side of the highway is the Pacific Ocean and a significant portion of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (“Sanctuary”). While tourists are looking at Point Sur or for whale spouts the scientists of the Sanctuary Integrated Monitoring Network (“SIMoN”) are watching the denizens of the rocky intertidal and kelp forest habitats. Debris coming from natural slides or Cal Trans, as part of a road clearing operation, can drop many tons of material into the ocean with significant effects on these habitats. As a SIMoN scientist our speaker is responsible for developing research and monitoring programs within this section of the Sanctuary and for getting that information out to resource managers, researchers, educators and the general public. Please join us for what promises to be a very interesting program about the Big Sur coast and the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. American Cetacean Society- Monterey Bay www.starrsites.com/acsmb/ Soundings Page 2 January 2009 CALENDAR th Feb 13th-15 . Fourth Annual Whale Quest. January – February 2009 Kapalua Ritz-Carlton. Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii. Presenters will include Jim Darling, Bruce Mate, Marine Science Seminar Weekend Mark Ferrari, David Matilla, John Stern and Flip at Camp Ocean Pines in Cambria, CA Nicklin. For more info go to info@ whaletrust.org. January 23-25 Session 1 : "Humpback Whales" by Feb 18th-26th. 36th Annual Meeting Of The Dr. Jim Darling. Come to hear the latest updates Pacific Seabird Group Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan. on humpback and gray whales. Get a signed copy Field Trips include visiting the winter roosting of his latest book. Field trips include whale- habitat of the Stellar Sea Eagle and White Tailed watching with Jim from Morro Bay. Sea Eagle. For info go to www.PacficSeabirds.org Jan 29th-Feb 1st Session 2: "All about Abalone" by Dr. John Pearse and Dr. George Trevelyan. Feb 19-22. The 6th Annual San Francisco Ocean Lectures will be given by Dr. Pearse from UCSC Film Festival. Cowell Theatre at Fort Mason about abalone life history. A field trip to local tide Center. For Info Call (415)561-6251 pools and the Cayucos Abalone farm will be included. For more info contact Chris Cameron at Feb 21-Mar 21 Sat 9:00am-4:30pm. Biological 805-927-0254 Field Studies: Marine Mammals of California. This course covers the natural history of marine ACS-MB CHAPTER GRAY WHALE FUNDRAISER. mammals, including life history, behavior, SATURDAY JAN. 24TH, 7 AM-9:30 AM acoustics, physiology, identification, conservation, Cost $40.00. Trip will take place on the 100ft field sampling and research techniques. Class is Princess Monterey out of Monterey Whale being offered at Monterey Peninsula College Watching. Located on Fisherman's Wharf in for more info call(831)646-4125. Monterey, CA. Monterey Bay is the best place along the west coast to observe south-bound Gray “SOUNDINGS” NEWSLETTER NOW ONLINE BACK Whales. Gray Whales migrate across Monterey TO 1980 Bay and resume hugging the coast somewhere With the permission of ACS Monterey, the between Pt. Pinos and Pt. Lobos making Gray Miller Library at Hopkins Marine Station scanned Whale observation along the Monterey coast its print copies of the "Soundings" newsletter to incredibly accessible to whale-watchers. Monterey create a digital archive of searchable PDF files. is home to a plethora of Gray Whale experts and These files have been deposited into the Aquatic we hope to be traveling with a few. Other possible Commons digital archive and are available at sightings include Killer Whales and Dolphins. All http://aquacomm.fcla.edu/. While the library's proceeds from this trip are donated to the Monterey holdings were relatively complete, there were Bay Chapter of ACS. For more information on the some missing issues. A list of the remaining gaps natural history of Gray Whales we recommend is below. If anyone has one or more of these issues Gray Whales by Alan Baldridge and David G. please contact Joe Wible at [email protected] or Gordon. For more trip information and 831-655-6228. Seeking to borrow following issues reservations please call Tony Lorenz at 831-648- of "Soundings": 8968 or Jerry Loomis at 831-419-1051. 1981 – April 1988-Jul, Aug, Oct 1985 – July 1989-Jun, Jul, Aug, Oct Feb. 17th -19th. 29th Symposium on Sea Turtle 1987 – Nov 2002-July Biology and Conservation. Brisbane, Australia For more info go to www.turtlesbrisbane.org American Cetacean Society-Monterey Bay www.starrsites.com/acsmb/ Soundings Page 3 January 2009 JAPAN SELLS ICELANDIC WHALE MEAT permitted, he could eventually hunt as many fin By Richard Black whales as Icelandic scientists recommended - Whale meat imported from Iceland and provided the government granted a quota, which is Norway has gone on sale in Japan, according to the likely if there is a proven market. Icelandic firm which caught and exported most of Although the fin is internationally the meat. classified as an endangered species, estimates of Hvalur hf told BBC News that after the north Atlantic stock run to about 30,000, and completing food safety checks, the meat was now Icelandic scientists recently suggested that an being distributed. The consignment is Iceland's annual catch of 200 would not damage the local first whale export to Japan in 20 years. The trade stock. is legal because all three countries have registered But Arni Finnsson of the Iceland Nature exemptions to rules banning international trade in Conservation Association (INCA) believes the whale products. market may not be as welcoming as the exporters There were unconfirmed reports last hope. weekend that the meat was on sale, but this is the "I don't believe there will ever be a market first official notification. in Japan for Icelandic meat that can be profitable," Some environmental groups fear that he said. "If they allow it from Iceland, they have Iceland and Norway want to step up whale meat to allow it from Norway, and then you could have exports to Japan, which is seen as having the thousands of minke whales flooding the market - biggest potential market. it's impossible." The present consignment consists of 65 He believes the export is a political move tonnes of fin whale meat caught by Hvalur hf, and designed to show the coalition government - which five tonnes of minke whale meat exported by the is divided on the issue - that whaling can be a Norwegian company Myklebust Trading. It profitable venture, generating jobs at a time when arrived in Tokyo in June, received an import the country is in dire economic straits. permit last month, and has now been given a clean He also believes Hvalur has an interest in bill of health. scuppering the "peace progress" within the "The meat has now cleared customs in International Whaling Commission which is Japan after undergoing very rigorous testing to exploring whether pro- and anti-whaling countries ensure that it meets every aspect of Japan's food can find a compromise between their very different safety regulations," said Hvalur's CEO Kristjan positions. Loftsson. The next meeting in the process takes place "We were always confident that this would next week in Cambridge. be the case. It was only a question of time, as The whale meat trade is banned under the Japan is legally obliged to handle whale meat Convention on International Trade in Endangered imports in the same way as any other seafood." Species (CITES), but Iceland, Japan and Norway Mr Loftsson, whose company is the only have all registered reservations, as the treaty one in Iceland equipped to hunt fin whales - the permits, exempting second biggest species - told BBC News that this themselves from the export was designed to re-introduce fin meat to ban.
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