Scientist's Log

2007-10-14T17:23:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Joanie from Team 5 for sending in a blog entry!

We travel in from all walks of life, each of us toting our personal histories that, for many of us, do not relate directly to field biology. Then, within hours of arrival we are propelled into the great outdoors and viola...research with wild creatures of the earth. It is grand. This volunteer experience was extremely satisfying. Dr. Maldini and her research staff, Cyndi and Mark, were hands-on on a daily basis with the volunteer team, allowing each of us to peer into the methodology of collecting data in the field, involving us in every way. Many moments stand out in my mind over the 10-day expedition, all of which are archived to memory. Chasing coastal bottlenose dolphins in a boat in sea swells for the first time was fantastic. I am amazed that there are dolphins living so close to shore. With help from the experts, when one develops the eye to spot them, the dolphins are always there to see. They were so close to the boat at times that one of them came up for air while running the bow and blew water onto me and my camera. The dolphin's perpetual smile implied amusement in doing it. Also memorable was participating in the 24-hour sea otter observation. I signed up for the 1am-5am stint with Cyndi. Our task was to count sea otters at the slough near the jetties that pave the way to the bay. In the dark and every half hour we tallied otters 'hanging out' in their raft and recorded weather conditions. Watching the otters resting in the twilight with only the sounds of the night was wonderful. Their silhouettes floating in the water looked like mini gondolas. We saw five otters haul-out on shore over the course of the night as well. The ease in which sea otters move in the water is pure poetry in motion. It's astonishing how much they can eat, and must eat - high-speed shell crackers....then groom like felines. Thanks again to Dr. Maldini and her A-Team, and my fellow volunteers, for making this expedition a positive experience. It's a great project with good company in the environmental haven of Monterey Bay. EW expeditions are roads less traveled but tremendously rewarding.

Joanie, Team 5

2007-10-14T16:55:00.000-07:00

We headed out at 6:45 am, just before the sun rose. The sky brightened as we drove the Beach Road to the launch area from our home at Pajaro Dunes. After cleaning the Nereis the night before, we trailored the boat to the launch ramp this morning. After connecting the GPS we headed out into the open water passing the sea otters who habituate the jetty waters. The day was promising and no doubt each of us wondered what adventures the day would bring. We turned north calling out each sighting of bottlenose dolphins: Nibble, Arc, Stump with her calf, Shine, Minerva, Jambi, Joker with her calf, Number 21, Excalibur and Chip were sighted....12 adults in all wiath 7-8 juveniles. The Nereis took us all the way north of Santa Cruz to Terrace Point. On the return trip we came across hundreds of jellyfish, stopping briefly to net one. In doing so we learned that they are deceptively heavy, perhaps 15-20 pounds, being 95% water. Jellyfish don't have brains but float at the discretion of the currents. It had been another good dolphin day.

Helen Betz

2007-10-07T16:13:00.000-07:00

Our first day with the dolphins! WOW! We left our "new" home at 6:30 and were on the boat at 7am, just as the sun was emerging from behind the San Andreas hills. It was cold and breezy but we were all bundled up. After traveling north for a while we had a false alarm with a sighting of harbor porpoises. With lookouts posted on either side of the boat, a small group of dolphins were finally sighted. They were heading south, traveling symmetrically together. Sometimes it was difficult to follow them due to their varied times underwater. When we were finished photographing the group we headed further south. After searching for quite a while, we were thrilled to sight a group of 30-40 dolphins with approximately 10 calves. They were in various small groups and often swam right next to the boat. All their antics brought cheers of joy and laughter from all of us. When the boat sped up, a number of the dolphins (up to 4) swam under the bow of the boat. From this vantage point we could see their size and markings on their bodies. The young calves sometimes were very small (probably just a few months old) and others jumped right out of the water as they swam with their mothers. Others did a sort of flip when they surfaced to breathe. They were very interactive and appeared as joyful as we were!

Jane Morgan, Team 6

2007-10-06T20:11:00.001-07:00

Today was our first day in the field, and after rising
at a very reasonable hour, we headed out. We cleaned
off the boat, jumped in, and the plan was to sail out
to the ocean to see what the conditions were like, and
if they were, we were planning on spending the day
with the dolphins. The water conditions here have been
quite unpredictable, and we want to make sure we get
enough time with the dolphins! The water conditions
were not that great, so we headed into Elkhorn Slough
to spend the day training on our observations with the
sea otters. We found a great spot, anchored, and began
training. We learned that otters have to eat 40% of
their body weight daily, so a lot fo their time is
spent foraging. We documented their foraging, and of
course, ooh'd and aah'd about how cute they are!
Daniella informed us that even though they were cute -
these little guys can be vicious in their mating
habits, which was quite shocking! Two of the
volunteers and I had been documenting one certain
otter for quite awhile, and we really got the hang of
it! It was a very cool day to learn, and Daniella,
Cyndi & Mark have been really patient with us. After
heading home, we warmed up with some tea, had some
dinner, did data entry & reviewed our day. It was a
great one!

Kendall Melton, Team 6

2007-09-27T16:53:00.001-07:00

We are now halfway through our adventure with Team 5. The members of this team have been exceptionally energetic and ready to tackle any task we throw their way. As we headed out of the harbor for their first day out on the dolphin boat, we met a 4-6 foot swell that would keep us alert and at a distance from the dolphins throughout the day. The team readily stepped up and helped us keep track of a group of 15-20 dolphins as they moved in and out of the challenging swell. We picked up this group of dolphins near Marina State Beach, south of Moss Landing and followed them as they headed north to the harbor. As we crossed the entrance to the harbor we encountered our second group of dolphins for the day, a large mom-calf group that were heading south. We followed this group for almost an hour, photographing them as they rode the waves. The following day we returned to Monterey Bay and headed north in an attempt to cover the northern half of the Bay. Surprisingly, we surveyed all the way to Capitola without seeing any dolphins. Taking a few minutes to formulate a plan, we decided to cut across the Bay to our most southern point of Monterey and then survey along the coast as we headed back to Moss Landing. After reaching Monterey we quickly began encountering dolphins. We worked the dolphins quickly and headed for home before the sea conditions deteriorated further.

2007-09-22T14:49:00.000-07:00

There are a few great stories about our dolphins that I would like to share. One has to do with a mother calf pair that was sighted for the first time last year. Mom's name is MAREA (tide in Italian) and her calf was known to last year's team as Lesion Calf and is now officially named HEALER. Needless to say, this lucky calf was seen last year with a very bad looking skin condition (see the photo). We did not have much hopes that this baby would make it though the year but we were proven wrong....HEALER is still with MAREA in 2007 and definitely healed! You can still make out the scarring from the horrible blisters, but its body is clean and it has definitely grown to yearling size. We are passing the calf's picture around to experts that could maybe give us an idea of what kind of condition we were seeing....so stay tuned. In addition, MAREA is one of the dolphins we obtained a biopsy sample for last year. Maybe some answers to her calf's condition lie in her blubber.

For now, until some answers become apparent, we are just feeling happy that HEALER is still alive and well.

2007-09-19T19:15:00.000-07:00

Introducing our new secret weapon. Our Canon 100 mm to 400 mm zoom lens! No dolphins can hide from us now!!

2007-09-18T09:42:00.001-07:00

Sitting here I feel a sense of satisfaction in that I have helped with important research and also learned a great deal by being here, but also a sadness that soon I will be leaving to return home. I have the utmost respect for all the staff. Danny is a wealth of knowledge, and has many funny stories to tell. I hope at some point she writes an autobiography, as I think she has had a very interesting and exciting life, and she still has so many things to do! I have spent a lot of time with Cyndi; she is so friendly and personable. Her knowledge of the North Atlantic Right Whales is amazing; she is a fantastic boat captain, and a very well round young lady. I didn’t get a chance to work with Mark very much, but in the time I did observe him I can say he has a passion and dedication for his work that is not often seen, he is so smart, and witty. He is a fine young man who I think will do many great things in his life. They work so well together, and I really admire them for all that they do.

As for me, well I have changed and grown so much in the last few days. I have had my first humpback whale encounter, I have had a face full of dolphin blow, I have watched the coming and goings of a unique group of sea otters, and I have made some new friends that I hope I will stay in touch with for a very long time. Cyndi asked us each to write a short paragraph or so about our experiences, or one that stuck out to us. I have no idea where to start. Every day was fantastic with new and exciting experiences. I don’t think that I can summarize it in a short paragraph. Each person that comes here will take something unique home with them. I am returning home to finish my senior year at Ohio State University. Next summer at this time I should have my bachelor’s degree, majoring in Biology with an Environmental Science minor. This trip reinforced to me that I am pursuing the right degree, that this is what I am meant to do. My perspective is that this is a great program for people who want to learn and work. If you have a passion to help these animals it will be the most fun work you will ever do! Thanks for all the good times, and the great memories.

Sarah Rose

2007-09-15T21:59:00.001-07:00

TEAM IV

Team quatro is well under way, and actually more than halfway done now. Time is still going by extremely fast. The good news is that the weather seems to be finally getting straightened out. The August fog has been reduced to little to none, and the days have been consistently amazing. Patterns in the bay have been developing with animals as well as the weather changes. We are seeing an average of about 3-4 humpbacks a day with as many as 9 today. We found a pod of transient orca's with a small calf a few days ago not too far from Moss Landing and we have seen them a few more times from the beach while on otters. Otters have been going well as we have decided to focus on flood tide samplings during team 4. The data has been real consistent and we are getting good results. The 24-hour otter watch which we do once a team has proved to be stretching the staff thin at times... since only Danny, Cyndi, and myself remain after Steph and Andrew left. During the last 24-hour day however, a german production group came to film us as a portion of their otter documentary.. which was interesting to say the least. More on that later.

On the dolphin front, things are heating up again this week. Many animals that we have not seen since last year are returning to the bay, many with neonates at their sides. This is very interesting, as we are finding a lot of our animals that are females. There are at least 15 mother-calf pairs consisting of neonates and yearlings in the bay at this time. One theory we are leaning towards right now is that the bay is a perfect nursery ground for the mother-calf group that we see growing - by the day it seems. We are easily up to about 95 animals identified this season, which is almost exactly half of our master catalog. Also we are in the process of matching with the L.A. catalog to find out where the animals are when not here in the bay. Hopefully, this will help us to get a better understanding of their movements and social structure and continue going forward with the great data we are collecting this season.

2007-09-05T19:14:00.000-07:00

The past day has been full of good-byes at the Dolphin house. We are sad to say that our great friends and staff members, Andrew and Steph left us to return to college to start their semester. It was hard to see them go. We will miss Andrew's easy laughs, antics and his happy snores on the couch after a long day in the field. And for Steph, we will miss her diligent attention to the otter data and her jokes that kept us entertained on long 24 hour observations. The next day we also saw the departing of our smallest team to date, Andrew and Mayuko. The three Musketeers, Danny, Mark and Cyndi are left behind to hold the fort down. We will spend the next few days catching up on dolphin photo-id and preparing for Team 4.

