A Project of the Hawaii Whale Research Foundation in Monterey, California

Researchers' Blog

Well, in 2007 we had some more boat problems, which limited our days on the water. There were a couple times we got back to the harbor safely on a wing n’ a prayer. But the main thing is we got some more water days out on beautiful Monterey Bay. Nothing makes me happier. While working on the boat hoping to get it running while floating dead in the water (luckily it was a calm, beautiful day), I kept dreaming of the day that we can get our dream "Green Research" boat that runs on renewable fuels. See our "Wish List".


George Black can tell you stories about his first season with us. George is a retired teacher and principal with great boat handling experience. He is actually my dive buddy of 10 years. He drove all the way from Michigan so that I would have one dedicated person every day to help on the project. As you may know the Marine Life Studies (MLS) staff, composed of highly skilled and professional individuals, is entirely volunteer. It was great as George helped with loading and unloading the equipment everyday, set up, and captained the boat. He helped with hydrophone recordings and plankton tows. George was a great asset .

George at work:George and Mary:

The project could not run without our local volunteers. Many thanks go out to Sarah Graham, Danny Frank, Gina Thomas, Martijn Stiphout, and Mary Whitney for all their help on the boat this year.

Since MLS has limited funds to run the project we decided that in 2007 we would concentrate on projects that could make a difference but would not take much cash, just time. So of course a project we actually started working on in the fall 2006 was slated as the number one project to put all our efforts into. The project is to help facilitate a "Whale Rescue Network" for Monterey Bay that has grown to incorporate all of California and coordinate it with existing trained personnel already in place.

Marine debris is increasing which is detrimental to marine life, especially commercial fisheries gear/nets. Whales and dolphins can become entangled in all sorts of manmade debris floating in our oceans. We want Monterey Bay to have a full set of disentanglement tools and annual training for a crew with the expertise to be able to go out when an entangled whale is reported and use their skills to free them. We have been working with Joe Cordaro, the Regional Stranding Coordinator for California and Ed Lyman, Marine Mammal Response Manager for the Hawaiian Islands National Marine Sanctuary (HINMS) on providing more training for large whale disentanglement.

Training will be held in the spring of 2008, date and location to be announced. Contact us to be on the mailing list. Humpbacks are endangered and are one of the whales mostly likely to become entangled because of their curious nature.

If interested in becoming involved a prerequisite would be to take the following Incident Command training which is free and available on line. There are several levels. Here are the links for levels one and two:
http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is100.asp
http://training.fema.gov/emiweb/is/is200.asp


Marine Life Studies (MLS) received a $2000 grant from the Fluke Foundation and a $600 donation from private individual toward the purchase of disentanglement tools. MLS placed an order for as many disentanglement tools that the donated money could buy. This is a great start but to have everything needed for the full compliment another $8000 is needed. Donations are welcome and can be designated just for the purchase of disentanglement tools. Remember your donations are tax deductible. Please contact us if you have any question, would like more information about this important project or to become involved.

In some parts of the ocean there are 6 lbs of plastic for every pound of fish. During our own research in 2007 we actually documented more sightings of garbage than we did of marine mammals while doing our boat transects. We had 53 sightings of garbage and only 40 sightings of marine mammals.

" Impacts of larger debris have been well-documented over the years, including marine mammal, fish and seabird mortalities caused by ingestion causing starvation and suffocation, and entanglement. Research into the impacts of smaller debris is emerging, but it is known already that small plastic debris is ingested by marine life at all levels of the marine food web, from zooplankton to the largest marine mammals."
[The above excerpt is from: MUNICIPAL BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES FOR CONTROLLING TRASH AND DEBRIS IN STOMRWATER AND URBAN RUNOFF
Prepared and Written By:
Miriam Gordon, California Coastal Commission
Ruth Zamist, Plastic Debris, Rivers to Sea Project]

See http://www.plasticdebris.org/ and click on BMPs for Trash & Debris [Trash_BMPs_for_Munis.pdf]
4 Laist, D.W. 1997. Impacts of marine debris: entanglement of marine life in marine debris including a comprehensive list of species with entanglement and ingestion records. pp. 99-140. In: J.M. Coe and D.B. Rogers (eds.), Marine Debris: Sources, Impacts, and Solutions. Springer-Verlag. New York, NY


Marine debris is on the rise:
We had more sightings of garbage than we did of marine mammals during our research surveys in 2007 on Monterey Bay. We had 53 sightings of garbage and only 40 sightings of marine mammals.
Below is a breakdown of the type of garbage for each sighting in 2007:
53 Total Sightings of Garbage:
Breakdown by type:
Total of 15 sightings of balloons
Total of 1 sightings of cardboard
Total of 15 sightings of paper
Total of 20 sightings of plastic
Total of 2 sightings of Styrofoam. As you know balloons are a pet peeve of mine but also plastic shopping bags. Plastic bags kill an estimated 100,000 marine animals annually. so please choose to use reusable and cloth shopping bags instead.

