Gray Whales and misinformation spreading like wildfire on facebook

Hi all!  I'm back and want to talk about the recent gray whale strandings here on our Washington beaches.  Today an article was published in the Seattle Times stating that some plastic debris along with other garbage was found in the stomach contents of the gray whale that washed ashore in West Seattle recently.   This is horrible to be sure, but I've noticed that several environmental groups that I follow on Facebook are now making a blanket statement that it was this that caused the death of this gray whale.  Well let's not jump to conclusions here.  It's clearly stated in the article:

"Scientists with the Cascadia Research Collective said the examination did not immediately determine why the 37-foot near-adult male died, but it was found to be in better nutritional condition than other gray whales that died recently. Starvation was not considered a major contributor to its death." -quoted from Seattle Times

I checked out the Cascadia Research own web release on this stranding this morning and found this:

"The debris while numerous, made up only 1-2% of the stomach contents and there was no clear indication it had caused the death of the animal. It did clearly indicate that the whale had been attempting to feed in industrial waters and therefore exposed to debris and contaminants present on the bottom in these areas. " -quoted from Cascadia Research website

Now if you've followed me on the web you already know where I stand on plastic pollution.  I'm completely opposed to plastics working their way into our marine environment and this is why I started my own plastic bag recycling project FatBottomBags.com  I have posted often about the harm of plastics pollution in our marine ecosystem and the garbage patch, however I am not going to jump to conclusions on the death of this whale, nor should you.

Yes, we do need to clean up our act and stop polluting our environment! Yes we need to keep our trash out of the ocean home of these majestic creatures, but let's wait on the conclusion of the scientists and researchers who work with the information, samples and data collected through necropsies of these deceased animals.

There are many ways we can help, but spreading false information and jumping to conclusions is not helping with these marine mammal strandings.  This is one reason why I'm a volunteer with the Whatcom Marine Mammal Stranding Network, to help assist those much more qualified than myself to gather information.  In addition I have a concern for these animals and a concern for the environment.

Ok, off my soap box now and on with my day.

Whale found washed up in Washington still a mystery

If you are a local you may have heard about this on the news already, if not, watch this video from King 5 news..... ( there is some footage from the WMMSN response to a dead Gray Whale from last year)

I'm keeping up with this story on Orca Network and very curious to find out what species this animal is

WMMSN.org

Are you guys tired of hearing about my favorite volunteer organization, Whatcom Marine Mammal Stranding Network?  I hope not!  If you're an avid reader of my blog, facebook or twitter page, you already know that I am a volunteer responder for WMMSN.  What you may not already know is that I also volunteer as the webmaster for the site.  It gives me one more way that I can help to spread the word about helping distressed and stranded marine mammals in my local area.


The springtime is historically a busy time for stranding calls.  This is the time of year when our local harbor seals bring their young pups ashore while momma seal goes fishing durring the day.  Typically the mother seal will come back in the night and feed her pup, but sometimes mother is unable to return and little seal pups quickly become dehydrated without intervention.  That's where our group comes into the picture.  We receive calls from all over the county about stranded pups and we respond and assess the situation.   We also respond for other marine mammal calls such as porpoises that may have injuries, or even deceased mammals like the dead Gray Whale we responded to last year.


You may already know, but the little seal pup in my banner atop this page is a response we were called to last summer.  This little pup was stranded for several days on a beach here on Lummi Island.  After we realized that the mother was not returning to feed him at night, we were able to take him to Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehabilitation one of the rehab centers that we work with and he was nursed back to health and then released back into the wild to live out his life


Winter time is a slower time for calls, although dead animals can wash ashore at any time of year, and our responders will go out on calls occasionally throughout the winter.   But being a slower season, we are using this time to put our focus on fundraising.  As a non-profit and all volunteer organization, we are in need of financial support to help us help the marine mammals.  Money we raise now will provide the neccessary supplies when we are called out to respond throughout the year.


I've just updated our home page with an option to donate and help our cause.  It's a secure donation through paypal.  You might notice I've added it on the sidebar of this blog as well.  If you are a supporter of this great effort, please consider making a donation large or small.  Every bit helps us to do our job and respond to marine mammals throughout our county.


You may also like to support us by becoming a facebook fan.  We send out periodic updates to your wall and the show of support is encouraging to all of our volunteer members.


Thank you all for your support!
~Christi

Grey Whale Stranding Response

Orignal posting:
April 30, 2009

Well I made it out there yesterday around 2 pm. What a sight. It was a juvinielle male gray whale estimated at 2 years old and somewhere around 10,000 pounds!

Carley was out working as the coordinator on this stranding and she was able to contact the Andrew Foss of Foss ships and recruited them to pull the carcass off of the beach for us and coordinated with the county to bring out a crew and a small boat to run line to and from the Andrew Foss.

Thanks Rhonnie! She loaned me her cell phone to take out to the site as mine was dead and my charger is in the car in Goldbar! Good thing too, as this phone became our only contact phone at the site.

The crew from the Andrew Foss came ashore and evaluated the situation and said they would be happy to help, provided we had a strong enough line for towing. We did not and so one of the crew suggested we contact Samson Rope in Ferndale for a donation to the Whatcom Marine Mammal Stranding Network.

I got on the phone with Charolette at Sampson and she worked so hard to find us some suitable line in the 2000 feet that we were looking for. She and the warehouse manager worked in tandem on this for over an hour and many phone calls from me but unfortunately couldn't find anything in that length and strength.

I made a new request for any 2 lines that we could splice and they went through the whole process again and came up with a wonderful donation. Then they even let us come after hours for pick up!!! Thanks to Joe in shipping and the warehouse manager (sorry, but don't remember his name)!

One of our volunteers , Bill, went into to pick up the line and when he returned we tied up the gray. I even got to make cut through the body to form a notch for the tow line to be attached.

If you would have told me yesterday morning that by evening I'd be cutting through the blubber of a whale I'd have thought you were crazy! But sure enough that was what I did. It was interesting and very cool!. The whale blubber is very greasy and thick!

Once the line was secure, we cleared the beach of onlookers for their safety. We had them move back where they could still see, but wouldn't be in harms way if something went wrong.

The county crew ran a line out to the Andrew Foss and then the tug pulled the carcass off the beach. Thank goodness it stayed in one peace and floated! They transported it down the beach to our tie off location and 5 of us volunteers walked down the beach and met them. Then the county brought in the line and we secured the carcass to the beach keeping the body below the low tide line. Where it will wait for a crew from the Friday Harbor Whale Museum to pick it up and bring it to their location. What they are doing with it I am not sure.

Once we had it secure we walked back the 1/2 mile of beach to our cars and made it after sunset, but before total darkness.

Now you can see what a coordinated effort this can be and that was just day 3! So many volunteers were needed for each phase of this.

The Whatcom Marine Mammal Stranding Network is such a fantastic organization. Anything we can do to support them makes such a difference! If you want to get involved as a volunteer or want to help support them financially, the website is http://www.wmmsn.org/

Remember if you see a stranded marine mammal whether dead or alive, you must by law stay back 100 feet. Then please contact the local marine mammal stranding network. They will come and evaluate the animal, dead or alive and they gather data that is used by scientists and researchers world wide.

I'm so happy to be a small part of this organization and consider myself really blessed to be able to help make a difference in the world.