2007-09-03T20:50:00.001-07:00

Well, it's hard to believe the time has come, but Andrew and I are leaving tomorrow for the east coast. A month has never gone by so fast for me before, but I definitely think it's a good sign. There are so many memories, and today was no exception. We aren't about to slow down just because our time is almost done. We woke up to clear conditions this morning and headed over to Moss Landing Harbor for a dolphin survey. Somehow, the weather thought it would be funny to change and heavy fog rolled in. You can't stop a determined dolphin hunter though and we headed out nonetheless after it lifted just a little. We headed north and hit 3 dolphins early on, but we lost site in the fog shortly after Andrew was able to snap a few shots. We traveled north all the way to the barge without encountering any other bottlenose dolphins, but there were some other animals around. We ran into a group of harbor porpoises...nothing spectacular...until it was followed by another group, and then another, and then a few more. We think there were at least 30 animals in this school; there were fins everywhere! We saw a mola mola in the water too. I'm not sure why it's beneficial to be a fish that looks like your tail was caught and ripped off in a lawn mower (or whatever the equivalent machinery is for the ocean...or whatever), but it seems to work out for these guys. I actually thought it was a dead fish floating in the water at first but then I remember that I had the same reaction looking at the mola in the deep ocean tank at the aquarium. I guess I should give them more credit. Even though we didn't find any more dolphins, we had heard rumors that the whale watch boats had recently been spotting orcas in the bay, so Danny suggested we "do something wild" and we headed offshore. Once we got out over the bay we spotted some whale watch boats and scanned the horizon for activity, but we were surprised by a school of Risso's dolphins (see picture) right near out boat. I've never seen these guys before and I have to say it was pretty spectacular. Think beluga whale with a dorsal fin and a little bit of grey. The individuals we saw were pretty white, which I believe indicates older age, and we could see them coming in the water. They're a bit bigger than our bottlenose dolphins, and have many scars on their bodies. Their brunt rostrums were pretty distinct, but I thought they were absolutely beautiful animals and I was completely entranced for a few minutes as they passed by (luckily Cyndi was driving the boat and managed to avoid the waves or else I would have been a goner). We then caught what Danny thinks was a Pacific white-sided dolphin jumping out of the water, but all I saw was belly and tail so I'll take her word for it. I think that still counts though...anyways, we headed back to Moss Landing and hit the fog once again, but it definitely could have been worse. Our afternoon was filled with dolphin data work. The catalog is over 200 animals now, with new ones being named all the time. The names are getting more random and creative as more people contribute, but Mark still somehow has a handle on it all. Too bad I haven't found a way to start naming otters...I'm sure I could come up some winners. Who knows, there's always the future :)

-Steph

2007-09-03T20:26:00.000-07:00

This morning we broke into teams of 2 so we could monitor the otter raft and focus on individual otters at the same time. Mayuko and Andrew held down the fort at the otter raft, counting the otters every fifteen minutes and monitoring the boat traffic. Meanwhile Daniela, Cyndi, Mark and Andrew ventured into the slough to scout out new places to observe foraging otters. Cyndi and Andrew picked a spot and quickly lost their otter. After an hour without finding any other foraging otters, they returned to the harbor. At the harbor there were several foraging otters, as well as an amazing amount of kyakers. Labor Day weekend has brought people from far and near seeking the refuge of Elkhorn slough. Mark and Daniela had much better luck. They found a great spot at the end of a boardwalk where they could observe several otters while they foraged. We plan to use this location for our focal follows over the next month. Later this afternoon we switched gears and walked from Sea Cliff beach to our housing complex at Pajaro Dunes, taking GPS points along the way. We'll use this data to set marks along the coast in our GPS on the boat. This will help us navigate in the fog. The entire walk was about 15 miles and took us 4 hours to complete. We all will sleep well tonight!!

2007-09-01T16:59:00.000-07:00

Me, Dolphins, and Breakdowns...

Early morning fog delays the second survey that Team 3 attempted. We finally got underway aboard the 'Nereis' around 10 AM. Onboard are Capt. Cindi, photographers Andrew and Mark, and Volunteers Mayuko and Myself. Skies are blue and wind is low. Following an early sea otter encounter, we find our first group of dolphins an hour after start, about five animals are photographed and identified before we continue south. Six minutes later we encounter our second group. We begin following them when all of a sudden the motor cuts out and we are left dead in the water. My first thought is "Oh No, Not Again"...
Just over a year ago I was on the Earthwatch "Amazon Riverboat Exploration". Whilst on a small boat conduction a river dolphin survey our engine died on us and we were left at the mercy of the Amazon. We were rescued after about an hour and the engine was fixed. Luckily, this time the problem was quickly fixed and we had caught up with the dolphins within a half hour. They gave a fine display for us, bowriding and one dolphin gave us a spectacular jump right in front of the boat. After enjoying the dolphins for half an hour and collecting the necessary data, we headed back to the harbor while I considered whether or not I should enroll in another project that includes both dolphins and boats.

Posted by Andrew Miller

2007-08-30T19:46:00.000-07:00

We did 24 hour otters survey, today. It wasn't that cold.
The weather was very strange, there were no cloud above our head but it rained.
I was in the shift of 5-9 am with Danniela and Andrew. We used alarm every 30 minutes and took a nap.
The Mexican mocha, near the north beach was good!!
We went to Cosco to buy foods and came home.
I also was in the shift of 1-5pm with Cyndi.
A bit busy, but I was lucky to see many otters.
About 70 otters were there when I started counting at 1 pm.

Posting by Mayuko Dan

It was a tough day.

2007-08-30T19:15:00.000-07:00

Team 3 started their expedition with a full survey of Elkhorn slough this morning. After two and a half hours, they had navigated the 7 mile length of the slough and counted 36 otters. As they came into Moss Landing Harbor, an additional 55 otters were counted in the raft. As the team counted each otter, they recorded the sex of the animal, the amount of grizzling on the otter's head and chest and the otter's behavior. Returning to the dock, the team met Cyndi and Mark who had spent the morning photographing a group of dolphins off the barge to the south of Moss Landing. While many of the animals were the same that have remained in the Bay for the past month (Poke, Kahuna, Kristal, Echo), they saw several new arrivals in the Bay. One of Daniela's favorites, Joker, has returned with her yearling. After running home for lunch, the team was back out in the afternoon to learn about otter behaviors and to practice recording accurate otter counts. After two hours of watching the otters everyone was prepared for the 24 hour otter observation which will begin at 1am on Thursday.

2007-08-27T21:25:00.000-07:00

Dinner tonight...Bones and Twigs

2007-08-26T16:17:00.000-07:00

Team 3 arrives tomorrow! This will be a small team with only two volunteers. The small team size will give us some more flexibility to explore the Bay more extensively though. We plan to take both boats, Spyhop and Nereis, out so that we can do a complete survey of Monterey Bay and get a snapshot of all of the dolphins in the Bay in one day. As we run around the house finishing the last of the cleaning chores, there is a buzz of excitement in the house to get back out on the water with the new team!

2007-08-26T15:24:00.000-07:00

Looking for a brief break from Monterey, the staff took advantage of the time in between teams and ran up to San Francisco for some well-earned down time. Winding up coastal Route 1, we arrived in SF in the afternoon and hung out along the piers while we waited for our ferry to Alcatraz. While waiting to get on the ferry we ran into Penny and Andrew from Team 2! Unfortunately they were already coming back from Alcatraz and we could only talk for a few minutes before our ferry left the dock. We learned all about the history of Alcatraz, including the history of the maximum security prison and the Native American occupation in the 1960's. After several hours of touring around the buildings, we headed back to SF to find our hotel. We danced the night away to the only Peruvian salsa band in SF at a benefit for the Peruvian earthquake relief fund!! We were so excited to be part of the event, even though we proved to be amateures at salsa dancing! The next day we walked across the Golden Gate Bridge on a beautiful sunny afternoon. After buying some souvenirs for our families and catching dinner at a great Mexican building, we headed back to Monterey refreshed and excited to get back in the field!!

2007-08-26T14:51:00.000-07:00

Team 2:

While staying busy in the field, we've found that our time with Team 2 flew by with barely a chance to stop and update our blog. Dolphin id's continued until a few days before the team left, when intense fog and a 9-10 ft swell kept us off the water. With the help of the volunteers, all the photos have been rated and matching is underway. And we have exciting news to report! Mark just matched the 50th individual dolphin for the season!! Also, we're seeing some dolphins that haven't been seen since the mid-90's. Now that a lot of the dolphins have been matched, Daniela is beginning to outline the social organization of the dolphins, identifying mothers and male buddies. As some of these social ties are extremely tight and important aspects of a dolphin's life, we expect to see many of the same dolphins together throughout the season. The otter project has been focusing on the focal follows to identify dive times, prey selection and size and success rates. Steph is beginning to analyze this data, the result of which will be her senior thesis. (Look for her preliminary findings throughout the season)

On the last day of Team 2's time with us, we woke up to a third day of intense fog and heavy swell. Frustrated by the weather we decided to explore the coast and we all took off for Big Sur. We spent the day hiking through Pfeiffer State Park, learning about the Coastal Redwoods. After spending a few hours among these century-old trees we returned to the coast and winded our way along the coastal road, back to Carmel. The team gathered at Carmel for well-earned dinner and took in the sunset while we watched surfers enjoy the large surf that we had avoided earlier today. Exhausted from the day's adventure, we returned home and everyone prepared to depart the next morning.

2007-08-19T21:41:00.001-07:00

Team II - Science and Fun

These last few days went really fast. We have been busy with both projects and collected an enormous amount of data. Team II is very proud of its hard work. So far we have identified 43 dolphins, many of which are mothers with either neonates or very young calves. For the first time in years we are caught up with photo-identification early in the season, thanks to Mark's keen observational skills.

We are catching up to the pattern the dolphins are exhibiting this season. They are, as usual, moving up and down the coast but this year they seem to prefer the southern portion of the bay, or at least, the mother/calf group that we have been trying to decode seems to like it near the Barge. There are other dolphins in the bay though, and these we found up north, all the way up near Seacliff Beach.

Anchovies seem to still be abundant in the bay and the dolphins forage for them just slightly offshore, beyond the crest of the breakers. However, the foraging frenzies of last year are over, and we see the animals resting and traveling slowly much more often.

We have seen quite a few aerial behaviors, even high jumps which are not common for this population. The calves in the nursery group are particularly rambunctious. They are eager to ride the wake of our boat for long periods of time and seem to wait for us to "speed it up" impatiently by positioning their sprinty tiny bodies just in front of the boat and looking up in a "plea" for fun.

We have also discovered that by tapping the sides of the boat with our hand, we easity peak the curiosity of the little ones which come closer and inspect the source of the weird noise. Playing with the calves a couple of days ago, was the height of our week.

In the sea otter department we are doing very well. We have completed another long 24-hour observation bout and got to watch them haul out near Seal Beach in Moss Landing Harbor. We had up to 15 animals on shore between 1 and 5 am.

We discovered that sea otters vocalize more frequently at night perhaps to keep in touch with the rest of the group. It is true that during the day there is a lot of noise that could mask some of the vocalizations, but the sounds we are hearing and recording at night are distinct and quite loud at times and we would certainly hear then during the day as well since we are quite close to the raft.

The first few recordings are already in so stay tuned for more information on what we are finding out.

