“All
the fish are fleeing west and the whales are feasting on them.... And
so it moves up the food chain. {But there's lots of film of Walmart
brawls on the news}”
CBS
News: 100s of whales in bay on California coast; It’s never been
like this, we just can’t even believe it
Experts:
We just aren’t sure what’s going on; “A once-in-a-lifetime
chance… unheard of, it’s unbelievable, nobody’s seen this”
30
November, 2013
Gary
Griggs, director of the Institute of Marine Sciences and Long Marine
Laboratory at UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz Sentinel,
Nov. 29, 2013: Pelicans, sea lions, whales, and dolphins have been in
an unusual feeding frenzy, astounding all of us who have visited the
coast in the past few weeks. From Natural Bridges to Capitola and
beyond, and well as offshore, the food chain is in full bloom at a
time when we don’t normally experience this concentration of
feeding animals. [...] The intense blooms of life in October and
nearly into December are odd. [...] Exactly why we are seeing these
incredible numbers of anchovies isn’t completely clear. There are
some ideas that surface, perhaps the warmer water in the bay is more
conducive to anchovy egg and larval survival right now, and the fish
know that. But we aren’t sure. [...] Now if you were reading
carefully, you would notice I changed subjects, diverted your
interest, and never really answered the question of why there are all
those anchovies out there. If I was absolutely certain I knew the
answer, I would definitely share it with you.
Nancy
Black, marine biologist with Monterey Bay Whale Watch, San Jose
Mercury News,
Nov. 11, 2013: “This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance, so people
should see it [...] This is just unheard of. It’s unbelievable.
Nobody has seen this anywhere in California. This is a record year
for this feeding aggregation of humpbacks and sea lions. There’s
just miles and miles of fish out there.”
CBS
News,
Nov. 27, 2013: [It's] blowing away even avid whale watchers such as
Karen Sheffer. “It’s never been like this” she said. “This is
phenomenal.” [...] There are also dolphins and hundreds of sea
lions. They are chasing an unexplained explosion of anchovies in the
bay. Killer whales showed up to hunt the sea lions. “There’s
easily over 100 to 200 whales in Monterey Bay,” said Nancy Black, a
marine biologist and the captain of a whale watching boat. “So this
is like, you know, so exceptional we just can’t even believe it.”
[...] “So I’m just trying to tell the people how lucky they are
to really witness this,” Black said. She knows this sea-life show
will eventually end. For now, she says, just enjoy the view.
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