Strawberry Isle ScuttleButt Spring 2000

Grays on the Move

" Here they come again, ooee." The Gray Whales are on the move. The first animals were seen wandering out of their Mexican breeding / calving lagoons in December and are now, six weeks later, showing up along our coast. The 'no prize' for first local sighting of migrating Grays in our area goes to whale watch boat operator/interpreter Heather Shobe aboard the "Blue Lightning." On February 27 she picked up on three whales off Lennard Island We are geographically about half way along this, the longest of all mammal migrations. It is more than 5,000 nautical miles from Mexico to the rich feeding grounds of the Bering Sea.

With a cruising speed of about 4.5 Knots, the whales are looking at two and a half months travelling time one way. There is a great deal of variation in this time frame, depending on the fancy of the individual animals. While most whales seem undistracted in their migration, others will pause to gulp down coastal clouds of mysid shrimp or fields of herring roe laden algae, still others get so sidetracked by the culinary virtues and ambiance of Clayoquot Sound that they end up staying the whole summer - sounds like some people I know. We also see Grays who hang out all winter in the open ocean with no apparent desire to migrate one way or the other. On our January continental shelf survey we recorded nine Grays in two groups who were just lazing about on the surface seventeen miles offshore. We believe they are too young, too old or simply barren so they have no need to make the long swim to the breeding grounds. Even though these overwintering animals save blubber stored protein by not migrating, they would burn a bit more keeping themselves warm in our cooler waters.

And then there's the little whale who wandered into Grice Bay last April to excavate the mud dwelling critters. This guy/gal is still showing up there to sift through the mud. A concern we have with this whale's homesteading in Grice Bay, is the food stock. Last February we recorded 12 litres of live biomass per cubic metre of substrate. This year, after 324 whale days of predation, there is only half the available biomass left. Another significant observation is that there is only one sixth the number of infant Ghost Shrimp to repopulate the bay. We are hoping that this young whale will decide to join up with the migrating whales and leave Grice Bay alone. The question of course is, "If the whale decides to stay in the bay for another summer, Is there enough foodstuffs propagating there to sustain it?"

We have said a lot about the mud dwelling Ghost Shrimp in past 'Scuttle Butts' but little about the False Mya clam that coexists with the shrimp. These numerous small bivalves average about a centimetre long and, over a year, represent 63% of the live biomass in Grice Bay. We have long wondered if the Grays are profiting from the ingestion of these clams. First, "What is the nutritional value?" We hope to get a grad student interested in carrying out a protein breakdown to find this out. Then, "Is it possible that the clam closes up and passes through the whale's digestive track without opening to expose its meat to the gastric juices?" On a whim, while examining these clams, I scooped up a handful of them and, gulp, 'down the hatch.' The following day I was unable to coerce any of our hard working staff or volunteers to carry out a fecal analysis. It seems even Carla has a limit to her dedication. Anyway, after a very intense rinsing, we were surprised to see that the clams had not only opened but the joining hinges and abductor muscles were entirely dissolved. The shells were as clean as though they were picked up off a beach. "I know, hardly scientific but us naturalists have considerable leeway."

On the Killer Whale front, the last animals seen in '99 were T068 and her brood of four kids on December 31. T068 is one of only a few females we see that has been prolific enough to have four living offspring. They cruised through the harbour into Browning Pass then turned around and went right back out again. On the same day three animals were reported from Ucluelet Harbour by Lance Blackwell.

The first identified Kawkawin visit for this millennium was the Motley Crew (T023's) on February 7. The Crew has been seen in Clayoquot every year for a total of 28 visits since we started the monitoring program on January 1, '91. There were also three Killer Whales reported, by Tofino Airlines, to be stalking the Sea Lions at Long Beach Rocks on January 23. On February 5, Lisa Brisco and friends spotted three Kawkawin from Amphitrite Point. Unfortunately, we were unable to get on the scene in either of these cases to identify who these animals were.

Here's a brief recap of Killer Whale presence in Clayoquot Sound last year. With 42 days of visitation, 1999 had only slightly fewer visits than a normal year. For the first year, there were no animals identified who we had not seen in previous years and there were no calves born to any of the gangs we normally see. Sad to say it looks like the 1998 calf, Kennan (T022A), didn't survive. The fourteen kills observed were; 6 Harbor Seals, 2 Harbor Porpoises, 3 Surf Scoters, 1 marbled murrelet, 1 Caccin's Auklet and 1 Common Murre.

We would like, at this time, to take the opportunity to wish for good weather, no breakdowns and record customers during the upcoming season for our local company sponsors: Jamie's Whaling Station, Sea Side Adventures, Chinook Charters, Sea Trek Tours, The whale Centre, Pacific Sands and Adventures Pacific

Rod Palm