2007-08-18T15:58:00.000-07:00

Team 1, Day 5-10:

The remainder of Team 1’s days were full of photographing dolphins and observing sea otters. We began conducting focal follows of individual otters in order to record dive time, prey species and prey size. Linda took to these observations quickly and really enjoyed following one individual. From her station above the jetty, she even caught sight of a whale’s blow in the distance (which she noticed while her otter was on a dive, of course!). I think that the entire team got a good feel for what voracious appetites our sea otters have! Within the ten days that the team was here, we photo-identified 24 dolphins and added a few new dolphins to the catalog. Luna, Machete, Toodle-pip and Reg were added with love by Hannah, Hilary and Linda. Meanwhile, once everyone returned from the field, we all shared a lot of laughs and some delicious meals. Linda was always ready to help in the kitchen, while Hannah worked hard on the computer inputting the data from the day. Mark helped Daniela feel like she was in Italy again as they chatted in Italian night after night. After dinner the crew would split up, some heading for bed to prepare for an early morning while others stayed up gabbing and laughing late into the night. We want to thank Hannah for tirelessly entering Team 1’s data, Mark for keeping us entertained late into the night, Maho for taking video of all of our events, Hilary for our new British sayings (which we still use!), Jin for sharing his love of reptiles and awesome photos from Australia and Linda for always being an extra set of hands in the kitchen! You all made the beginning of our season very memorable.

2007-08-17T12:53:00.001-07:00

Team 1 recap, Day 4:

Due to our mechanical problems with the Spyhop’s engine, we decided to use today as our recreation day. We headed to Monterey early this morning and split up. Jin and Maho took to Fisherman’s Wharf, where they went out on a whale watching trip. A few hours later they returned with stories of humpback whales and a basking shark. The rest of the crew went down to the Monterey Bay Aquarium to take in the giant kelp forest tank, the diverse displays of sea otters and jellyfish and the ocean tank with yellowfin tuna and the HUGE sunfish! After a great day, we met up for a late dinner of Hawaiian cuisine and headed home to prepare for a full day in the field.

2007-08-17T12:47:00.000-07:00

Team 1 recap, Day 3:

The engine of Spyhop failed on us this morning before we were even out of the harbor!! After paddling back to the dock and a few hours of scratching our heads, we decided that a mechanic would have to come look the poor machine. Unfortunately, the mechanic wasn’t available for two days. We would have to wait on land until it’s fixed. Hannah and Hilary were very good sports about the whole ordeal, entertaining the team with a few British grammer lessons (Toodle-pip is still one of our favorites!!). Meanwhile, the otter team was busy recording behaviors and plotting out the raft formation every 15 minutes. In between 15 minute observations the team was kept busy identifying the multitude of birds that inhabit the harbor. Brown pelicans, marbled godwits, surf scoters, great blue herons, snowy egrets and Clark’s grebes are just a sampling of the bird life in the harbor. Between our field guides and the extremely helpful, local birders (who have no interest in the otters), we were able to identify a multitude of species!

2007-08-17T12:40:00.000-07:00

Team 1 recap, Day 2:

Today began with an eventful morning on our research vessel, Spyhop. After sputtering for a minute, our 1976 outboard motor roared to life and we were off the dock. We found a group of 15 dolphins right at the entrance of the harbor and quickly started snapping away with our camera. After about an hour of photographing, we obtained identifying photographs of almost all the dolphins. We photograph the dorsal fin of each dolphin to identify each individual. This coastal population of dolphins has been cataloged since 1989. Since then 167 dolphins have been identified and added to the catalog. We will use today’s photographs to determine who is using Monterey Bay this summer and who has a new calf this year. As we continued south we noticed that the engine began sputtering. We quickly turned for home and returned to Moss Landing. After filling the gas tank the engine sounded better and we headed back out. We turned north this time, but didn’t find any dolphins before the seas began building and we headed home once again.

2007-08-17T12:03:00.000-07:00

Team 1, Day 1:

Jin, Maho, Linda, Mark, Hilary and Hannah, the members of Team 1, arrived eager and ready to jump into the field. After a full day of introductions, lectures on Monterey Bay and sea otters we began our 24 hour sea otter observations. The staff began the first shift at 1am and quickly found out that the lights in the parking lot behind the harbor were so bright that our night scope wouldn't work properly. Without the night scope we couldn’t distinguish the behavior of each otter. We amended our data protocols to record the number of resting otters that were rafted together in the harbor and whether they were active or inactive. The members of Team 1 joined the staff in the field beginning with the 9am shift, after recovering from a bit of jetlag. We will conduct a 24 hour sea otter observation with each of the 7 teams. Over the course of the season we’ll be able to compare these observations and determine the flux of otters in and out of the raft throughout an entire day and an entire tide cycle.

2007-08-17T11:12:00.000-07:00

The 2007 field season is well underway!! Our core team of staff arrived in Monterey one day before our first team joined us. We were elated to find our new home is in the quiet town of Watsonville, right on the beach. A two minute walk takes us to the shores of Monterey Bay, a pleasure that we've been surely taking advantage of!! The season was off and running once Team 1 arrived. Unfortunately, setting up our internet service has been a nightmare! After about five phone calls and two visits from Charter Communications technicians, we are FINALLY online and can begin updating the blog. To remind Team 1 of how much we loved working with them, we will start by posting a recap of the team's adventures.

2007-08-16T21:06:00.000-07:00

The weather was unusually clear for an early morning in the Monterey Bay area. We set out on the water around 8am in search of dolphins, sea otters, and other interesting marine mammals -- if we would be so lucky. Our first stop was the sea lion buoy. It seems to be a favourite hangout area among sea lions; they seemed to enjoy our company and followed us playfully. Shortly after, we observed a humpback whale with its calf. We followed them until the mother raised her fluke high in the air and dove for a satisfying meal.
The fog was becoming thick so we took a short break on shore until the fog passed. We went out again. This time to multiple dolphin sightings. There were three schools; one in particular was quite large [6-10 dolphins]. The larger school had some quite playful dolphins. An observer at the front of the boat could see their smiles as they raced by the bow. Their eyes, skin markings, and fins all clearly visible.

2007-07-13T04:31:00.000-07:00

Check out this News Release from USGS regarding the results of their otter census this past spring!
California Sea Otters – 2007 Survey Count Reaches New High
It will be interesting to find how many otters are in the slough this year!

Thank you to Renee, Team 7, 2006 for submitting this article.

2007-07-02T14:02:00.000-07:00

THE STAFF

Principal Investigators

Daniela Maldini, Ph.D., is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Biology Department at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Daniela completed her B.S. degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Pavia, Italy, in 1988. During this time she managed the university’s marine biology laboratory and completed a thesis on the conservation biology of pleuronectiform fishes in the Ligurian Sea. She moved to the United States in 1988 and interned in the Oceanography Department at the University of Texas at Austin Marine Laboratory located in Corpus Christi, Texas. Later, she worked with marine mammals and birds at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories in Monterey Bay, California, where she completed her M.S. in Marine Sciences in 1996. The topic of her M.S. thesis was the ecology of bottlenose dolphins in Monterey Bay. During this time she was also involved in a variety of ecological studies focusing on whales, dolphins, sea otters, and pinnipeds; co-founded the Pacific Cetacean Group, a non-profit corporation focusing on research, education, and conservation; and led the Marine Mammal Center Monterey Bay Operations’ stranding network in 1994-1995. Daniela completed her Ph.D. in Zoology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2003 with a study of odontocete abundance and distribution around the island of Oahu. She is also the co-founder and vice president of the Oceanwide Science Institute, a Hawaii non-profit organization. She has been contracting as a biologist with the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary since 1998. From 2001-2004 she worked as Research Associate at the Alaska SeaLife Center focusing on the ecology of killer whales and sea otters in Alaskan and Russian waters. Daniela is interested in behavioral ecology, population biology, and predator-prey relationships. Her work focuses on the ecology of odontocetes in various parts of the world.

Thomas A. Jefferson, Ph.D., is a visiting scientist at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, La Jolla, California. He has been studying marine mammals since 1983, and has conducted research on a variety of different species in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Peru, Africa, the Caribbean, and throughout Southeast Asia. He has published over 95 scientific papers and books, 10 popular articles, and one CD-ROM. Since 1995, Dr. Jefferson has been conducting research mainly on dolphins and porpoises in Southeast Asia, and leads a long-term project on Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins and finless porpoises in Hong Kong waters. He completed his Ph.D. in 1995 at Texas A&M University, working on cetaceans in offshore waters of the Gulf of Mexico. He also holds a M.S. in Marine Sciences completed while working at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, in Monterey Bay, California. His primary interests are the systematics and conservation biology of small cetaceans.

Research Coordinator - Cynthia Browning
Cynthia is an independent cetacean biologist who has been working on various field projects for the past five years. Originally from Long Island, NY, Cynthia moved to New Hampshire in 1999 to pursue a BS in Zoology from the University of New Hampshire. Cynthia’s primary interest in conservation led her to develop a deep interest in the North Atlantic Right Whale. Since completing her BS in 2003, Cynthia has worked on four different field projects, covering four out of the five critical habitats for right whales. Cynthia spends her winters with the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, flying aerial surveys as both an observer and the flight coordinator. For the past two years she has surveyed the offshore habitat of the Great South Channel with the New England Aquarium. During the late summer and fall, Cynthia moves up the coast to work in the Bay of Fundy (between northern Maine and Nova Scotia) and Roseway Basin (southeast of Nova Scotia). While she has worked with survey teams in these areas, Cynthia also was part of a groundbreaking project that collected whale scat in order to investigate the internal health of right whales. This will be Cynthia’s first year with the Marine Mammals of Monterey Project and she is excited to be part of the team.

Student Assistants – Stephanie Wallace, Andrew Walsh and Mark Cotter
Stephanie, Andrew and Mark are all undergraduate students at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst working with Dr. Maldini in various capacities. Stephanie is completing her senior thesis on sea otters under the supervision of Dr. Maldini. She will be coordinating sea otter observations and will welcome volunteer help in completing her data collection in the field. Andrew is also working with sea otters and Mark has been conducting photo-identification of dolphins for the past year.

2007-07-02T13:44:00.000-07:00

Monterey Bay - Welome to the 2007 Season !

Dear Past and Future Volunteers,

I am so excited to finally be able to launch the 2007 Season. I am getting ready to travel cross-country to Monterey Bay where I will be from mid-July to the end of October. It has been a long year for me, full of changes and new adventures. I just moved to North Carolina...Wilmington to be exact where my husband and trusted Director of Field Operations, Peter Nilsson, whom you have all grown to appreciate and love, has started a new job at the University of North Carolina, working with Marine Mammals on the East Coast.

I am very excited for him, but I am sad to say that he will not b e joining us in the field this year although he will be hard at work on the upcoming bottlenose dolphin book and catalogue that we are putting together, ... so stay tuned....

Our wonderful Field Assistant and Coordinator Anna Janovicz is pursuing her career at Earthwatch where she has been promoted (and she deserved it greatly!). SHe also will not be able to join us in the field this year and I wish her the best of luck with her new adventures. Thank you for keeping the blog alive Anna!!!

Thank you to all others that have contributed to the Blog through the winter. It is amazing to see how many wonderful contributions many of our past volunteeres have made to conservation through their workplace or personally. Keep it going, because individuals such as yourself can really make a big difference in the world today.

My winter has been spent working hard as Director of Research at Earthwatch. After some thinking, I have decided to move on and dedicate myself full-time to research and teaching since these are the things I love the most. This means that I will be able to do a full-season in the field with the upcoming teams and to spend time with the animals. I am very excited!

I will be starting to post the news more regularly now and I am hoping to be able to give you a glimpse of the findings so far.....

I am looking forward to forge new friendships and to revive old ones. Please keep in touch through the blog.

