Ocean Conservation

2012 June 23, Saturday
Searching for the whale "Dome" 
Gulf of Maine, east of Cape Cod

With Tropical Storm Debby threatening our return flight to New Orleans, we were pretty sure this might have to be our last day to fly the Gulf of Maine, or we'd be staying here for the week (which would have been great, but not for our own critters and obligations back in the Gulf of Mexico!). Still, we couldn't justify the cost just to fly out there and take more cool photos.  Until the phone call came -- this time a well-known and loved female humpback "Dome" was photographed with fishing gear and netting all over her, and an orange buoy hanging off her side.  Rescue boats and crews were mobilized, but they could not find her; could we go help?  Of course! But most of the office staff had already left early for weekend whale-watching duties. We needed a good spotter.  

Enter Regina, the Executive Director (for North America) of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. There isn't a better spotter!  It would be a dream to get her to come along.  Regina and her dedicated staff and interns spend most of their days on boats and their nights at computers, processing and analyzing photographs of whales. They are all trained and experienced marine biologists, but the most remarkable thing about them is how they know most of these humpback whales individually. They know which moms have had calves this year, the condition of their weight and overall health, their scars, etc.  Each of the whales has a name, even!  I had the privilege of staying at their office/house during this trip, and I saw them work firsthand. Almost 24 hour per day there are people working in the large central office, discussing scars and weight and other observations of the week, keeping track of who (of the whales) hasn't been seen yet, their overall condition, etc.  

Well, she was there when we got the call, and she knew "Dome", and how could she not come along? We headed straight for where the humpback activity had been the greatest.  It was as if the whales knew they had a very special spectator.  The boys (I assume?) were showing off like crazy!  Back breaches, side breaches, fin- and tail-slapping, you name it, they were doing it. Even the finback whales seemed to be in finest form today.  All of that would have made my day, but we weren't there to photograph the show. We couldn't even take the time to circle twice to catch another breach.  As soon as we determined that the whales we were looking at were free of fishing gear, we moved on to the next sighting.

Not long into the flight, Regina started making exclamations I didn't understand. Things like "Oh Sirius, that is Sirius!"  ("Am I serious about what, Regina?") "No! That whale, over there!  We haven't seen him yet this year!" I realized that even though I wasn't trying to give her good photographs, she was back there practically hanging out of the windows getting them! And she knew what she was looking at. In only about 45 minutes of my maneuvering the airplane quickly and her clicking her camera madly, Regina had managed to identify eight individual whales, many of which had not been seen yet this year and had become the subject of concern at the WDCS office.  "Fulcrum", "Sirius", Putter", "Loon" and "Ventisca", "Anchor", "Abrasion", and "Stub"... When we got back to the office, she proceeded to point them all out to me in the photos, and I will try to show them to you here!  But best you ask her sometime...

Anyway, enjoy the show.  And enjoy knowing that there are people who devote their lives to seriously monitoring the well-being of these animals!  We humans may not all be so bad as stewards to our oceans, after all. People like Regina give me real encouragement for the human race.

Here are maps of today's flight with some of our favorite photos from today.  The first three whales of the "favorite" photos are among those identified -- specifically I think they are "Fulcrum", "Sirius", and the third has "Abrasion" on the left and "Stub" on the middle.  (You can kind of tell how those two got named!)

Following those are the photo galleries -- including one devoted entirely to photos of all of the whales that Regina identified individually (plus a list of them and their positions and photograph numbers at the bottom of this article).  See if you could recognize them if you saw them again!   

