Biggs and Resident Orca, Humpbacks, Dolphins, Plus

REGIONAL

This after loud military blasts went off near a pod of endangered southern resident killer whales….

WEST COAST

Within months, thousands of starving sea lion pups began washing ashore along the west coast of the United States.

At the time, scientists figured the two occurrences were related. But in a new study, a team of researchers describes in detail how warm water and related impacts on ocean productivity hurt the young sea lions.

Scientists believe the Blob began to form in the Gulf of Alaska after the winds that drive the upwelling of nutrient-rich cold water from the seafloor to the surface weakened or died, allowing surface water to grow unusually warm and slowing the production of phytoplankton. At the same time, farther south, El Niño was disrupting ocean circulation. The resulting masses of warm, nutrient-poor water being formed in the north and south joined up, and the so-called Blob settled in for a three-year stay off the coast of California…..

Whales are strictly protected under U.S. law and by the International Whaling Commission. They can of course be observed from afar, but that is not much use to Thewissen, who is interested in the finer points of whale anatomy. Dead whales wash up on the land sometimes, but they are usually rotting by the time scientists get to them. "This is really the only place," says Thewissen. Utqia?vik, formerly known as Barrow, is the largest of 11 communities where Alaska Natives are allowed to hunt whales for subsistence, as their ancestors have done for millennia. (Thewissen himself is not allowed on the hunts.)…

The 30-foot whale was first located Saturday afternoon off Palos Verdes in Los Angeles County. Experts with the Marine Animal Rescue (MAR) removed some of the commercial fishing gear – ropes with trailing floats – before dusk, and attached a telemetry buoy to enable teams to track the cetacean’s movements….