Sincerely

Daniela

2007-04-25T03:49:00.000-07:00

Hi, I'm Tom Jefferson, one of the Principal Investigators for the project. I am looking forward to another exciting time in Monterey Bay this autumn, as our project enters its second year. We will again be collecting a wealth of information on bottlenose dolphins and sea otters of Monterey Bay, and this year we hope to do a bit more detailed work involving biopsy sampling and photogrammetry (measuring things with photos, that is).

We have put in several funding proposals and are now waiting to hear back the results. If we are successful in getting the additional funding, we will be able to do some very neat, state-of-the-art work with new biopsy equipment and special devices for our camera that will allow us to take measurements of dolphins' dorsal fins and get specific distance readings to the animals.

I have just finished the field work for a two-year project on Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins in Hong Kong . I am now in the process of analyzing all the data and writing up the final report. In this project, we biopsy-sampled 36 dolphins, mostly individual dolphins that we recognize by natural markings and have been observing for many years. Because we know these individuals so well, we are able to keep track of them after they are sampled, to see if there is any evidence of infection of the small wounds, or any changes in their range or behavior.

As we expected, the tiny biopsy wounds on the dolphins have healed fast, with no evidence of infection or any other adverse effects. Also, we have seen no indication of a change in behavior (other than a short-term reaction) of the sampled dolphins ñ they continue to hang out in the same areas, and sometimes approach our research boat, despite having been hit (sometimes more than once) with the biopsy dart! It seems that the procedure has little effect on the animals, and it is yielding a great jackpot of information about them and their environment.

On a personal note, I will be having major surgery on my left knee (injured in a mountain biking accident) in May, and will be slowly making my way back to full mobility and balance over the next few months. I should be fine by the time I begin fieldwork in SeptemberÖ

I am sure that this year in Monterey Bay, we will see some old friends (human, dolphin, and otter) and make some new ones as well. It promises to be very exciting and I know that the start of our field season will be here before we know it. I can't wait!

Take care,
Tom

2007-04-15T06:23:00.000-07:00

Update from Robert, Team 5:

As I've told you in my previous update, myself, Celine and Eugene had submitted our write-up on our experience in Monterey to our Marketing Dept for publication in the local media. On the 21st January our write-up was published in "THE TIMES", Malta'a most popular newspaper and on the 22nd February it was published again, now in Maltese on another newspaper called "In-Nazzjon" (in English, The Nation) . I have also submitted my personal write-up to my Local Council of Dingli for publication in their local newsletter which is distributed free of charge to all residents. This should be published next month.

As regards our local community project, we will be doing our project with BICREF (The Biological Conservation Research Foundation). There has been some change of plans since I've wrote to you. Seeing the useful work that this organisation is doing, instead of teaming up with Celine and Eugene only, I've contacted other HSBC fellows who were on other Earthwatch projects and they have decided to join us to support BICREF. In fact, we will be ten in all who collectively will contribute STG 4000 (approx US 7800). In fact Bicref's proposals have already been approved by Earthwatch and funds have already been received. On March 14th, we had our first official meeting to discuss the way forward and also our participation on the project. Also, myself, Celine and Eugene and some other HSBC fellows have enrolled as BICREF members.

Hereunder is an idea how the funds will be utilsed:.

The funds will be utilised to meet costs incurred during field work and marine surveys. While BICREF would make use of its instruments and expertise, side by side with trained volunteers, the HSBC/EARTHWATCH fund would allow the continued long-term efforts of monitoring and research to fill the gaps of necessary environmental knowledge to assist conservation measures. The major share of the funds would be utilised for marine conservation research surveys: mainly to meet the costs of hiring a large boat and/or its fuel; some diving equipment; small aircraft aerial surveys costs; important upgrades for and maintenance of BICREF's dinghy; research equipment used for marine conservation research there will be an allocation of LM 2230; while toward the production of a coloured and informative HSBC/Earthwatch-BICREF Biodiversity Poster for Schools an allocation of LM 350 is planned.

Outputs of the projects:

These costs would also allow for the production of an educational slide show for secondary school children which may also be delievered by the fellows if they wish; a public seminar in summer with the participation of the HSBC fellows' personal experiences; Biodiversity surveys in Conservation areas of Ghajn Tuffieha and Ramla; Biodiversity surveys in non-conservation areas around the Maltese Islands and the production of a report for local awareness using observations obtained during the surveys. The latter would also be in form of a feature & news clip that would be sent to local newspapers and then placed on the BICREF webpage. The report may also be sent to the local environmental authorities as positive recommendations for future management requirements.

The projects would run through out the year 2007. Scientific surveys would pave the way to obtaining accurate data but also real local images used for educational purposes. For BICREF this would allow the contribution of the HSBC fellows to go beyond the single year project but the long-term monitoring effort. Side by side with this valuable contribution, funds for running costs related to research requirements are also essential. BICREF members are happy to work voluntarily and do not get paid for their research, monitoring or local awareness work. Thus the outputs of research are voluntarily utilized for accurate and illustrated local awareness for the public of all ages for years to come.

The informative poster in classes of local schools would be an important way of highlighting the need of conservation research and monitoring for biodiversity protection and survival in a changing world. The message BICREF will forward together with lovely photos will allow children to increase their curiosity and appreciation for the lovely marine and coastal environment. This effort will complement other educational resources BICREF has and would prepare in the coming year.

Also our collective contribution to BICREF and eventually our commitment in our local project with this organisation was given publicity in most of the local media:

Malta Star, March 15
Times of Malta, March 16
Di-ve, March 27
Times of Malta, April 1

2007-04-14T04:38:00.000-07:00

Excerpt from "A Close Encounter with the Marine Mammals of Monterey"
by Angeli, Team 7:

My Earthwatch experience is indeed a memorable and fruitful one. I was given a rare opportunity of having a very close encounter with dolphins, whales, sea otters, and other marine mammals. It was a privilege to work and deal with a diverse team of wonderful people and scientists. This experience has opened my eyes to a different world - a world in which man and animal live together as one family under the care of Mother Nature. And lastly, I was given a once-in-a-lifetime chance of spending my birthday in Monterey – with the dolphins, whales, sea otters, and my dear fellow team members who made it truly special. These moments were truly priceless.

2007-04-14T04:12:00.000-07:00

The Argonaut article about Renee, Team 7.

Letter from a student of Renee:

Dear Earthwatch program,

After Ms. Klein came back from Monterey, I have learned the importance of conservation and sustainability in our ocean; especially for marine mammals. We learned the importance of marine reserves to balance and protect our marine life. Moss Landing and Elkhorn Slough are rich marine areas. The blog and “live from the field” presentation was very interesting.

Marine debris and pollutants are destructive to our ocean that makes sea life sick. Water quality is important so we do not pollute the ocean. We have learned about testing and analyzing the quality of the water. We have made conclusions about what we have learned and illustrating a freshwater biome and writing information about the influence of stormwater runoff. We will take our ideas and use this information to develop a community project to improve water quality. We have written letters to our politicians to improve conservation of our ocean.

We have learned about ocean energy; and the many resources that can give us alternative energies. The ocean environment has many energy resources, which are renewable and nonrenewable. Ocean resources will be able to meet energy needs if conservation practices are practiced.

I have enjoyed reading and seeing Ms. Klein’s Earthwatch blog. The bottlenose dolphin, humpback whale, sea otter pictures are exciting to see. We have learned a lot about marine mammals and maintaining environmental health from Ms. Klein.

Thank you Earthwatch program
Richard

2007-03-26T04:29:00.000-07:00

From Marie, Team 7:
(Marie was sponsored by her shipping company, NYK, to join the expedition in Monterey)

"I have finished my presentation on our expedition at the end of January, and have one more within this month. Fortunately, I had a great opportunity to speak to a big audience, more than two hundred staff members, and even better, most of them were top management from NYK Group companies.

I explained that Monterey is the place where human and wild animals live really closely and coexist peacefully. This situation reminds me of the importance to take action for preserving the surrounding environment. I also asked the audience to pay more attention to the problem regarding striking whales and merchant ships in North America."

2007-02-17T11:03:00.000-08:00

Update from Renee, Team 7:

The students created the paintings at the Venice Boy's and Girl's Club; They are hanging up there as a tribute to our ocean themed program. In December, we took the elementary students to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. In the new year, we are planning to paint a mural on the building too!

2007-02-04T07:37:00.000-08:00

Update from Marie, Team 7:

Below is further information regarding protection of right whales. My colleague provided me with this. It seems so complicated to change commercial shipping lanes...

Excerpts from the Maritime Executive article:

A decision to shift busy shipping lanes off the coast of Massachusetts for the purpose of protecting the endangered North Atlantic right whales is being described by scientists as the right thing to do. The move, if approved, could eliminate up to 80% of whale strikes off the coast of New England. The International Maritime Organization (IMO), a London-based arm of the UN, is expected to approve the change in traffic patterns this week. Back in Massachusetts, some shipping experts and mariners are calling the move ill-advised and say that they were not consulted or given adequate time to voice their opposition to the move....

...The proposed, first ever shift of a shipping lane in US waters for the purpose of protecting an endangered species will probably save the lives of many whales. It is not the first time this has been done and the IMO issued a similar edict a few years back in the Canadian Bay of Fundy. The proposed move in Massachusetts waters, however, has far-reaching political, commercial and marine safety implications.

2007-01-22T18:56:00.000-08:00

Great News from the US and Abroad:

Donna Konkright (Team 3) has been nominated for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Math Teaching! Way to go Donna! While Donna was in Monterey, she kept in touch with her seventh graders from Osborn Middle School in Phoenix, AZ. Donna posted journal entries, photos, and answered student questions on her blog. In the picture to the right, Donna's making a call to her students to tell them how many otters were spotted on the census!

The write up on their experience in Monterey written by Robert (Team 5), Celine (Team 4) and Eugene (Team 6), together with some photos has been published in Malta's most popular Sunday newspaper - The Sunday Times! Published on 21 January, 2007.

2007-01-02T20:20:00.000-08:00

Captains blog~

Pelagic Dispatch:

Yeah Hey there,
Sean here, reporting in with another update.
Weather has been windy and stormy, we're in a lull in the action regarding our white shark field work, watching the weather closely.

Lots of big swells and hectic surf this time of year.

On New Years eve got a call from California State Parks dispatch regarding a shark having washed ashore off of Rio Del Mar.

The specimen was 3.3 meter juvenile male salmon shark (lamna ditropis) in nearly perfect condition having failed just prior to collection.

A juvenile salmon shark collected from a beach within Monterey Bay, Late Dec 2006: Van Sommeran/PSRF

We collected it and took it to the lab (UC Santa Cruz) and cleaned it up for storage and eventual necropsy/examination and parting out.

The specimen will be taken to Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station and necropsied there, Stanford wants the heart and some of the vascular components and UC Davis researchers are interested in the brain and nervous system, stomach contents and various tissues and organs are also salvaged and stored for future shipment and utilizations. Together with these labs the PSRF is investigating this phenomena.

A salmon sharks rests upon a macrocystis garnish after being hauled out of surf by SCU crew April 2006.
Van Sommeran/PSRF

One of the primary motivations for our Stranding and Collecting Unit (SCU) is to use these strandings and wash ups are indicators of habitat health and gather evidence to pursue investigations. We of course also rescues animals whenever possible and otherwise makes sure that specimens are collected and preserved for study.