[Update on Dome:  As of July 2, she was still entangled but was managing to feed and move and nurse her calf. Boat crews continue to try to help her, and she continues to keep them away from her calf, and thus unfortunately, away from being able to help her. ]

Read more: 20120623- Searching for and identifying whales in the Gulf of Maine

2012 June 22, Friday
Gulf of Maine, Cape Cod, MA

Bad weather kept us (and many sailors and fishermen) out of the air and off the water yesterday. This morning we didn't plan to fly until later in the afternoon -- but we received an unexpected satellite phone call from the hearty scientists who had been at sea all week, saying that a search was on for at least one leatherback sea turtle who was badly entangled with fishing gear, and could we help?  Of course we could, and would, and did! With all the fishermen of all types out there east of the cape, in that small area that was teeming with whales, basking sharks, sea turtles, and other plankton and small-fish eaters, it was a wonder everybody wasn't getting tangled up! So we called and woke up our best spotters, grabbed the cameras we happened to have with us, and sped to the airport.

We had been so engrossed in the whales and basking sharks this week, that we had only seen leatherback sea turtles incidentally, and we hadn't made much effort to get photos of them.  But today, we barely noticed the amazing scenes of whales feasting and rolling and slapping and making bubble rings. We were straining our eyes and necks looking for small brownish-gray rectangular-shaped bodies near the surface with four small flippers, and inspecting those and everything similar for signs of buoys or nets being dragged.  We were on the scene within 45 minutes of receiving the text message about this need.  THAT's one of the cool things about the Gulf of Maine!  These deep-water marine animals are within 25--minute flights of airports!  

Within 1.5 hours, we had made seven sightings of leatherback sea turtles in the general area of the turtle that had been reported as entangled and in distress.  Only one of the animals we saw was obviously dragging some gear in its wake and moving in an impaired manner -- this was the turtle at the position of waypoint #0313 (N41 37.958 W69 43.057). We radioed biologists aboard IFAW's boat and gave them that position, but by the time they arrived, the turtle had dived and we could no longer see the gear that it had been dragging. That he (or she) had dived may be a good sign. At that point, we could only hope that he had managed to free himself well enough that he could maneuver, and that maybe he could free himself completely.  I guess that's better than seeing animals in distress and having boat crews be unsuccessful in helping them.  Which also happens -- female whales in particular, often will resist all attempts to disentangle them in order to keep boats away from their calves.  Most animals are probably wise to be wary of humans.  And that in itself is sad!

The whale show that day was looking to be fabulous. But we were not an unlimited budget, and our purpose there had been to help that turtle.  So we headed back to land -- with our heads and cameras pointed out the windows, of course.  And we did manage to get some more great whale photos!  

Our GPS flight tracks can be downloaded as usual under this website's main menu item "Flight Tracks." Here is the map of our flight path, plus some of our favorite photos from today, which are followed by the galleries.  The first photo gallery is turtle photos (including a large mola mola!), second one is whales.  Enjoy!

Read more: 20120622-Turtle Rescue & Whales off Cape Cod

2012 June 20, Wednesday
Gulf of Maine
East of Chatham, MA &
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary

Today we had some special passengers from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) with us. We took them out to see the humpback whales, and they were not disappointed! We also flew over the beautiful IFAW sailboat called "Song of the Whale" which was here this week from its usual base in London, England.  Folks on that boat have been out in the Gulf of Maine supporting other scientists in their whale-tagging efforts.

Somehow in the non-stop schedule and mass of data on computers, cameras, videocameras, and GPS's, we've lost our flight tracks for today.  But we went to that same area east of Chatham, and then flew most of the southern half of the Stellwagen Bank sanctuary. Dave Kennedy, IFAW photographer, snapped some wonderful photos.  All photos today are courtesy of IFAW.

Here are a few of our favorite photos from today -- note the two pairs of moms and calves, the open mouth in the bubble-feeding photo, and the energetic fella who gave us quite a show with all of his backdives and fin-slapping!

Read more: 20120620-Day6-Whales in the Gulf of Maine

2012 June 19, Tuesday
Gulf of Maine, East of Chatham, MA

We've got whales! The humpbacks are definitely hanging out here in the waters 15-20 miles east of Chatham, MA.  And the finbacks and minkes and basking sharks are discovering the goods, too. Today we witnessed much "bubble feeding" and with more of a community concerted effort than we've ever seen!  Groups of 10-12 humpback wheels all working together, diving, driving the fish upward, and then gorging themselves.  And the birds know where it's all happening. They practically dive right into the open mouths of the whales. It's just an awesome sight.

