Agencies use new whale recordings in rescue effort

Photo courtesy Greenpeace.org

By Ananda Shorey

May 18, 2007

Efforts to lure two wounded humpback whales stranded near Sacramento back to the Pacific Ocean are continuing today with rescuers using new whale recordings to try and draw the large mammals to sea.

Officials were using sounds Thursday from an Alaskan population of whales, which they originally thought the pair belonged to, but they have switched to acoustics from a California-Mexico population, said Carrie Wilson, a California Department of Fish and Game marine biologist.

Rescue agencies are altering the frequencies, distances and directions of the recordings to see if efforts that began earlier this week prove more successful today.

"We are going to try different combinations today and hopefully we will have some success," Wilson said.

The mother and calf that appear to have been wounded by boat propellers were first sighted Sunday.

Although they traveled a bit today, the whales are still in the Port of Sacramento.

"This morning we found the pair ventured into the deep water channel, which is going in the direction we want them to go," Wilson said.

The whales later returned to the basin.

Agencies involved in the rescue might take Saturday off, depending on how things go today, to regroup and let the whales rest, Wilson said.

If needed, next week the plan is to return with more boats, including a 58-footer from Berkeley. Rescuers also plan to change their strategy and start herding, which would involve following the whales with boats and transmitting negative noises, Wilson said.

But scientists are also concerned about stressing the pair, Wilson said.

"We're not sure any of this is going to work. We are hopeful. We are doing the best we can," Wilson said.

The latest reports indicate the whales appear healthy despite having lacerations that likely resulted from contact with boat propellers.

The pair has been swimming back and forth and periodically surfacing, to the delight of onlookers.

Humpbacks are an endangered species that have been threatened by commercial hunting, boat collisions and pollution. They have flattened-knobby heads, wavy-edged flippers and can be the size of school buses.

Copyright © 2007 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.

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