When more common specimens are collected and there is little interest in the item I make an effort to provide opportunities for educators to inform and perhaps inspire students and other teachers with dissections and labs.

A humboldt squid, D. gigas; Monterey Bay, such specimens are useful for researchers/educators: Van Sommeran/PSRF

Over the years we've collected squids, wierd fishes and of course sharks and rays and help out with marine mammal scenarios (Earthwatch was there! in 06) such as strandings/entanglements and that kind of stuff, sometimes these events also involve shark related evidences.

Salmon sharks are cool looking animals the closely resemble white sharks and are in fact related. The Salmon shark is in the same family as white sharks, there are five species in the family of Lamnidae including the mako sharks.

There are a few features distinguishing the salmon shark from the others members of the Lamnids: (G. Thomae/PSRF)

One of the best destinguishing features of the salmon sharks (the Atlantic sp. is Lamna nasus) is the caudal keels, unlike most species of sharks the Lamnids all have strong caudal keel, the salmon shark has a unique 'secondary caudal keel' under the primary; no other sharks have this secondary cut-water.

The Image at above left shows the primary caudal keel, a feature peculier to the Lamnid sharks, the larger image at right shows the smaller secondary caudal keel just below the primary keel. Only the Salmon sharks (both Lamndis) and the sub-varient Porbeagle sharks have this feature. The other 3 species of Lamnids, the Makos and white sharks have only the primary keels.

Van Sommeran/PSRF

Salmon sharks, like all the Lamnids are highly migratory pan-pacific apex predators that range from Aleutians to Chile in the Eastern Pacific, Hawaiian Island chain and they may range the entire mid-pacific, and Japan and the Korean Peninsula out in the west Pacific; longer battery life in satellite transmitters may answer this question.

especially) the larger adult salmon sharks are known to include marine mammals (especially small pinnipeds) on their menus. It appears that all the Lamnid sharks are predators of certain pinnipeds and small cetaceans with the white shark appearing to specialize on the larger marine mammals including small whale, the largest of seals and the dolphins and porpoises in many regions. The Lamnids are anomalous in the shark and fish kingdoms as being warm bodied like the swordfishes and bluefin tunas, all high performance species and among the top ten fastest fishes in the sea. The mako and salmon sharks are arguably the fastest swimming species of non-marine mammal exceeded only by the sailfish and Wahoos.

2006-12-17T11:03:00.000-08:00

(For educational/informational purposes only, all images copyrighted)
Captains blog~

Pelagic Dispatch:

Greetings from Monterey bay,
It’s Sean here, giving an update and reporting in.
We’re presently half way through our annual Año Nuevo Island (ANI) white shark study season which began in late October and will wind down in early February.

Above: PSRF research vessel 'Mavrix', engages 5.2 meter shark (C. Perez/PSRF).

It’s been decent season so far although we had some logistical/clerical delays during October, the weather has been nice overall but Winter is definitely here now and the big swells and high winds are now the standard. The past week has been harsh and Ive been stuck on shore these past 5 days. Once Dec gets here we are only able to get out for a few days per week with periodic flat spells in between the storms. Our primary objectives this season is the deployment of archival satellite and ultra-sonic acoustic transmitters supplied to us via our associates at Stanford and University of California and the Tagging of Pacific Pelagics (TOPP) project.

Above: Crew of Mavrix prepared for departure from Santa Cruz
(C. Fritz-Cope/PSRF).

We had 5-6 meter waves/swells this week. So far we’ve transmittered 8 white sharks between 4 and 5.5 meters long, 6 females and 2 males, we’ve accounted for 13 individual sharks, 3 of which carried ID tags from previous seasons. We’ve observed a few predations but so far they’ve been quick work involving smaller sealions that are rapidly consumed, when big elephant seals are the targeted prey it often results in prolonged a spectacle involving a 1 ton seal and 2 ton shark. We at all times post a spotter keep a sharp eye out for such events and opportunities to document these dynamic predations.

Above: A white shark chases a stricken pinniped at the surface (R. Navarro/PSRF).

The survey day begins with the crew meeting at the harbor at 0630, we leave from Santa Cruz harbor by apprx 0700, it typically takes an hour to get up there if the weather doesn’t turn us back. As with th dolphin study we need relatively calm seas and low winds for our methods to work, the large swells we can cope with but wind and chop makes it really hard to function in terms of making observations or getting the sharks close enough for us to tag and/or photo ID.

Above: A dorsal profile identification image, ID photo (C. Fritz-Cope/PSRF.

Unlike the dolphin project whereby we patrol around looking for them, with the white shark study we go to where the sharks are looking for seals and use a decoy in hopes that the sharks will find us.

We set up for a drift near the seal strewn island having deployed a seal shaped lure in our wake, we also soak a burlap bag with a small portion of seal blubber to create the apparent presence of a seal (decoy prey item) and slowly and quietly drift past the island and wait for the approach of one of the large sharks the area is so well known for.

The lipid and oil rich seal bait creates a slick on the waters surface that is visually attractive to the sharks, this in addition to the familiar smell of it’s favored prey species. As the shark follows the narroewslick it comes across our seal lure, often enough it will come up and 'inspect' the seal shaped target.

Above: A large shark investigates the lure by mouthing it (C. Fritz-Cope/PSRF).

That is when we log in position (lat-lon) and depth/temp of the contact as well as photo identify and attempt to tag/biopsy sample, the estimated length and the sex of each shark is noted and documented. Unlike the dolphin/cetacean study whereby Tom Jefferson used his cross bow, we utilize a lance for extracting DNA samples as the sharks cruise closely by. We use a lance to attach the transmitters too. We use the lure to draw the shark close in enough to reach it with the lance.

Above: A shark approached to within striking range of lance (T. Atre/PSRF).

We’ve had two of our archival satellite transmitters from last winter's (2005-06) effort pop off after returning to the California coast from the open deep pacific and the others have all popped off out at sea with one of them washing ashore in Hawaii. Our work at Ano Nuevo Island together with the work of the Stanford and UC Davis teams at SE Farallones and Pt Reyes are triggering avalanches of data and deeper understanding of this marvelous and cryptic species of macro apex predatory shark, the largest known predatory fish on earth.

Above: A white shark cruises the open Pacific (Callaghan Fritz-Cope/PSRF).

Prior to 2002, the conventional wisdom held that white sharks were coastal, Team Pelagic's archival satellite transmitters proved that this species was an open ocean and deep sea creature that only periodically visits the coast and continental shelfs, spending most of its time around offshore isles and underwater seamounts.

Above: Movements of adult female white shark, Winter/Spring 2003 (S. Lucas/PSRF).

Presently no one knows where these sharks mate or breed or what the overall population structure, range and abundances are.

I just think it’s the most interesting mystery in the world right now, when Im not being distracted by lifes other sundry attractive hazards and puzzles.

above: Overlayed migration routes of pelagic seabirds, fishes and sharks and turtles, (TOPP).

Last week (Dec 10) a surfer was knocked off his board and badly shaken when a large shark came up underneath and grabbed his surfboard in it’s teeth, he was unharmed but his board was totaled and he is considering retiring from the sport, this occurred just North of San Francisco near Tomales Pt. There are a few of these events every year, it’s a good thing they actually don’t like to consume/eat humans and are descerning and focused apex predators.

Video clip: white shark predation in the Eastern Pacific, Año Nuevo Island, Central Northern California

Meanwhile, Im house sitting alternately in Capitola and Aptos, just South of Santa Cruz; filing reports, updating permit stuff and logging in data etc; probably wouldnt be too bad except I type like a chicken eats. I also been crabbing part-time for Webber’s Seafood (organic sustainable only) and staying out of trouble. Crabbing pays cash and the weather doesnt have to be good so it doesnt conflict with days when I need to be up to the island. (not at all like Alaska, way easier)

My free time has been invested in volunteer coordinating for the Santa Cruz Chapter of SurfRider Foundation and hanging out with my friends, but Im mostly busy till night time and go sleep early so Im not too tired/lazy the next day.

Ive included some links that can be perused to get an idea of what we are doing at Ano Nuevo Island, there are also pictures from past years and of our other projects as well as a random sample of images gathered by all of us this past summer Aug-Oct.

Copy/Paste the url below into your web browser and click GO:
www.pelagic.org/archive

Hope everybody is super and in good health, Ill keep you all posted periodically and/or whenever something spectacular happens; so far its just the usual giant sharks, various and sundry marine beasts, remote desert islands, lances, transmitters, fast boats, crashing waves and screaming winds and boring stuff like that.

Cheers,
Sean

Merry Christmas, Happy New Years, Jolly Holidays and a Warm winter solstice everyone!!

2006-12-15T04:48:00.000-08:00

News from Malta submitted by Robert, Team 5:

Last Sunday 3rd December, the HSBC Cares for the Environment Fund (HCEF) - Malta, organised a tree planting activity for HSBC staff and their families at a place called Xrobb l-Ghagin in Marsaxlokk. (The Xrobb l-Ghagin project site is a major project in the south of Malta and will be used for afforestation, educational and recreational purposes. The HCEF is the main contributor of the afforestation part of the project and is contributing over three years to plant a total of 15,000 trees.)

Also there was an ecological guided walk of the park and during the rest of the day animators entertained us with games.

Attached please some photos of this activity with my wife and kids. Also in the photo is Eugene from Team 6.

Also as part of our local environmental project, Celine, Eugene and myself and possibly other staff members will be collaborating with an organisation called BICREF (Biological Conservation Research Foundation) led by Dr. Adriana Vella Ph.D. who is a senior lecturer at the University of Malta and a conservation biologist. Their work is mainly based on dolphins around the Maltese islands and they been doing this research since 1996. Please take a look at their site http://sites.keyworld.net/bicref

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to all.

2006-12-12T04:46:00.000-08:00

Update from Renee, Team 7:

I have been able to present the Monterey Bay marine mammal program to grades k-8, over 300 children. They have really enjoyed the pictures and stories. They have many questions each time we share the project and stories of their own too! It has been engaging and fun for them.

The pic was taken at the Cabrillo tidepools in San Pedro. We are involved in a watershed/ conservation project; to minimize run-off into the ocean. We are addressing the environmental issue of too much wasted water through improving land and garden irrigation. I will send more info/ lessons, etc. as we develop them.

2006-12-08T17:51:00.000-08:00

Greetings from Hong Kong,

Hello there, Tom Jefferson here. I have been in Hong Kong for the past month or so, conducting research on Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis). Team 3 members will remember that I have been working on these dolphins for almost 12 years. We have learned a great deal about these dolphins over the past decade, but there are still some important conservation questions that remain unresolved. One of these is: How are the high levels of pesticides and other organochlorines in the dolphins' environment affecting their health and survival?

To answer that question, we have crafted a program in which we collect small bits of skin and blubber from living dolphins by using a crossbow and lightweight darts that are designed to only penetrate about an inch into the dolphins' bodies. These biopsy samples can tell us much.

So, for the past few weeks I have been spending my days out on the water searching for dolphins and attempting to collect biopsy samples when we see them. Weather problems, and the unpredictability of dolphin behavior have made things more difficult than originally expected. We have only been able to collect 9 samples in as many days at sea. We are hoping that our luck will improve and we can collect most of our remaining 14 samples in the next 10 days or so. Wish us luckâ€¦

Since heading overseas, I also have also done a side-trip from Hong Kong. I spent 12 days in the Maldives (for those of you who don't know where that is, look at a world map or globe and search just southwest of the tip of India). This Indian Ocean country consists of several hundred islands perched on low coral atolls - the highest point in the country is only 10 feet above sea level. Obviously, Maldivians are quite concerned about global warming and subsequent sea-level rise!!