You probably have heard about the North Pacific Gyre that is a huge area of floating marine debris twice the size of Texas. It is essentially plastic stew floating just below the surface in the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii. For more information check out these web pages:
http://www.bestlifeonline.com/cms/publish/travel-leisure/Our_oceans_are_turning_into_plastic_are_we.shtml
http://www.algalita.org/breaking_news/research_voyage_2005.html
http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Ocean/Moore-Trashed-PacificNov03.htm


2006
A major threat to whales, dolphins and other marine animals throughout the world is the contamination of their habitat. An important part of our mission is to reduce contamination and to help foster a respect for the environment. During our efforts on the water in 2006 I was astonished at how much garbage we saw. We had a total of 46 sightings of garbage. Twenty-two of the 46 sightings were of balloons. Balloons are a pet peeve of mine.

Please dispose of balloons properly. Do not let balloons loose into the atmosphere. Balloons travel incredibly far. Even when released inland they can end up in the ocean. Please spread the word that balloons can mean death for marine animals.

See www.savethewhales.org for an alternative to using balloons for birthdays, grand openings, and other festivities.

Leatherback turtles are endangered so each and every one of them is critical for the survival of the species. Leatherback turtles eat jellyfish. A balloon in the water can be mistaken for it's favorite food. Balloons, plastic bags, styrofoam, and trash floating in the water all can be mistaken as food and the turtles die when this trash blocks their intestines.

Link for more info on leatherback turtles,
and a link for a children's activity called “Protecting Leatherback Turtles from Balloons” that shows them how a balloon can look like a jellyfish to a turtle.
You can make a difference. Please properly dispose of your garbage. Celebrate events without the use of balloon releases.


Below is a breakdown of the type of garbage for each sighting in 2006:
46 Total Sightings of Garbage:
Breakdown by type:
Total of 22 sightings of balloons
Total of 1 sightings of cardboard
Total of 3 sightings of paper
Total of 11 sightings of plastic
Total of 1 sightings of plastic bottle
Total of 3 sightings of plastic water bottle
Total of 1 sightings of plastic/paper
Total of 2 sightings of Styrofoam
Total of 1 sightings of unknown material
Total of 1 sightings of wood

What I find really alarming and sad is that we had 46 sightings of garbage compared to only 69 total sightings of dolphins, whales, and other marine animals. This is a wake up call that more outreach needs to be done to educate the public in disposing of balloons and other garbage properly. An individual can really make a difference and help ocean life by spreading the word.

Up to September 28, 2006

longbeakeddolphinI met the Earthrace team in Monterey as I went down to talk to them about my dream of eventually having a research vessel that runs on biodiesel fuel. "Earthrace is a bid to break the world record for circumnavigating the globe in a powerboat, and using only renewable fuels. The program includes an 18-month tour calling at 60 of the worlds' great cities, promoting fuels like biodiesel, and raising awareness about sustainable use of resources."



Photo by Mich Nelson.


After hosting the Earthrace team at my house the weekend of August 26th, they left Monterey (check out their website at www.earthrace.net to continue their North American tour. They will be trying to beat the world record of circumnavigating the globe all on biodiesel in March 2007.  Pete Bethune, the skipper and the one who had the vision for the boat, came back to Monterey while the crew was in San Francisco for servicing. Pete stayed the whole week at my house working on paperwork and phone calls.

On Friday, Sept 1st Earthrace was in Santa Cruz so Sarah Graham and myself met them. We helped them sell t-shirts and DVD’s. We also presented them with a net on behalf of Marine Life Studies to help us in our efforts to pick up trash while on their tour. See article by Ruth Carlson at: www.talkintravel.com/westernus/earthrace.html.

After the Earthrace team left Santa Cruz, John Allen, one of the Earthrace volunteers came back and stayed with me for a week as he had sponsors to meet with in the bay area while the rest of the team continued the tour in southern California. So for about 2 weeks my dining room table was the temporary office of Earthrace. While he was here, John was so impressed by our Marine Life Studies project that he donated $100 on behalf of Earthrace. Thank you Earthrace!


To help raise much needed money for the Marine Life Studies (MLS) project we had a fundraising garage sale Sept 2nd & 3rd.  We had lots of shoppers. Thank you for your support. I especially want to thank all the wonderful people who donated items for the garage sale. The outpouring from the community was heartwarming.

