By SHAUN HALL/EO Media Group
A few weeks ago, a small research vessel with several people aboard motored away from a boat ramp on the Rogue River in Gold Beach and headed out to sea in search of blue whales. They found what they were looking for.
Blue whales have made a comeback from the days of the late 1800s to the mid-1900s when whale hunting nearly annihilated the population. These days, they can be found in all oceans except the Arctic, and off the U.S. West Coast, including Oregon, where they come to feed.
“It’s not uncommon to run into clusters,” said Lisa Ballance, director of Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute in Newport. “It’s a happy story. Blue whales are a real success story, especially in the California current (off the West Coast). We are starting to see them on a regular basis.”
The vessel that day, affiliated with Cascadia Research Collective of Olympia, Wash., was conducting research in cooperation with the institute, gathering data that is expected to inform the possible location of offshore wind farms, which are the subject of meetings next week in Gold Beach, Brookings and Coos Bay.
Blue whales, the planet’s largest animals, can grow to about 110 feet long, weigh up to 330,000 pounds and live up to 90 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and considered endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
For two years now, researchers with Cascadia have been affixing temporary data-collection tags onto blue whales off the Oregon Coast. The tags, attached with shallow barbs, eventually come loose, float and emit a signal that allows their recovery.
“We’ve gotten pretty good at maneuvering close to whales,” said John Calambokidis, a research biologist with Cascadia.
The tags are affixed using a pole or a crossbow handled by people in the extended bow of a boat. In the future, drones might be able to do the work. The collected data is analyzed to help determine whale distribution and numbers, which in turn might be used to help site wind farms.
Out on the ocean, whales can be seen when they come up for air and blow.
“They’re fairly easy to see because they’re huge animals,” Ballance said.
The institute’s research vessel, Pacific Storm, while out to sea would call in the location of any whales it spotted to the Cascadia team.
“We want to make sure he’s aware of any blue whale concentrations, and we saw a number of them,” Ballance said, referring to Calambokidis. “Off of Gold Beach, we just ran into a cluster.”
When approaching a whale, research vessels maneuver carefully from behind and to the side of the animal, watching and making ready to affix tags when the whale surfaces.
“You drive slowly up to the whale,” Ballance said.
The barbs that anchor the tags superficially enter the whale’s skin. The barb and tag usually stay attached for about two weeks.
The research, now in its second year, is funded by a $2 million federal grant that is also looking into the distribution of porpoises, dolphins and seabirds. The first two years of the study have focused on data collection in the field.
“The second two years will be the analysis piece,” Ballance said.
The end product will include maps that show the location and number of whales at various times of the year.
“Those maps will be incredibly valuable tools,” she said. “It will show where there are hot spots of which species.”
The research is being conducted from Cape Mendocino, California, to the mouth of the Columbia River and west to the continental slope.
Asked about any early findings, Ballance said it’s too early to tell. “The short answer is, well, we don’t know yet,” she said.
The work right now is focusing on quality checks and documentation.
Eventually, the research will be paired with information gathered by bottom-mounted underwater hydrophones that listen for calls emitted by the whales.
“We need to understand how often they call or vocalize,” Ballance said. “How far are they roaming? Are they just passing through? And what are they doing? Are they feeding? Are they resting?”
The Pacific Storm goes out three times a year — in April, August and October — from the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport to conduct research.
“We’re gearing up to go out on another one,” Ballance said Friday.
Wind meetings next week
Regarding the meetings about wind farms, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced Aug. 15 that it had identified two ideal “wind energy areas” near Coos Bay and Brookings totaling about 343 square miles, located 18-32 miles off the coast. The agency will host the meetings to discuss the data behind its findings and discuss next steps.
Meetings are 4-8 p.m. Tuesday at the Gold Beach Community Center; 4-8 p.m. Wednesday at the Coos Bay Public Library; and 4-8 p.m. Thursday in the Commons Room at Southwest Oregon Community College in Brookings.
More information is available at www.boem.gov/renewable-energy/state-activities/Oregon.
In June, Gov. Tina Kotek, Sen. Ron Wyden and Sen. Jeff Merkley wrote to the agency to express concern about the move to lease wind farm areas.
“We write to share the considerable concern that we continue to hear from Oregon’s coastal communities about the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s ongoing process for identifying wind energy areas and preparing lease sales for floating offshore wind off the Oregon coast,” they said. “Industrial-scale floating offshore wind is a nascent technology both inside and outside of the United States, and it is important that we fully evaluate the impacts that it may have on ecosystems, the economy, and ratepayers before moving forward.”
The three officials said the agency’s process had created significant friction with coastal communities, the fishing industry and tribal governments
“Floating offshore wind on Oregon’s south coast could be a key component of a diverse energy portfolio to realize these goals,” they said. “It would also create middle-class jobs and diversify and bolster the region’s natural resource-dependent economy. However, any offshore wind project must be done responsibly and in collaboration with local communities, including fishing and Tribal stakeholders.”
- Reach reporter Shaun Hall at 458-225-7179 or shall@rv-times.com. You can also follow him on Twitter @ShaunHallRVT.
It has been determined winds farms and their creation has killed at least 19 whale off the U.S. east coast.
It causes disruption/confusion in their sonic communications causing them to beach and die.
The fact that blue whales have been recently sited on our southern coast, is a warning to stay out of their water.
Please provide a source for your claim that wind farms killed whales off the East Coast. My understanding is that there is zero evidence for this and it is another lie from Donald Trump.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66928305
We need to slow global warming and the use of fossil fuels, and wind energy is in excellent alternative. The fishing industry needs to produce some real evidence that these things are harmful. All I’ve heard so far are baseless claims.
I should add that if you read the BBC story, the major threat to whales is the fishing industry itself.