We also spent some large part of our time not enjoying the sights but instead searching for a whale who was reported to be seriously entangled in fishing gear, who was spotted because of a buoy hanging along with the gear. So instead of trying to get cool photos, we circled animals long enough to get a good long look at them, and if they looked clear of gear, we moved on.  This kind of spotting is intense, and isn't made any easier by concern for the animal.  We did not find the entangled animal, and the searches for that one and others continued in the coming days.  There's not much to show of that here, but we did manage to find some minutes just to take some photos of the fantastic activities below us. Witness here the most amazing, beautiful phenomena of whales feeding themselves and a lot of other animals in the process!

The map of our flight is here, and our GPS flight tracks can be downloaded under this website's main menu item "Flight Tracks." Some of our favorite photos are given first, followed by others.  Note the cool one of another basking shark!  And the massive family of humpbacks bubble feeding.  And stand by for some videos, which actually came out pretty good from today!  

Read more: 20120619-Day5-Whales&BaskingSharks-CapeCod

2012 June 18, Monday
East of Chatham, MA
Gulf of Maine

Today we found where all the humpback whales have been!  Not in the Stellwagen Bank sanctuary this week, but southeast of it a few tens of miles, about 20 miles east of Chatham, MA.  And they are there in massive numbers, we counted easily a hundred in an area of 10-20 square miles.  Finbacks and minkes, too!  Today's flight was not very long, as weather was moving in on us fast.  But it was enough for us to see some fantastic bubble-feeding, some mom-and-calf pairs, to assist some scientists trying to put GPS satellite tags on some whales and other scientists searching for a whale reportedly entangled in fishing gear.  A big day for a short flight!  Our videos didn't come out as well as we'd hoped, but we're working on them.  But here are some pretty good photos of what were outstandingly beautiful sights. Enjoy!

First, here's the map of where we were. And you can download our GPS flight tracks on this website's main menu item "Flight Tracks."  Stay tuned for the days five through nine.  Now that we discovered where all the whales were, we were on them every day!

Read more: 20120618-day4-whales-east-of-chatham

2012 June 16-17, Saturday & Sunday
Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Gulf of Maine

UPDATE - NEW VIDEO ADDED (Jul 13) of finback and humpback whales June 17!

Saturday's flight was a quick one before the fog and clouds moved in big time, and we left early to look for a minke whale reported as appearing ready to strand in a shallow bay near Wellfleet, on the inside of what I would call the outer arm of the cape.  We combed the area as well as possible in the morning light and foggy air. We were pretty sure that had the fella been there in distress, we would have seen him.  No further reports came in the ensuing days, so we can only hope that he found his way out of the bay.  

Sunday's flight was a more careful survey of the entire sanctuary, including the area known as Jeffries Ledges north of the sanctuary.  Everyone was wondering where all the humpback whales were, and since so many of the whale-watching as well as scientific research boats were coming out of ports west of the sanctuary, they really hoped that the whales were still in the sanctuary.  Well, our search started out with a bang, at least for us:  A basking shark, right off the top as we entered the southwest corner of the sanctuary!  And before the flight was over, a total of four of those huge plankton-feeding sharks!  That was really fun.  And, we saw more finback whales, and humpback whales this time, including moms and calves.  Now it was really starting to feel like Cape Cod in the summer again...

Here are the maps of our flights.  As usual, the GPS flight tracks for both of these days can be found under this website's main menu item "Flight Tracks."  You can use those files to correlate photos with our exact positions at the time we took them.  And if you need high-res versions of any of these photos, just ask us.  Enjoy!

