Whales of the West Coast

by David A.E. Spalding

tagged: marine life, pacific

Description

Whales, although among our most important and interesting animals, have been little studied until recently. Almost a third of about seventy living cetacean species have been recorded in North American Pacific coast waters.

Our word whale describes glimpses of surfacing cetaceans; its Old English root hvael means "a wheel." A large whale's rolling back often looks just like the rim of a wheel revolving below the surface. Humans have watched whales with fascination for a long time. There is an emerging whale culture, in which whales have actual - or at least symbolic - importance in our society. Although first substantive human contact with whales most likely began with whaling - archeology suggests an aboriginal whaling tradition dating back 3,000 years on the West Coast - contemporary interest in whales now primarily concerns how to conserve these species for the future.

Whales of the West Coast provides a broad overview of whale natural history, with particular reference to species found in the waters of the Pacific Northwest. The book also examines human interactions with whales, from how First Nations practised whaling on the BC coast and how commercial whaling spread through the Pacific and continued on the Northwest coast until late in this century; to how science has evolved from measurement and anatomy into exciting studies of wild whales. Population decline due to whaling inspired the modern whale conservation movement how to ensure that whales share the seas with future human generations, and first hand experiences through aquaria, land-based watching and whale watching by boat. We also learn how to enjoy whales without direct contact with the living animal. There are also lists with useful information, including Whales Words, addresses of relevant agencies, publications and other media. Whales Through Time provides a chronological framework to the whle story, from the earliest items to the most recent discoveries. Through the seasons in a month-by-month list of when and where whales regularly appear. The book also lists major sites and services which make it possible to see whales in captivity and in the wild.

Huge, powerful, intelligent and beautiful, whales have fascinated human beings for millennia. Here is a book that will answer every question you ever had about whales and dolphins of the west coast.

About the Author

David A.E. Spalding

David Spalding wrote Enchanted Isles: The Southern Gulf Islands, illustrated by photographer Kevin Oke (Harbour, 2007), and The Flavours of Victoria (Orca, 1994) with his wife, Andrea, as well as a guide book to the islands. Andrea and David live on Pender Island, and between them are authors of more than forty books.

Excerpt

"Without a doubt, the largest inhabitant of the globe; the most formidable of all whales to encounter, the most majestic in aspect; and lastly, by far the most valuable in commerce." Thus Herman Melville described the sperm whale in his novel Moby Dick, the greatest work of literature inspired by the consuming interest in whales.

Melville was wrong about its size, but the spectacular sperm whale probably comes to mind when most people think of whales. It has been the chief prize of whalers for centuries, the subject of dramatic paintings of conflict between whale and whaler or giant squid, the source of valuable, mysterious ambergris. No wonder this species has particularly captured our imagination. Yet the sperm whale is not a legend, but a real beast, and still occurs in our waters despite long years of whaling. Males have been recorded as long as 60 feet (18m), though females usually grow only to 37 feet (11m). The sperm's huge head, filled with spermaceti oil, dwarfs the narrow long jaw, which alone bears impressive conical teeth. A single blowhole on the left side of its head blows forward and sideways; this alone is enough to identify a sperm whale at sea.

In summer, sperm whales occur offshore along the Pacific northwest coast from the Bering Sea southward. The females tend to stay farther south, the males leave the northern waters in the winter. Of three whales marked off California in January, one was recovered off Washington in June, and another in the Gulf of Alaska in April. Between 1905 and 1966, whalers took more than 5,000 up to 200 miles (321 km) offshore in British Columbia waters, mostly around the Queen Charlottes. Most were mature males up to 46 feet (14m). Each seemed to lead a school of up to thirty females and young. Occasionally sperm whales appear in inshore waters such as Dixon Entrance, Hecate Straight and Queen Charlotte Sound.

Studies of food show that Bering Sea sperm whale's stomachs may contain strange items: stones, rock, sand, a glass buoy, crabs, a coconut, deep sea sponge and cut flesh of a baleen whale. One sperm from California had a shoe in its stomach.

British Columbia specimens were reported to contain dogfish, ragfish, rockfish and skate, though the sperm's principle prey seems to be the squid Moroteuthis robustus, whose 4 foot (1.2m) body may have tentacles over 11 feet (3m) long.

The sperm dives deeply after its prey. Off British Columbia in 1932, an American cable-laying ship All America found a dead sperm tangled in a cable that had been at 3,330 feet (1,014m). Directional hydrophones have tracked much deeper dives elsewhere. On rare occasions, groups of sperm whales strand themselves, as at Florence, Oregon in June 1979.

Although many nations have stopped whaling, until recently Japan and Russia still hunted the sperm whale in the Pacific, taking a reported 7,000 each year. In its size and commercial importance the sperm resembles the few baleen whale species.

About BC Books Online

Whales of the West Coast

by David A.E. Spalding

David A.E. Spalding

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