Watching Whales Watching Us in California
- Joel Reynolds
- Director of NRDC's Urban Program, the Marine Mammal Protection and So. California Ecosystem projects, Santa Monica, CA
- Blog | About
- Posted July 13, 2009 in Reviving the World's Oceans , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
In yesterday's New York Times Magazine ("Watching Whales Watch Us"), author Charles Siebert lays out a compelling case for what many people have long suspected: that great whales are conscious, social, interactive animals with complex social structures and cultures. The article is beautifully written and full not just of anecdotes of remarkable whale-human interactions but interviews with leading scientists who have documented that whales teach, learn, cooperate, grieve, and even use tools in their quest for food.
Using the 'friendly gray whales" at Laguna San Ignacio on the west coast of Baja California as the touchstone, Siebert covers a range of topics in making his case - from military sonar (calling NRDC's litigation to control it a "turning point" in the relationship between humans and whales) to commercial whaling to personal and historical anecdotes of interactions with these massive creatures in the wild. He suggests the remarkable proposition that these ancient creatures, once hunted virtually to extinction by humans, may somehow have learned now to forgive and even trust us, in spite of our centuries-old efforts to slaughter their ancestors for oil and other whale byproducts. Siebert argues that whale-human relations have long been characterized by a "stark dualism: manic swings between mythologizing and massacre; between sublime awe and assiduous annihilation, the testimonies of their slayers often permeated with a deep sense of both remorse and respect for the victims."
And nowhere is this more clearly the case than at Laguna San Ignacio.
At this extraordinary place - now a World Heritage Site, a biosphere reserve, and the last undisturbed breeding and calving lagoon of the California gray whale - this large baleen species that migrates each year along the west coast from Alaska was hunted by whalers like Charles Scammon, who would trap the calves in the shallow lagoon as a means of enticing the full-grown mothers within range for harpooning. After reaching near-extinction at levels below 1,000 whales, the species began to rebound when commercial whaling was outlawed in the mid to late 20th Century, with the eastern Pacific gray whale stock now reaching an estimated 18,000 gray whales at least - one of the most dramatic recoveries of any large whale species. It is in this lagoon today that whale-watchers come every winter to ride the protected waters to see and even touch 40-ton, 45-feet long wild animals and their babies in their natural habitat.
As but one example of the continuing, post-commercial whaling threats to these magnificent animals, it was in this lagoon that, in the 1990's, Mitsubishi Corporation and the government of Mexico proposed to build the world's largest industrial salt works - 116-square miles of industrial development, with 17 enormous diesel pumps sucking 6,000 gallons per second from the lagoon 24-hours a day; a million-ton stockpile of salt; a two-kilometer pier into the Bay of Whales where ocean-going tankers would dock to receive the salt for transport to Japan; and billions of gallons of toxic salt brine, stored in ponds adjacent to the lagoon and eventually dumped into coastal waters. Together with the largest environmental coalition ever formed in Mexico and the International Fund for Animal Welfare, NRDC mounted the largest public campaign in its history to challenge and, against tremendous odds, ultimately defeat the salt works project. Now, ten years after President Zedillo of Mexico announced that the project would be abandoned, NRDC and a coalition of international and Mexican non-profits have undertaken a conservation initiative to preserve in perpetuity one million acres around the lagoon through easements and land acquisition - to ensure that the whales will be protected from a return of the salt works project or any other major development.
This is a success story, but the international struggle to protect and restore whale populations around the globe will never end. Charles Siebert's article is a powerful statement of why that struggle, by NRDC and others, is essential.
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Comments
Michael Kendall — Jul 15 2009 05:39 PM
Researchers carefully try to straddle the line between science and speculation. I fortunately do not have such constraints. Having experienced these amazing whales at San Ignacio, it's obvious to me that something extraordinary is happening. Maybe it goes beyond our need to be forgiven for crimes inflicted by our species upon them. Maybe they are sentient enough to not be caught up in something so human as guilt. It's possible they want to teach us something we apparently don't understand about them, this planet and ourselves. Hopefully we will soon learn to listen and see from their perspective.
Eleanor Musick — Jul 15 2009 06:08 PM
As someone who, as a nature-loving "tourist", has had the good fortune of having had close encounters with gray whales in Bahia Magdalena and Laguna San Ignacio (with Joel and his family) and with a humpback in Antarctica, I can attest to how emotional and awe-inspiring such encounters can be. No one who experiences an interaction of this kind can fail to marvel at the whales' consciousness and curiousity about humans and that, in spite of the terrible things that we have done to them historically, many of them still desire to interact with us.
CSea Perkins — Jul 16 2009 09:46 AM
In capital letters, FORGIVENESS is naturally inherited by them, earned and learned by humans.
The encounter is awe inspiring and magically overwhelming; leaving us with the ability to overcome anything. If we choose to!