Saturday June 16, to Wellfleet, MA:

And Sunday June 17, surveying the entire sanctuary and north of it:

Here are some of our favorite photos from this weekend.  These are followed by the galleries with more photos of all of the subjects, organized chronologically and by individual animals or groups of animals.

Read more: 20120616-17 - Days 2&3 - Whales off Cape Cod

2012 June 15, Friday
Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Gulf of Maine

The cold waters of the Atlantic off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts in the Gulf of Maine are the place to be in summer, if you're a humpback whale, or a finback or a minke whale. And evidently also if you're a basking shark, leatherback sea turtle, or great white shark! The birds know it -- they follow the humpback whales and feast on the small fish and sand eels that the whales bring to the surface. Fishermen know it -- they are there to catch huge tuna, lobster, and other fish.  And some very special other people know it -- biologists who devote their lives to studying these magnificent animals and who spend their summers ascertaining the health and status of individual whales as well as entire populations of whales, sharks, and turtles.  

Today was Day One of what would be nine amazing days of flying "low and slow" documenting the activities of humans and animals alike in these waters, finding and identifying individual whales from the air, and searching for whales and turtles entangled in fishing gear or otherwise in distress.  In this and the ensuing articles, we'll keep the verbiage to a minimum and just share with you these awesome sights.  Scientists who are working hard to keep track of the individual humpback and fin whales have been studying these photos and comparing with photos taken from daily whale-watching boats.  Some days we had little success identifying individuals; other days, like our last day there, the awesome biologist flying with us identified individual eight humpback whales from the air, several of whom had not yet been seen and whose status had been the subject of considerable concern! (That was Saturday June 23 and the biologist was Regina, the Executive Director of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society of North America.) 

So without further ado, here are some of our favorite photos from Day One, June 15, 2012.
And below them are gallery photos, organized chronologically by individual animals or groups of animals.
Our flight tracks for today can be downloaded under this website's main menu item "Flight Tracks."  (okay, duh.)  You can use the flight tracks to match each photo with its exact latitude and longitude, by using the time in cases where the GPS position is not on the photo itself.
If you want high-resolution versions of any of these photos, please email us at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

First the map of today's flight path.  We did a broad survey of most of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (SBNMS henceforth).  We couldn't help but notice the shape of our flight tracks, so we're including a photo of our plane's GPS. Inadvertently we flew the shape of a whale!  The spots where you see us circling were where the whale photos were taken. 

Now for our favorite photos of the day, including some people shots and some local scenery. More of all of these are in the galleries below.

Read more: 20120615 - Day 1 - Whales off Cape Cod

2012 May 11--18
Dominica, in the eastern Caribbean

Nobody told On Wings Of Care that 2300 statute miles over open ocean was too ambitious a trip for a small plane, even for dedicated conservationists and experienced pilots.  So we went.  And was it ever worth it.

We went there to help biologists in Dominica working with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). (More about the good work they're doing there later.)  In short, they want to understand the varieties and numbers of whales and sea turtles that inhabit the deep waters that surround this uniquely undeveloped and steep island.  Said to be the only remaining island in the eastern Caribbean that Christopher Columbus would recognize, Dominica has cherished itself as the "nature island" of the Caribbean and has deliberately preserved much of the natural state of the island.  To scuba divers, snorkelers, and whale watchers, Dominica is a unique treasure.  Because the ocean floor falls off as steeply as the rest of the island (at about 1000 feet per mile), one can find sperm whales, beaked whales, pilot whales, and huge leatherback sea turtles within a few miles of the shoreline.  While it seems obvious that much of Dominica's surrounding waters deserves to be protected as a marine reserve, there are political and economical battles that challenge the accomplishing of that protection.  On Wings Of Care was asked to come down and try to establish, through aerial surveys, the extent to which these species are present.