In the Maldives we searched for whales and dolphin every day, and found a wide variety of species - spinner dolphins, spotted dolphins, striped dolphins, common bottlenose dolphins (same species as our friends in Monterey Bayâ€¦ ), Blainville's beaked whales, dwarf sperm whales, and sperm whales. We even had the first confirmed record of the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin in the Maldives! But, the highlight of the trip, to be sure, was the sighting of two large (200+) schools of Fraser's dolphins. This is a species of dolphin that was virtually unknown until 1973, when the first specimens were examined, allowing us to finally know what it looked like. Previous to that it was only known from a single skull in the British Museum of Natural History. It turns out that the species is not really rare, but there is still quite a bit of mystery about it. The photograph shows the short beak, tiny dorsal fin and flippers, and unique color patttern that characterize the species.

Although the work that we are doing in Asia may seem more exotic than Monterey Bay, we are actually using many of the same research techniques, and there are some interesting similarities. Perhaps some of the lessons we learn will help us next year in Monterey Bay!

Live well,
Tom

2006-12-05T17:04:00.000-08:00

Speaking of right whales....

A note from Marie, Team 7:

Now I finished my first presentation on my expedition to my boss/colleague and I have two more presentation within this fiscal year. I shared my experience with my colleagues and they were very pleased to see the great pictures of humpback wheals that Peter took our first day. One of my colleagues provided me of the information about a regulation to protect right whales in east coast. I remember Peter told me that a merchant ship is a problem for whales to hit and kill them during their traveling. My colleague told me that it seems difficult for Japanese Government to impose the similar legal controls around the Japanese neighboring waters. I feel guilty as an employee of a shipping company. In my next presentation to the employees in my company including top management, I will remind them of this problem.

An article submitted by Lynn, Team 5:
Mating Season Can Be Perilous for Right Whales

2006-12-03T11:20:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,
I hope all of you have had a great fall. I’d like to chime in with fellow team leaders Anna and Sean, and PIs Daniela and Tom,to thank all the great volunteers we had this past fall in Monterey. As I’m sure you know, you’re contribution has been invaluable and I hope we’ll see some of you this next field season. Right now, it’s data analysis mode and it’ll probably take us all some time to wade through the massive amount of data that all of you helped collect. I’m currently down on Amelia Island in northeastern Florida for another season of right whale aerial surveys with the New England Aquarium. The North Atlantic right whale (Eubalena glacialis) is one of the two (together with the north Pacific right whale, Eubalena japonica) most critically endangered large whales in the world: only an estimated 325-350 remains. The right whales are named for being the “right whale” to hunt and kill: they are slow moving, coastal to a large degree, yield a lot of oil, and perhaps most importantly, float when killed (most other large whales, such as humpback and blue whales, sink when dead). These factors all contributed to the intense and systematic devastation of the north Atlantic and north Pacific right whale populations until a only a splinter of a remnant remains in existence today. Basque whalers started hunting right whales in the Bay of Biscay and the eastern Atlantic as early as the 13th century, and the European or eastern population of the north Atlantic right whale, which ones ranged from the breeding grounds off western Africa to the feeding grounds off of northern Norway, is now extinct. The western population have similarly been hunted for several hundreds of years, initially by Native Americans, and then more systematically by Basque whalers and European settlers beginning in the 16sth century. The last north Atlantic right whale killed by whalers was a calf off of Florida in the 1930’s, after which this species received protection. At that point the population was down to around 300-400 individuals. Today this species struggles to avoid extinction along the east coast of North America, from their calving grounds off the southeastern US up to the feeding areas off New England and eastern Canada. The major causes of mortality are ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear. Right whales seem particularly prone to ship strikes and every year several individuals are killed. This past year, out of 19 calves born during the winter calving season 2005/2006 off the coasts of Florida and Georgia, three have already been killed; two by ship strikes, one by entanglement in fishing gear, with another calf missing and presumed dead. Clearly, in order for the right whale to survive, these two major mortality factors have to be addressed and resolved. The New England Aquarium has been conducting systematic aerial surveys off of northern Florida/southern Georgia since the early 1990’s. These surveys are part of the Early Detection System, which reports the locations of right whales to the US Navy, who alert commercial and military shipping traffic, fishing operations, and private vessels in the area to the presence of whales, so mariners can be on the lookout for and avoid collisions with right whales. Apart from detecting and reporting presence and location, these aerial surveys also yield invaluable research data. When a right whale is sighted, the plane circles at an altitude of 1000 ft (330 m), with one observer taking photo-ID shots of the whales. Right whales are ideal candidates for aerial photo-ID: they have natural markings in form of rough patches of skin -“callosities” – on their heads and mouths, which can be easily seen and photographed from the air. From these photo-ID efforts, researchers can identify each individual and know which whales migrated down that year, which mothers gave birth etc. In addition, starting in January, there will be a designated “biopsy boat” in the area, which will take skin and blubber biopsies of right whales calves. Once the airplane locates right whales, the crew on the biopsy boat is notified and directed towards the whales. The biopsy crew uses very similar equipment for biopsying to what PI Tom Jefferson used to obtain dolphin samples during team 3: a crossbow with darts equipped with a hollow metal corer as the tip.
This is a great project with great people working on it and I’m happy to be a part of it.
If you want to know more about right whales, I encourage you to click on the links (www.rightwhaleweb.org and www.neaq.org/rwcatalog/ ) on this page.
Cheers for now,
Peter

2006-12-02T06:53:00.000-08:00

A note from Elizabeth, Team 2:

We are fast approaching "whale watch" season. Those beautiful gray behemoths will be heading to within viewing distance of many habitual observers on their southern migration during December and January. There is a well trained (by Bruce Mate, et al) plethora of whale watch volunteers who station themselves along the Oregon coast twice a year. They announce their presence with "Whale Watching Spoken Here" placards and offer interested observers written information about cetaceans and pinnepeds, show small models of females and young, and run a 45' rope along the ground to illustrate the body length of gray females. They offer binoculars for observing and samples of baleen to touch. They also keep records of visitors' home states/countries. Amazing the number of people from abroad!

Historically, the gray whales are farther out to sea during winter months, not only to avoid the rough weather waves in shore but also to enable them to swim more swiftly in deeper water, so they are usually harder to spot without binoculars. Although, on one occasion, through a wall of dense fog, a whale watch volunteer and I clearly heard a series of blows! Very eerie - quite sensational!

The sun is out and it is HAILING. This coastal weather is a mystery to me! Sort of like Monterey!

2006-11-27T14:44:00.000-08:00

Volunteers on teams 4, 5, and 6 certainly had the pleasure of meeting one of our HSBC fellows from Malta: Celine, Robert and Eugene all came from this small island in the Mediterranean to make a big contribution to our efforts in Monterey. As part of their fellowship, they must spreak the word about their adventure to their colleagues and community. Below are some excepts from the write-up they submitted to HSBC Malta and their local media.

"2006 was the final year of this five-year Partnership with Earthwatch. During these years, 2000 HSBC employees worldwide, together with experienced scientists, worked as field assistants on international research projects. The objective of these expeditions was to give employees the opportunity to make an active contribution to a conservation research project and to the environment in general. Three Maltese employees, namely Celine Schranz, Robert Mallia and Eugene Schembri were selected as volunteers to participate on one particular project in Monterey, California, USA The Marine Mammals of Monterey Bay Project. The expeditions took place between August and October, and seven different teams where involved. This participation was possible thanks to the full sponsorship, and as part of HSBC’s global Corporate Social Responsibility. This project laid particular emphasis on Bottlenose Dolphins and Sea Otters. Each expedition lasted ten days, and teams were made up of around 6-10 people from all over the globe. "
...
"On a particular day, Robert’s team was out at the field at 05:30am to observe the different behaviour patterns at different times of the day. In fact initially they counted the number of Sea Otters in the Slough, which in those early hours amounted to about 80, but which by noon had reduced to 45. Such observation revealed that after sunrise Sea otters move, either out in the Ocean or up towards Elkhorn Slough. Celine’s team on the contrary carried out a survey at dusk till late at night. At this point all otters gathered all in one raft and most of them were just resting. The same team, as well as Eugene’s team, also carried out an “Otter Census” in the slough, with Tom Kiekhefer the chief surveyor on the census."
...
"Another interesting activity from Celine’s group was participating in a Coastal Clean Up Day at California’s Coastal State Beach. This Clean-Up Day was organized by the Ocean Conservancy, and the group agreed that it would benefit otters and dolphins. They were provided with two sets of bags- one for garbage and one for recyclables and they also took along a data sheet to keep track of select items that were found such as cigarette butts, food wrappers, boating materials etc. Along the beach, they encountered all types of debris, such as a few dead marine mammals which included a harbour seal and a very bloated sea lion. They also found lots of balloons, which are extremely harmful to marine wildlife. After 90 minutes of combing the beach, they turned in 25lbs of waste! Hopefully their efforts, combined with others across the California Coastline, made a significant impact in cleaning up the marine habitat."
...
"Robert and Eugene’s teams were quite lucky with a lot of Dolphin sightings. In fact on one particular day, they could observe more than 30 dolphins which were on either side of the boats. They kept them company for a long time with some bow riding and others surfing and milling. Both teams came across Humpback Whales just in front of their boats. "
...
"This opportunity was certainly an unforgettable experience for all the 3 Maltese participants. What could normally be enjoyed through TV documentaries was at an arm’s length, and a hands on experience. Moreover the chance of joining up other bank colleagues from all around the globe, and meeting other people with different cultures and backgrounds, but yet sharing the same environmental ambitions, was an opportunity in itself. Surely an experience that left an impact at a personal level which will encourage others to participate in and contribute the HSBC’s monetary grant towards Malta’s environmental projects."

Thank you, Robert, for submitting this for the blog!

Celine, Robert Eugene- we look forward to hearing about your community project!

2006-11-20T11:51:00.000-08:00

Update from Daniela: (charts with data analysis to come- Anna)

Dear Teams,

The season is really over. The house has been locked, the staff is returning home from the field and there is lots and lots of work to do to analyze the data, summarize the information and, yes…prepare for next year. Our field season is starting again next August and will again run until the end of October. There will be some slight changes based on your observations, your comments and the evolution of the work as we get answers to some questions and move on to others. One big change is going to be the accommodations. Although Pacific Grove served us well as a base and I love the town, we would like to be closer to the field and to the animals so we decided to move to Pajaro Dunes Colony. You have seen it…from the boat: that funky line of houses right on the beach. Well, that will be our new base. The house is very nice and close to the beach…maybe not as big as the Pacific Grove one but certainly close to Moss Landing and the wildlife.

