Humpback Whales Of Southeast Alaska
Any time you get to see a wild, endangered whale in its natural habitat it is a special experience. Whales, more than any other animal, seem to captivate people's imagination. Perhaps this is due to their great size and strength. Perhaps it's because of their perceived intelligence. Or maybe it's because whales represent our own species ability to recklessly destroy elements of the natural world that can never be replaced. Whatever the reason, one of the most exciting things that one can see while cruising the waters of world's ocean is the spout of a great whale. In Southeast Alaska, that spout probably belongs to a Humpback whale.
Humpback whales arrive in
Southeast Alaska each spring from their breeding ground in Hawaii.
While the whales were in Hawaiian waters, breeding and calving during the
winter months, they were not feeding, and each whale
loses
about a quarter of its total body weight (or 8 to 12 thousand pounds of
blubber) each winter. Therefore when the Humpback whales arrive in
the productive waters of "Southeast" they are ready to begin feeding.
The two main prey items of the Humpback whales in Southeast Alaska are
Pacific Sand Lance and Herring... both small schooling fish that gather in
these waters to feed and to breed. Each whale may eat up to 3,000
pounds of fish (or over 1,000,000 calories worth) each day between the
months of April and September in an effort to build up the thick layer of
blubber which not only keeps the whales well insulated in the cold waters
of Alaska, but also serves as an energy reserve for the whales while they
are in their southern breeding grounds. In order to accomplish this
amazing feet, the Humpbacks in the Pacific Northwest have developed a
highly sophisticated system of feeding that is now famous the world over.
The Humpbacks here will blow nets of bubbles which help to trap and
concentrate their prey. Humpback whales are not the fastest moving
whales in the ocean... top speed for a Humpback whale is only about 12
miles an hour. The fish they are targeting can move much faster.
Therefore the Humpbacks must find a way to slow the fish down. To do
this the whales will dive beneath the surface and locate a school of fish
probably by listening for the sounds made by fish as they swim (they may
also be able to taste the chemical signature left behind by the fish).
Then the whale (or whales) will orient themselves beneath the school and
swim in a circle while releasing bubbles from their mouth and blowholes.
The bubbles rise like a cylinder around the fish. The fish, startled
and confused, refuse to swim through the wall bubbles all around them.
Now the whales will rise through the bubble column with their mouth open,
consuming hundreds of pounds of fish with each feeding sequence.
While this feeding strategy is occasionally seen in other parts of the
world, it is much more common
here in Southeast Alaska and people all over the world have been
captivated by some of the spectacular film footage that has been captured
by scientists and naturalists studying whales in this area. Above is
the best shot I have ever gotten of a feeding Humpback whale in Southeast.
This Particular whale was photographed from a whale watching boat out of
Auk Bay, Alaska.
Much like the Humpback whales in the Gulf of
Maine, Humpback whales in Southeast Alaska can be identified on an
individual basis by the pattern of black and white pigmentation on the
underside of their tail flukes. Just like their Atlantic counterparts, the
underside of each
Pacific Humpback
whale's tail ranges in "color" from purely white to solid black. In
the Pacific, however, there is a much greater percentage of all black
tails. In fact, the Pacific Humpback whales are much darker overall
than the Atlantic whales. One of they key differences is that the side
flipper (or "pectoral fins") of Pacific Humpback whales are all black in
nearly 95% of the population. Just the reverse is true in the
Atlantic where 95% of the Humpbacks have white side flippers. Other
differences can be found in the shape of the tail and the size of
the animal itself (Pacific whales are bigger than Atlantic whales).
Even though there seem to be striking differences in the appearance of
Atlantic and Pacific whales, the Humpbacks in both oceans are considered
to be of the same species. This is because the differences are "clinal",
Meaning that as one travels from the northeast coast of North America,
down the east coast of South America, then back north along the coast of
South and North America to Alaska, there is a steady, gradual progression
of change in the observed physical characteristics of the Humpback whales
one encounters. Thus there is no clear boundary between whales at
either extreme and no way to classify one particular population or
populations as a distinct "species". However, there is never
any exchange of genes from whales in the Atlantic with whales in the
Pacific and therefore careful observation will reveal striking differences
between whales in Alaska and New England.
As I stated earlier, anytime you set to see a wild, endangered whale (from any distance) it is a privilege and a blessing (less than 1% of people living on Earth will ever see a whale in their lifetime!). There is nothing more rewarding to me than to show whales to passengers aboard Holland America Line cruise ships and see the excitement they have when they are actually looking at an animal that they had previously only known from television shows or the pages of a book. That being said, seeing whales from the deck of a cruise ship is quite different that seeing whales from a small vessel that gets you close to the water's surface and the whales themselves. Fortunately, Southeast Alaska, much like Gloucester, has many great whale watching companies that can give you an up-close, personal encounter with these animals. So, begging you indulgence, I would like to recommend that if you get the chance to visit Southeast and want to see the Humpback and possibly other whale species that live here, contact Orca Whale Watching or visit their website at http://www.orcaenterprises.com . They operate out of Juneau, Alaska and (much like 7 Seas Whale Watch) are dedicated to conserving the whales and the marine environment through education. Whale watching in Alaska is very different that whale watching in Gloucester, however both are spectacular experiences that anyone interested in whales or the ocean and its inhabitants should do at least once in their life!
I took this picture in 1999 of a Humpback whale diving in Sitka sound (near the town of Sitka, Alaska)
with my first Holland America Line ship, the Noordam, in the background
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