Barring bad weather, aerial surveys of ocean wildlife are work-as-usual for On Wings Of Care. But Dominica offered some unique challenges, over and above being about 2000 miles away with not much land betweeen there and Florida, USA.  The island is not large -- oblong in shape, slightly smaller than New York City at about 188 square nautical miles with 225 nautical miles of coastline. But it is very steep with mountains in the center as high as 4,750 ft.  Winds often come from the east and northeast, leaving waters on the eastern side of the island quite rough and difficult for aerial viewing of ocean life. But worse, these winds come over the island and down the steep western side, making the air quite rough on the west side. So the very place we wanted to look for whales and such -- on the western side -- was merciless in terms of air turbulence for much of the time we were there.  

Read more: Dominica - "The Nature Island" of the Caribbean

Cape Cod, Massachusetts
2011 July 05--July 12, Tuesday - Tuesday  (See new uploaded video below!) 

We spent an awesome week here in Cape Cod with the humpback whales and some of their dearest human friends from the International Fund for Animal Welfare!  We were helping scientists on boats find humpbacks doing some very special activities such as 'bubble feeding', and we also were able to help find some whales entangled in fishing gear that local rescue groups could help from boats.  (Not all whales survive the ordeal of becoming entangled in gill nets, we're sorry to say.  We'll show a photo of only one who didn't survive it; sadly there are many each year.)  

What a privilege it has been.  Long days of flying 'low and slow', but never unrewarding. Finding whales is a whole lot easier than finding whale sharks in the Gulf of Mexico!  For one thing, they breathe, so sooner or later you'll see a spout.  For another, they frolic a lot on the surface, and it's hard to miss the splashing and slapping of their pectoral fins and tails or their beautiful backs as they roll and dive and occasionally breach so gracefully.  Finally, many whales are in an area called Stellwagen Bank -- a mere 11-minute flight from Plymouth Airport in Massachusetts!  

We were flying to support a variety of scientists working in the area, from NGOs, universities, and government agencies.  Their research is compiling valuable data on the habits, needs, and status of these magnificent marine mammals who spend spring through fall in the Cape Cod area.  We were also able to help in an additional way, by searching to confirm sightings of humpback whales who had become entangled in fishing gear (usually gill nets), and helping to guide rescue boats who went to help disentangle the whales.  We are delighted to be able to share wth you some of the fantastic views we had of the marine life in these waters, and of course especially the humpback whales.  We'll include just a few fishing boats, whale-watching boats, and other things to give you a sense of scale.  

Along with the magnificent marine life, there were also things we saw every day that made us groan -- tuna fishing boats everywhere, some trailing squid bait, some using kites to dangle more bait.  And there were fish spotters flying most every day that the sea was calm enough to fish.  All we could think was that those fish haven't got a chance! I had to ask several times, on seeing so many buoys for gill nets and lobster traps everywhere, is this part of the marine sanctuary too?  The answer was always Yes.  Seemed to me more like a deadly obstacle course than a sanctuary.  Kind of absurd really, like designating a portion of the freeway as a dog park.  But fisheries are kind of sacrosanct to legislators.  Personally, I'd rather people lost their appetites for sushi, as I did long ago.  At some level I can accept that these issues are not simple, that sustainable fishing is not really an oxymoron when viewed on other than an individual basis, that words like "industry" and "natural resources" when applied to killing fish to have some merit.  But I forget all that when I see men in boats and planes with nets and trawling equipment heading for the sea, and my insides panic for the animals about to be ambushed.  But I've digressed.

Some of the experts flying with us could identify individual whales by the 'signatures' on the undersides of their flukes (tails).  Oh it was exciting to hear their excitement as they shouted that the whale we had just watched make that beautiful dive was "Crown" or other names that maybe I'm not supposed to mention.  It felt to them as though they were seeing their dearest of friends return home.  By the end of the week, we had begun to recognize distinctive features in the ridges and colorations of those flukes, and I can tell you it is very exciting to start to recognize them individually!