Peter has been driving back to Massachusetts with the car and the data. He will be home today. I was in Mexico where I attended a marine mammal conference and then in Florida where I attended another that was especially interesting because of the sea otter workshop which gave me a lot to think about. It was the perfect motivator to get me to look at some of our data from this summer. I looked at the 5-minute sampling intervals that you and the staff collected from the parking lot in Moss Landing throughout the day looking at the sea otter raft and the other otters around it. The story is not surprising but interesting. Most of the sea otters observed in Elkhorn Slough are juvenile males, which confirms that the slough is still a male area and one where juvenile males spend their maturing years waiting to move out and possibly become territorial males by competing with the current “kings of the harems”. Some of them will become harem holders and others will perish trying or will be confined to peripheral areas perhaps managing to sneak into a territory every once in a while and mate with a female while the boss is busy. The interesting question is: How many of these juveniles will actually become territorial males and how many will make it? There is no answer for now and pursuing the question will take some collaborative efforts with other researchers and more funding, but we are exploring this possibility.

In the meantime, back in the slough these animals spend most of their time resting in Area 2, in the large raft you have observed, and foraging (but not in Area 2). We are looking at the data for indications of where most of the foraging occurred. We know that the slough main channel on both sides of the highway bridge is an important foraging area; however, the open ocean just in front of Moss Landing seemed to be as important this year. Figure 1 gives you the frequency of occurrence of the behaviors you have observed in Area 2 through the summer (this is part of the data you have helped collect!). Sea otters rested 47% of their time, groomed 23%, interacted with one another 11%, moved in and out or within Area 2 9% of the time and only foraged 1% of the time in this area. Most of the foraging occurred outside of Area 2.

The largest numbers of otters in Area 2 were found early in the morning between 6 and 7 am, and the numbers varied widely throughout the day. However, the number of otters tended to decrease later in the morning, increase again around noon and decrease in the afternoon as animals went out to forage and use other areas of the slough or offshore. Knowing when otters rest is important. Disturbance of resting patterns by boats and people may affect their ability to recuperate in between energetically demanding foraging trips. When sea otters rest, they become dry and warm which saves them a lot of energy. When they are disturbed, they dive or roll and become wet, therefore consuming more calories to stay warm. Continuous disturbance may therefore have effects on their health as they need to forage longer hours to recuperate calories lost. By identifying times of day and locations of resting areas we can suggest to the public appropriate behaviors to ensure diminished disturbance. Our initial data are giving us a good clue. We are going to continue to test the hypotheses I just mention to figure out the costs of disturbance to sea otters. Thanks for your help in getting these results.

There is still much more data to analyze and I will keep you posted. I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving (for Americans!) and a great Holiday season.

All the best

Daniela

2006-11-13T03:25:00.000-08:00

Please be sure to scroll down to read more about our last few days in Monterey!

2006-11-02T03:53:00.000-08:00

Anna J on the road:

It was very sad to leave the Monterey Bay area, but to my suprise, I caught another glimpse of our friendly cetaceans. It was a beautiful drive down Rt 1 and around Morro Bay we spotted dolphins in the surf!! I quickly pulled the car over, grabbed the camera and ran to the shore line for some photo ID. I couldn't get as close as we normally do in the Astirix (unless I decided to jump into the waves). But you never know, with Daniela or Shinae's careful eye, we might be able to identify these animals as our pals from Monterey!

In addition to the TUTRU, we also recorded MIRAN at Piedras Blancas and MENO at Morro Bay.

5 POINTS to the first past-team-member to leave a comment correctly identifying these marine mammal species with their species codes and common names!

2006-11-01T22:55:00.000-08:00

A late night note from Anna:

Here we are, only a few hours before leaving good 'ol Willow St. I apologize for not updating the blog the past few days, it has been quite hectic packing up the project. Today we spent the day disassembling the office, backed up all of our data and then packed the project materials along with our personal belongings into the cars.

I want to thank every who has been involved in the project over the last three months:
Team 1- Anita, Carole, Lyman, Kat, Claire, Daniel
Team 2- Alison, Eriko, Miles, John, Elizabeth, Marjorie
Team 3- Ruth, Donna, Larry, Joanne, Paul
Team 4- Nick, Andy, Celine, Ashley, Gail, Tom
Team 5- Sarah, Jill, Lynn, Brian, Rania, Robert
Team 6- Larry, David, Bill, Eugene, Donna, Hiroko
Team 7- Alejandra, Renee, Renata, Angeli, Yee, Marie, Elfreida

Special thanks to Shinae, our student visitor on Team 5, Mark from the UK office who was our staff and risk assessment extrodinaire on Team 1, and Tom Kieckhefer, our guest scientist who helped us census the otters in the slough.

Of course, I can't forget the invaluable contributions of my fellow team leaders, Peter and Sean. These two guys were fantastic colleagues, as well as fabulous friends.

Last, but certainly not least, I must thank our two PIs Daniela and Tom. They were excellent leaders and mentors in the field. It was an honor as well as a pleasure to contribute to their research.

Is this the end??? NOT A CHANCE!!

Yes, it may be the end of the field season, but our team will continue to update the blog every week or two (beginning after I return to the Earthwatch office in mid-November). Please check back for reflections on the season, updates on the data and plans for next year! If you have anything to contribute, it is not too late. Please email me your reflections or a fun story from the field and I will post it!

Come August, the web log will be back in full swing, so every one can keep in touch and follow our progess into the second field season. OR....you can join us in the field in 2007!

Farewell for now,
Anna

2006-11-01T19:58:00.000-08:00

Captain's Blog: Sean Van Sommeran

Well,
Its November 1st and Im packing up all my stuff from the Willow Street house (Earthwatch HQ) in preparation for return home to Santa Cruz. What an awesome summer.
Im going to be home sick, at home; I miss this place already and Ive not even left yet.

While August seems a long time ago it also seems to have gone by too fast.

October brought the big swells, increasing as the month went on. I watched as summer changed to fall and now winter is here, as the East breezes are becoming scarce, the wind is beginning to push from the South and the NorthWest wind redoubles its efforts in pushing back. The seas become tempermental and alternate between the spells of glassy calm and pounding surf and high winds. The shearwaters and tuna are heading west as the elephant seals and big sharks are coming in from the open deep seas.

I must now leave the adorable bottlenosed dolphins and refocus my attentions and energies
upon the more laconic white sharks and I find my self puzzled and aware of a reluctance to do so.

The dolphins were awesome, and Ill miss them; and Ill miss my crew and the people I met and worked with, and I'll miss the serene routine Id fallen into, something I didnt fully realize until recently.

Many fond memories of this summer will keep me looking forward to the next.

Thank you, thanks to the dolphins and thanks to the sea; -all I can say...

Totally,
Sean

2006-10-31T03:02:00.000-08:00

Halloween Day by Anna:

What did we dress up as? Peter, Mark and I dressed up as volunteer research assistants for the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation. (It's the hottest costume this year!) Sean went as our fearless leader and Eric of PSRF dressed up as our skipper and drove us in his boat, Flaterliner, up to Ano Nuevo Island to look for white sharks.

We were visited by five Trick-or-Treaters that day. They moslty handed out tricks by checking out the big visual yellow lure, just close enough for us to see them, but darting away before we could snap a photo id shot or attach a transmitter. Perhaps they weren't too into the treats we had- blubber from a dead elephant seal. Considering the date, we probably should have baited the water with Reeses Peanut Butter Cups or Skittles.

It was so cool to see the dorsal fin of a great white shark cut through the water's surface like a knife. We saw our fifth shark just before our departure back for Santa Cruz, around 2pm. This one was a biggie, and she did a lap around our boat, so we were able to look at her entire body and head, and could tell without a doubt that she was looking right back at us!

When we arrived back to Pacific Grove, we were almost too tired to attend to the human trick-or-treaters that knocked on the door at Willow street. Most of us retired early in anticipation of our long day of packing, and Sean trekked back to Santa Cruz to give his shark talk at a Halloween party- how cool is that!

2006-10-30T02:53:00.000-08:00

Last days on the job by Anna:

I know that my Nov 1 post made our final days sound like they were filled with lifting heavy boxes and tearful goodbyes, but we did have some fun, and some extra help. Mark, a member of the Earthwatch UK staff who visited the project on Team 1, enjoyed California so much that he used some vacation time to return! He helped us pack up the project and consume sushi at the Crystal Fish.

2006-10-30T01:43:00.000-08:00

Farewell to Team 7!

This awesome group of seven gals helped end the field season with a bang! (And not the type of bang that certain members of Team 3 made when they accidentally ran into doors ;) This team was so dedicated that they forfeited their extra hour of sleep as provided by our confusing daylight savings time clock change, and spent the last dey of work on a sunrise otter survey!

Thank you, Gracias, Obrigada, Arigato, Salamat, Terima kasih, Grazie, Tack!

2006-10-29T12:27:00.000-08:00

oct. 29, 2006 report by Angeli:

Today, we woke up earlier than usual to study and survey the otters' behaviour on early mornings. We left at 6:15am and headed to Moss Landing. The weather was quite chilly but nevertheless, we were all pretty excited to discover new behaviours that these otters may display on early mornings. We were able to spot around 76 otters resting early in the morning in a tight raft but eventually dispersed and exited the slough as it reached noon time. After studying the otters for 5 hours, we all went to the beach to clean up bottles, plastics, rubbers, and other waste materials scattered along the beach. Much to our surprise, we found a helpless murre lying still on the beach but still alive. Anna called the SPCA and they came to pick up the dying bird for rescue. It was a fulfilling day after all.

2006-10-27T07:26:00.000-07:00

Day 7 Dolphin Survey by Anna:

This morning we were concerned that we would find huge swells on the water. (Yesterday, the seas were so rolly, I almost got sick.) What a treat to pull out of the harbor this morning- it was like a lake!! We turned towards the north in pursuit of our favorite cetacean, the bottlenose dolphin.

There was not a cloud in the sky, and the seas were a flat and glassy Beaufort 1. It was perfect spotting conditions; Yee, Renata and Marie easily picked out every harbor seal, sea lion and otter. Even the harbor porpoises were easy to find. Every siting was dutifully recorded on the data sheet. However, at 11:00, we found ourselves all the way up to the cement ship (our usual turn-around point) and had not found any dolphins. We decided to take advantage of the good sea conditions and continued on to Lighthouse Point off of Santa Cruz. We caught glimpses of over one hundred sea lions beneath the Santa Cruz pier and saw several otters floating in the kelp beds including a mother and pup!

After completing our survey of the bay's entire northern coast, the quickest route home was off-shore, straight back to Moss Landing. Once the powerplant stacks were insight, Sean spotted a blow! We found two humpback whales! We watched for several minutes as they took a series of breaths and dove down, likely for a mid-day sanck. One of the humpacks had an unusually hooked dorsal fin.

Although we never spotted the dolphins, we went home quite satisfied with our day: lovely weather conditions, up-close view of Santa Cruz, otter mom and pup and whales!

2006-10-26T22:31:00.000-07:00

Don't forget to scroll down and read some new posts by Alejandra and Renata about the otter census and their first day on the water with the dolphins!

2006-10-26T17:18:00.000-07:00

Day Off report by Elfreida:

For those of us with Earthwatch on the bottlenose dolphin and sea otter project we have a day off so Renee and I decided to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We walked along the Pacific Ocean enjoying the water, rocks and harbor seals on our left and admiring the beautiful Victorian homes on the right. We also saw some old buildings which once were canneries and now house shops of some kind or another.