On September 9th and 10th Marine Life Studies (MLS) participated in Whale Fest on Fisherman’s Wharf.  This was a good way for us to let the community know what Marine Life Studies is all about. We held a raffle to help raise funds. Bob Talbot and Patagonia donated items for the raffle, which was great and very generous of them. We also raffled off a couple items for Earthrace and that money went to their cause. List of winners:
1) Carrie Pitkin - Roseville, CA [Talbot poster]
2) Kim Woltman - Monterey, CA [Talbot poster]
3) Brent Williamson - Marina, CA [Talbot poster]
4) Tiffany Thomas - Lahaina, Maui [Earthrace poster]
5) Benji Shake (not sure what city he lives in) [green fleece Patagonia jacket]
6) Dana Riley - Carmel, CA [Green Patagonia Vest]
7) Deborah Ferreira - Tracy, CA [Talbot poster]
8) Holly Widener - Seaside, CA [Green flowered Patagonia fleece pullover]
9) Peter Bruno – Monterey, CA [Talbot video]
10) Greg Wiese - Citrus Heights, CA [Earthrace video]
 
A big thanks to the community who attended Whale Fest and to the MLS volunteers who worked the booth.

After Whale Fest, one of our MLS volunteers, Tif Thomas, and myself met the Earthrace team in Newport Beach and went with them to San Diego. We assisted them with projects and cleaning the boat as well as helping them sell DVD’s and t-shirts for their cause.

When Tif and I returned from San Diego the fuel line for the research boat finally came in and we were able to install it. We launched the boat on September 17th. We were very excited. Since the ocean conditions were not real favorable we just did safety drills. The next day we were able to get out but had to come in early as the winds picked up. Due to the ocean conditions we did not get where there was a killer whale report. But we did find 6 different sightings of balloons, which we did pick up.

Balloons are a pet peeve of Marine Life Studies as they are very detrimental to marine life. Balloons can mean death to turtles, whales, dolphins, seals and other marine life. They may ingest it innocently believing it is food such as a jellyfish or squid. Please do not release balloons outside. Please dispose of them properly by puncturing them and throwing them in the trash.  See www.savethewhales.org/balloon.html for alternatives to balloons for celebrations such as birthdays, grand openings, birth of a child, etc.


The weather conditions on the ocean were finally good so the weekend of September 23rd we got all the equipment ready to go out. Howard from the Elkhorn Yacht Club called as he noticed the boat sitting low in the water. The boat had been in the slip for 5 days and there was a lot of water in the boat. Had to bilge out the boat and checked it over. Let it set overnight thinking we had the problem solved but there was some water in the boat the next day. Decided not to go out but instead to pull the boat out of the water. There was a slow leak where one of the ground wires ran through the stern. So we will be doing some repairs. That is how it is sometimes in the life of a research team.

blog from Earthrace Captain Pete Bethune...

"After San Francisco we had a series of great promotions. Monterey, Morro Bay and Ventura were all awesome, with lots of people through the boat and plenty of media. We met a few more people who're now helping us. We also made stops in Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara. Peggy Stap, alias the Pegster, took us all under her wing."


August 28, 2006

I want to thank all of you that came over for the greet and meet pot luck. It was so nice to meet all of you. We are very fortunate to have such nice and enthusiastic people on our team.

Just wanted to update you to where we are at with the boat. Someone had vandalized the boat trying to steal the fuel from it and damaged the fuel line. Sarah ordered the fuel line and will be in this week so will update you as to when we will be able to get the boat in the water.

It was a very exciting weekend in Monterey. Sarah gave me a call and said I had to check this boat out down at the wharf called Earthrace which was a "green" boat run 100% on Biodiesel from New Zealand and chat with them. It was great. Talked with John Allen, one of the crew as well as the one in charge of looking for sponsors. They were going to take a sponsor out that evening and asked about where to find the whales. Gave a call to one of our Captain friends and he gave me the coordinates for the Earthrace Team. Then he invited myself and Sarah to help them sight the whales and be the "Naturalists" on board. Plus they were looking to find a hotel that might sponsor them at a discounted rate. Told him if I had some lead time I probably could of set it up but finding a place mid-afternoon on a Saturday in Monterey is nearly impossible. So I offered them to stay with me. So Saturday night the whole crew of 5 stayed (plus a couple gals from the Netherlands). So check out their website. They will be in Santa Cruz on Thurs and Fri of this week.

This weekend we are having a garage sale in Monterey on Sat & Sun (Sept 2nd & 3rd) to raise money for our project. If anyone has anything they want to donate please give me a call at 831-901-3833 (and if anyone would like to give us a hand at the garage sale we would appreciate it). While manning the garage sale we are going to put together the display boards for Whale Fest which is on Sept 9th and 10th.

Aloha,
Peggy

Some photos taken under National Marine Fisheries Service Research Permits #1094 & #782.

content © www.marinelifestudies.org
“Sweet Pea” © Gina Thomas ~ all other photos © Peggy Stap
Site Design: lagranddesign