We saw many mothers with calves, some of the calves as large as one-third the size of their mothers or larger.  We also witnessed the smallest calf of our whole trip, one who was barely one-quarter as long as mom, and who spent a lot of time nursing.  We would have been thrilled to have stayed over that pair watching them for a long while, but when we realized that the whale-watching boats had begun to flock to our position when we circled for very long, we decided we needed to leave this pair in peace quickly!

In almost all instances where a mother and calf were 'underway' -- traveling, rather than feeding or playing or resting -- there was a larger whale with them.  We learned that it is typical for a male humpback to accompany a mother and calf when they are moving.  It isn't necessarily the father of the calf; but some male will take the responsibility to escort mom and calf.  Pretty neat, we thought.  

The "bubble-feeding" (also called bubble-net feeding or fishing) is a most impressive technique these animals use to herd their prey (here the typical prey is sandeels, a small, slender, ubiquitous fish).  Sometimes a solitary whale did it, but more often there was a group of up to six whales cooperatively forming these bubble rings.  They would dive down and then blow a ring of bubbles up to the surface. They then swim upward through the ring with their mouths wide open, taking in hundreds, perhaps thousands of fish and straining all the water out through their baleen (grooves in the sides of their mouths).  These bubbles made some of the most beautiful sights on the water we have ever seen.

You'll also see a few photos of basking sharks -- not great photos, but hey, they're not whales, remember?  They weren't at the surface showing their lovely faces or fins, but you'll see their outlines pretty clearly.  And near the one dead humpback we'll show you, you'll see our attempted photograph of what was thousands of small sharks (blues?) gathered.  A floating buffet for birds and sharks, that dead humpback was.  We were told that many great white sharks had been spotted south of Cape Cod, along the coasts where there are many fur seals this time of year.  We got one photo (yea Jake!) of a great white in the shallows off of Monomoy Island, no doubt awaiting his fresh seal breakfast.  And finally, we did see one leatherback turtle our first day out on Tuesday July 5, but never could find another, nor did we get a good photo.  We even asked all the fish spotters to keep an eye out for one for us!  But know that even those never-tiring fellas are up there.  
 
The photos of cloud buildups are from our flight up there, where we were running from big storms through the Richmond, Virginia and DC areas.  The weather during the week in Cape Cod was almost perfect, or near enough that it didn't stop us from flying much.   

If you would like higher-resolution versions of any of these, as always, just contact us and ask.  If they belong to one of the other folks who flew with us, we'll direct you to them for permission.
(Remember, you need only click on any one of these photos, and you will automatically be taken to a somewhat-higher-resolution version of it.  Then just click on your right arrow button to proceed through each of the short galleries.  Go to the full article for all of the galleries, and at the end of each one, click on the first photo of the next one to proceed.)   ENJOY!!!

With all that said and no more, we'll let these photos and videos speak for themselves.

Stopping the illegal slaughter of whales
in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary

Sometimes direct action to save lives works better than just protesting

In 2009-10 and 2010-11, Bonny served as a mate on the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's ships the Bob Barker and Steve Irwin for our annual campaigns to prevent illegal slaughtering of whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.  That protective sanctuary was established in 1986 by the International Whaling Commission (IWC).  It has been violated in a serious way for at least the past ten years by a large Japanese whaling fleet who claims a legal right to kill there by virtue of a subtle 'research purposes only' clause in the IWC's wording of the Sanctuary.  In short, the whalers claim that their inhumane harpooning of approximately 1000 Minke, Fin, and Humpback whales each year during the Antarctic summer is necessary for 'scientific research.'  No such research has yet been published in recognized refereed international scientific journals since they began this travesty, and the farce they have continued year after year is tragic and obscene.

Read more: Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary

2009 Nov 30   - Baja, Mexico

Who is observing whom?

On Wings Of Care has been fortunate to be able to support ongoing research and photography work on Isla Guadalupe during the last few years.  Isla Guadalupe is a fairly large, and almost pristine island about 200 miles off the west coast of Baja, a regular stopping place for great white sharks and breeding ground for elephant seals.

Read more: Great White Sharks and Elephant Seals