Barbara DiIorio — Jul 16 2009 09:46 AM
Moved by Mr. Siebert's wonderful piece in the Magazine, and Mr. Reynolds's blog, I'm compelled to write to add a small personal note. In the early 80s I was studying to become a nurse in Santa Rosa, California. My human anatomy professor was also department chair of marine sciences, and he invited me along on a whalewatch trip one Saturday in October. On the unusually quiet Pacific water off the coast of Pt. Reyes (just north of San Francisco), with Vivaldi's Four Seasons playing gently in the background, a lone gray whale surfaced on the starboard, where I was standing. He turned to his side and put his eye at the surface and looked into my eyes (so I'm certain) and I knew in that instant I would never be a nurse. I changed my major on Monday and earned my degree in marine biology a short time thereafter. I am teaching and tutoring in biology and marine sciences.
Tamara Albright — Jul 16 2009 09:47 AM
Thank you for bringing awareness to this beautiful species.
Eileen — Jul 16 2009 10:07 AM
My biggest concern with the article and this blog entry is that they appear to equate 'humans' with western culture. As far as I know, all (or at least most) indigenous cultures have had a remarkable relationship with whales and other 'relations' throughout their past. They thought of them basically as equals; when they killed them for subsistence, they offered thanks to the animal's spirit; some believed that those spirits would be reincarnated - possibly as a human. 'commercial' whaling did not exist. This traditional 'world view' continues in some cases. Western culture pats itself on the back for finally gaining some wisdom that has existed for thousands of years in other cultures.
Alexandra Douglas — Jul 16 2009 10:09 AM
Human beings have to find alternative sources of income that do not involve the slaughter of these INNOCENT and majestic creatures!
Harriet Hornblower — Jul 16 2009 10:11 AM
Here's something for educators to consider. I work at Fruitlands Museum's Indian Gallery (Native American) in Harvard, MA. When I talk to school or visiting children about totems, I ask them which animal do they identify with or which comes to mind when thinking about their favorite animal.
Then I tell them that is their totem and they can help it as my son's did with the whale when for several years, he would give a contribution of money -he earned by doing chores- to whale researcher's whale adoption program in Massachusetts.
In conclusion, if you decide to do this with your students, don't forget to tell them to support their totem's health and survival, let's hope, throughout their life.
Hopefully a few will remember to do so.
Harriet Hornblower
Lamura Miller — Jul 16 2009 10:20 AM
My overwhelming appreciation was first for dolphins in Hawaii. We were on a small boat and six dolphins surrounded our boat dancing in circles and spinning in mid air. Then on the beach in Santa Cruz we saw the whales come through. What beauty! How can we destroy nature with drilling, polluting, more building, etc.? The balance of nature and the end to global warming will destroy our earth eventually. Is that what we want?
Why don't we all take a stand and step up to our own greatness. Be Blessed. Eleanor L. Miller
Frederick Samuels — Jul 16 2009 10:30 AM
There is a special tribute due to NRDC for their dedication and ceaseless efforts to protect and care for the magnificent specious of our planet. Without this dedicated organization so much of our natural environments and our animal and acquatic species which have existed long before the coming of mankind would no longer be. All that would remain would be a forgotten memory, if even that. Our country and the world thank and salute you for your efforts.
Donna Burke — Jul 16 2009 11:46 AM
I have always found whales to be fascinating and wonderful! In reading the article "Watching Whales Watching Us" I am again in awe of the way whales live and socialize.
It pains me dearly to think of us humans, who are suppose to be the care-givers of animals, are the very ones who are causing harm to these magnificent creatures, as well as all the other creatures!
I realize we have to do things to protect our country and our people, but I wish there could be a way that we could work to protect our freedoms and also keep the animals from harm, too!
If there were just more concerns citizens working together, there must be a way!
maria eugenia gonzalez — Jul 16 2009 12:16 PM
Thank you so much for this beautiful article.
I am deeply moved. We all must save these
wonderful beings from humans, as sad and shameful as it sounds, truth is we must do the best we can to inform and reeducate
people so we wont loose all animals.
Joy Ehle — Jul 16 2009 12:18 PM
I traveled from San Diego to San Ignacio Lagoon with the Cabrillo Aquarium on their annual boat trip. It was a week of pure happiness. I will always cherish the memory of a baby whale's eye watching and following my every move. Their only reason for contact,in my opinion, is the same as a puppy:love. My story appeared in the Fall 2008 Issue of OCEAN and can also be viewed at www.oceanmag.org.
