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Malibu Surfside News 032218
Malibu Surfside News 032218
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malibusurfsidenews.com News<br />
Malibu surfside news | March 22, 2018 | 3<br />
Recent whale migration gathering nets zero sightings<br />
Overall, above-average<br />
number of gray whales<br />
spotted this season<br />
Suzanne Guldimann<br />
Freelance Reporter<br />
The luck of the Irish apparently<br />
did not extend to whale watching<br />
on St. Patrick’s Day.<br />
No gray whales were within<br />
view during a two-hour event at<br />
Leo Carrillo State Park on Saturday,<br />
March 17, but Malibu’s<br />
stretch of ocean has seen plenty<br />
of whales passing by in the past<br />
several months.<br />
Every winter and spring, gray<br />
whales make the perilous 10,000-<br />
mile journey from the arctic waters<br />
where they summer, to their<br />
winter feeding and breeding<br />
grounds in the warm waters of<br />
Baja in Mexico, and back again.<br />
The migration provides human<br />
observers a rare opportunity<br />
to see whales from the shore. A<br />
large number of whales have already<br />
been observed during the<br />
current season, making this an<br />
ideal time to look.<br />
The American Cetacean Society’s<br />
Los Angeles Chapter runs<br />
a gray whale census from Dec. 1<br />
through late May each year. During<br />
the migration, trained volunteers<br />
keep watch from Point<br />
Vicente on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.<br />
This unique study was started<br />
in 1979, and has provided decades<br />
of detailed data on the number of<br />
whales and other marine mammals<br />
sighted. Alicia Sculman-Janiger<br />
states on the ACA website<br />
that the whales observed represent<br />
only a portion of the total<br />
number of migrating whales and<br />
that the study is not intended to<br />
be a measure of population, but<br />
it does provide important data on<br />
the whales’ nearshore migratory<br />
route and how it changes.<br />
So far this season, the CSA<br />
census observers have noted 905<br />
southbound and 790 northbound<br />
whales, above-average numbers.<br />
Schulman Janiger confirmed<br />
Monday, March 19, that the migration<br />
has peaked, and that the<br />
majority of whales are now headed<br />
north again.<br />
That’s auspicious news for<br />
Malibu whale watchers, because<br />
the northbound whales that pass<br />
the Palos Verdes observation<br />
point will also be passing by<br />
Point Dume, on the opposite site<br />
of the Santa Monica Bay, on their<br />
way up the coast.<br />
Ranger Anthony Bevilacqua showcases a gray whale exhibit inside<br />
of the Leo Carrillo Visitors Center on Saturday, March 17. Suzy<br />
Demeter/22nd Century Media<br />
Gray whales often travel closer<br />
to shore on the return journey.<br />
Researchers theorize that young<br />
calves may be less at risk from<br />
sharks and other hazards closer<br />
to shore. Point Dume State Beach<br />
and Leo Carrillo State Beach are<br />
Please see Whale, 7<br />
Spring into<br />
the Holidays!<br />
Sunday, March25th<br />
11am-1pm<br />
FunCrafts forthe Kids<br />
Fresh DaffodilsGiveAway<br />
Kids EggHuntonthe Lawn @12pm<br />
Adult GoldenEgg HuntinStore<br />
Order your Holiday Meal<br />
by March29th<br />
Place your order in storeoronline<br />
@vintagegrocers.com/holiday<br />
MALIBU |TRANCAS COUNTRY MARKET
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