Carol Millspaugh — Jul 16 2009 01:42 PM
Thank you for this article! My husband and I were privileged to see, even to touch, gray whales in the Baja lagoons several years ago, and it was a truly sacred experience. Now I'm newly retired, and hope to spend some of the time and energy left to me to help protect and advocate for these wonderful creatures who have, I believe, wisdom to teach us. Our own species needs to "grow up" into sharing this planet responsibly with others who are here, including the whales; using sonar in the oceans without regard to the terrible damage it causes other creatures is irresponsible and selfish; together we need to advocate for those who cannot speak for themselves, including gray whales, but who also have the right, and the privilege, of being here.
andy ridinger — Jul 16 2009 01:55 PM
These comments are a wonderful set of responses that illustrate that whales are indeed sentient creatures who are in many ways more intelligent than humankind. NO genocide. No pollution. Life lived in harmonic balance with the host planet. Big brains; in many species, far larger than humans, and we are speaking here of cortical area, not just overall brain size. If we carefully listen, these forgiving, multidimensional beings will educate us on how to preserve this planet. Cetaceans of all kinds ARE indeed reaching out to humankind, because they have no choice but to try and do so. They would like the planet and all its diverse species to SURVIVE in its present state for as many million years as possible, and unless humans radically alter the thoughtless, wasteful kind of stewardship they have been practicing since the beginning of the Industrial age, we will take down the ecosystem and most of the mammals along with us. The great whales and their smaller cousins are calling out to the heart (and collective consciousness) of our species to learn to love this earth rather than exploit it into degradation.
Many thanks to all the great folks who wrote comments today, and thanks to Joel Reynolds for a fine blog. May you all be blessed by a growing communion with the Family of Cetacea.
john Hurd — Jul 16 2009 02:45 PM
Thank goodness the whales got their "15 minutes of fame" in the NY times article. Now for a change let's lean on NOAA to disallow the Navy continue/expand use of SONAR!
marine ecologist Dr. Jane Lubchenco, now
Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator
jane.lubchenco@noaa.gov
...has appointed someone to "whale affairs". That would be Kelly Denit 202-482-0955
Stan Stanfield — Jul 16 2009 04:34 PM
Several years ago I was holidaying on the w/sw coast of Australia, and came to a port town where the Tourist Information office had a chalkboard sign indicating that a mother whale & her newborn calf had been sighted that morning on the twice-a-day whalewatching expedition. I decided to give the trip a go. It was one of the most important decisions I have ever made in my now twilight-years life.
We motored out to a spot where right whales were known to calf, and the skipper cut the engine, for us to wait awhile and see what would happen. We didn't see the mother & her calf, but there were two adults nearby, just sunning themselves. Then the male said to his partner, "I think I'll mosey over there and check out the action." She replied, "Whatever," and over he came, slowly, crossing well in front of us off to our starboard, turning, and lining up for his takeoff. While he headed straight for us, our skipper got excited, telling us quietly in his mike, "Wow. Have we got one close for you or what." Well; yes and no.
We were on a catamaran, and I was standing down on the starboard pontoon, watching this big baby heading straight for us - closer, and closer (the skipper, wetting his pants by now, and also possibly thinking of his insurance, murmured breathlessly in his mike: "Be careful if he blows; it's full of germs") - and he swam right under me/us. I could have touched him if I had had the wit to stick a finger through the metal mesh holding the pontoons together, on which I was standing, transfixed by and in the contiguous presence of this magnificent creature.
Who then proceeded to give us a performance off our port side to rival any trained act in a contained environment, with food as a motivator. This was sheer pleasure; for him as well as us.
cont'd
Stan Stanfield — Jul 16 2009 04:55 PM
cont'd
Over and over he dove, roared out like he was aiming for applause, flipped his fluke at us, and flapped his fin at us. I say 'his'; I don't know these things, except as fellow mammals. I imagine that if it was a her, she'd have behaved with a little more decorum. Anyway, sexism aside, it was a masterful hour; a bit less, perhaps, but who's counting, at a time and place and event like that. Finally he tired, and bathed in our unspoken admiration. We had to leave - were well over our allotted time; but that connection was what had caused our skipper to take that job up as a profession, so he wasn't about to invoke a 9 to 5 schedule. Gently he fired up the engine, and we started slowly away. But wait - there's more.
As the others gathered in the cabin for a spot of tea and conversation, I kept contact with our Mr. Right; looking back as he dwindled in size, and became a still part of the seascape. And then - and I kid you not: he turned on his side, and gave a last, farewell wave of his flipper.
He was a southpaw, I believe. And I have been a believer ever since. Put a petition to Save the Whales anywhere's near me, and you've got an ally. For life.
Dr. Charity Blake — Jul 16 2009 05:40 PM
We were on a cruise to Alaska, and in Juneau went on a whale-watching tour. A humpback came right up to our boat, on the right side, and stayed with us. We could have touched him except for the barrier on the boat to keep us from falling out. He stayed right along our boat as other whales swam nearby. The naturalist on board said she never saw a whale that close to the boat before. (I sometimes wonder if they ALWAYS say that.) Then a small boat from far away came at us full-speed ahead, which is illegal when whales are in the area. As he approached at high-speed, the whales went down and came up far away. The smaller boat would have been fined, if the water police were in the area.
Stephanie Taugner — Jul 16 2009 07:47 PM
I just want to comment that at the end of my day seeing this makes me feel as though we really can achieve anything even if the odds are overwhelmingly against a situation. Yes, I believe the whales forgive. Humans do not forgive easily and we can create chaos and destruction if we are not very careful with our intentions, motives and actions.This is an uplifting end to my day, moving into the evening. i am happy and serene thinking about the whales.