At 10:00 we entered the aquarium for an exciting day of sea life explorations. Due to my great interest in penguins, my first stop was the penguins exhibit. These penguins are the African penguins which like all other penguins are black and white but they have black feet and a white ring of feathers around the head. On to the jellies, the kelp forest and the sharks, mola mola, dorado or mahi mahi tank. I spend a great deal of time at this exhibit and also watched the sea otters play and eat. We watched all the films being shown in the auditorium and I spent a considerable amount of time selecting books to take back to Minnesota. The California sea otters are very playful, so it was great watching them play ball in the aquarium as well as open and eat clams in the wild. About 4 o'clock we were tired and I was hungry so we made a short stop at the Save the Otter shop next door and I had coffee and a berry sundae at Ghiradelli before we walked home.

2006-10-25T22:14:00.000-07:00

An update by Alejandra and Renata:

Happy Birthday Angeli!

Maligayang Bati Sa Iyong Kaarawan!

Today the team celebrated Angeli's birthday in a japanesse restaurant. Marie and Anna finally got a taste of their miso soup, the taste was really good.

Peter and Sean both gulped a big ball of wasabi (GUAAHHHH) and drank two glasses of sake in an attempt to stop the fire in their mouths.

The lights suddenly turned off and a waitress came out bringing a birthday cake to surprise Angeli. Everyone sang a birthday song for the celebrant, Angeli read the card with everybody's wishes and open Renata's present (a soap made from banana, especially brought from Brazil)

At least Elfrida introduce Marie with a new friend from Japan, who is the beautiful chef of the restaurant.

!Happy birthday Angeli!

2006-10-24T18:33:00.000-07:00

Otter Survey Report by Anna:

After a morning filled with dolphin dorsal fin images (try to say that ten times fast), Renee, Elfrieda, Renata, Alejandra and I drove to Moss Landing to observe otter behaviors. Today we set up shop in Area 10, which is on the eastern side of the Route 1 bridge. We typically observe otters foraging on large gaper clams in this area and we also watch them traveling through from the middle parts of the slough out to the harbor area. Today, we did not observe very many otters at all. We obseverved two playing for a little while, but mostly took notes on otters for only a few minutes at a time as they travel/groomed quickly past our observation point. Renata tried to demonstrate to the otters that this was a good area for foraging, but they didn't take the bait.

Although we took home a lot of empty data sheets, and do not have much quantitative data to contribute to the project, we did take home a lot of qualitative data. It is fun to observe the same otter for hours in the harbor as it rests, grooms, and plays; but it is just as important to catch those brief glimpses of otters as they are traveling or being generally elusive in the less populous areas of the slough. One of our research questions is to know where the otters are in the slough, and to properly answer this query, we must also determine where the otters are not. It takes a lot of patience to observe the less populous areas. Way to go team!

As a consolation prize for her patience, Elfrieda found some fishing line that she can use to create some beaded jewelry. The removal of this discarded line from the banks of the slough will also be greatly appreciated by the birds and other wildlife that can easily become easily entangled in such an item.

2006-10-24T09:46:00.000-07:00

Otter Census report by Renata:

Our day started on Moss Landing Harbor to observe the marine mammals in Monterey Bay. For this job, we had a lecture of sea otters by Tom, a marine scientist who launched his research in 1997. After three hours on a boat, we could register 88 sea otters and a few groups of harbor seals in Elkhorn Slough. It was a great experience for us to see otters closer than ever.

2006-10-24T08:40:00.000-07:00

Morning report from Anna, Elfreida, Renata and Alejandra:

We are finishing up the dolphin photo id from yesterday before going out into the field to observe otters. Please stay tuned for the audiopost that we recorded in English, Portugese and Spanish.

2006-10-23T21:50:00.000-07:00

Our first experience with the dolphins by Renata and Alejandra:

Before this expedition, dolphins seem to be part of another world, because we only watch them on tv, in this experience we can stay really close to these beautiful marine mammals.

We were surprised to discover the behavior between mother and baby dolphin, which is so similar to human beings -- very protective with their babies. Sean told us that the mother is the leader of the dolphins group.

The day went fast because we really enjoyed the experience, and in addition we learned to take data of them to know more about their lives.

Renata and Alejandra

2006-10-23T14:51:00.000-07:00

An International Feast!

Fred the Pumpkin joined us for a fabulous feast of Fritatta eaten with chopsticks and a dessert of dried mangos from the Phillipines and chocolate wafer cookies from Brazil.

2006-10-22T18:48:00.000-07:00

More ways to follow us the field!

Renee is an educator on Team 7 who will be communicating with her students Live from the Monterey! She has elementary and high school students who will be following along with our adventures. Please visit her blog at http://montereymarinemammals.blogspot.com.

2006-10-21T21:17:00.000-07:00

Welcome Team 7!

Joining the sea otters and the dolphins in the field will be Renee from southern California, Angeli from the Phillipines, Alejandra from Mexico, Renata from Brazil, Marie from Japan, Elfrieda from Minnesota and Yee from central California. Everyone is doing our 1st day otter poses. Tomorrow we will drive to Elkhorn Slough and catch find our friendly mustelids in action.

2006-10-16T23:44:00.000-07:00

Another great evening at the rodeo! We saw some fancy riding from Team 6 including a stocking gallop by Bill, a no-hands canter by Donna, and I don't know what type of riding Sean was doing.

After the ride today, stroked Henry's muzzle and fed him some icecream (the new flavor- Santa's Sundae). After the Earthwatch season is done, you might spot Henry in the Kentucky Derby, proadly sponsored by HSBC.

2006-10-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

A last note from David:

So, for this volunteer, our marine-mammal work ends much as it began, on Otter Patrol, taking copious data and enjoying binocular views of otters playing, grooming, resting, and feeding on crabs, clams, “undetermined,” and creatures called – wait for it – fat innkeeper worms. The latter are long, red, rubbery bottom-dwellers that the otters dig out of their tunnels. Stretched full-length between an otter’s teeth and paws, a worm looks like a sausage on steroids, or an escapee from a cheapie horror movie. (See Larry’s wonderful photo.) It gets even more amusing (or, if you prefer, disgusting) to realize that the otter is apparently interested only in the worm’s insides, which it pulls out after biting off one end.

Our brief but intense education here – I’m leaving with a wealth of new knowledge and a range of mental images and photos ranging from a fat innkeeper worm meeting its fate to a humpback whale sliding with impossible grace beneath the surface –
has been a rare pleasure. My thanks to Peter, Anna and Sean for so generously and thoughtfully sharing their energies, expertise and dedication, for their good humor, and for making the work enjoyable. My thanks, too, to my fellow volunteers, Bill, Donna, Eugene, Hiroko and Larry – for their own contributions, their engaging companionship, the laughs, the conversation, and for sharing their passionate concern for salvaging what’s left of our natural world.

2006-10-16T11:24:00.000-07:00

Read A MOMENT OF PRIVILEGE by Larry!

2006-10-16T07:18:00.001-07:00

Read a belated Day 3 update by David!

2006-10-15T05:44:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Sean!

Thank you to our resident Shark Guru, local Montery Bay expert and our best dolphin spotter for keeping us safe on the water, finding the dolphins almost every day (along with the occasional whale), teaching us about the area and sharks and for keeping us wildly entertained.

Hey all you Sean/Shark fans- Next year, Sean will be an Earthwatch PI and you can join him in studying the sharks and rays of Elkhorn Slough! Keep a close eye on the Earthwatch website for a description and dates. The team will stay in a fantastic house in Pajaro Dunes and get muddy in the slough every day!

2006-10-14T14:39:00.000-07:00

Artichokes have been refered to as "the incredible, edible flower."

Every morning we pass the artichoke fields on the way to Moss Landing Harbor, and every once and a while, we stop off on the way home to get french-friend artichokes...mmmmmmmm. Today, for the first time, Donna, David, Hiroko and myself (Anna) got to see an artichoke that had bloomed! Warning: despite Hiroko's pose, the artichoke is no longer edible at this point.

2006-10-13T07:54:00.000-07:00

Fred is our Team 6 mascot

2006-10-11T13:48:00.000-07:00

Dolphin Survey report from Anna and audiopost by Larry:

As you can hear from Larry's audiopost, we had a fantastic day on the water! Starting up the Spy Hop is always a trick, and a
couple of folks at the dock told us that the day was going to be windy, so our expectations weren't very high as we motored out of Moss Landing Harbor. After a busy start (lots of marine mammal sitings) at the harbor mouth, we were cruising close to the surf and Sean spotted dolphins! There were five individuals including a calf/cow pair quickly traveling north. As we continued to look around, we spotted more dolphins to the north and south- at least 12 different animals. We followed them north of the harbor mouth and tried to keep track as they milled around, and then followed them south again. All of a sudden, they were much more interested in us. Most of the dolphins approached the Spy Hop to check us out, 3 and 4 animals bow riding at a time! At one point we had seven animals surfing in our wake! Sometimes, they were TOO close for photo id with my long lens! But it was neat that they were so close that I could see them swimming under the water and could easily time when their dorsal would break the surface. When the day was done, I had snapped 238 photos, all which had to be reviewed back at the house. Once we returned to Willow street, Larry and David got cracking on the data entry. They entered the entire survey log, and were so charged about the day, they stuck it out in the office for three hours, and reviewed all 238 photos. Way to go!

2006-10-10T22:51:00.000-07:00

A belated report from Day 3 by David:

Sometimes a little engine trouble’s not a bad thing. When both the Astirix and the Spy Hop were giving Sean fits but no starts, Peter decided that he, Eugene, Larry and I would used our allotted dolphin time instead to continue our previous day’s work on Otter Patrol – but this time in kayaks, in Elkhorn Slough. According to some, the Slough (rhymes with through – not with rough or bough), which – speaking loosely – is a tidal estuary, takes its name from its meandering, antlerish shape. (That’s my favorite of the explanations. Others cite an elkhorn plant found there and the one-time presence of a lodge for elk hunters.) About 7 miles long, it’s technically an extended inlet or fjord, rather than an estuary; for most of the year, it’s entirely salt water, with fresh-water run-off entering only for brief periods, if at all.
Neither Eugene nor Larry had ever been in a kayak, but were game to go. (I particularly enjoyed watching Larry’s eyebrows crawl toward his hairline as he learned that self-rescue from an overturned kayak means detaching the spray skirt and extricating oneself from the cockpit while upside down underwater.) They took a tandem, the theory being that two novice paddlers are better than one. Peter and I were in solo boats.
Once lunches and gear were stowed, we got under way, drifting with the incoming tide from Moss Landing Harbor, past lounging otters and the pile-driving crew installing a new jetty, under Highway One, and finally into the quiet of the Slough. In people terms we had it almost to ourselves. In our four or so hours there, we saw only three other kayakers. But in wildlife terms, we were surrounded in three dimensions, by scattered otters foraging and playing, harbor seals surfacing long enough to give us the eye, the odd sea lion, egrets both snowy and great, curlews and godwits, assorted herons, a variety of gulls and terns, and pelicans both overhead and in congregations of hundreds lining the banks in some mid-day ritual of dozing, yawning and pecking at the noisy gulls that dared to light among them.
Peter had hoped that we could find a way to orchestrate data-taking from the boats, but the tidal push of incoming and the pull of outgoing made it too difficult to focus on any particular otter or otters without resorting to paddling, which would be both disturbing to the otters and a risk to dry data sheets. We never resolved the problem, but came up with several ideas ranging from ‘possible’ to ludicrously impractical. The jury is still out on long periods of observation from kayaks in tidal water.
We ended the trip by paddling out of the Slough and into the marina, to sample the mind-numbing sight of seals, sea lions, otters, and pelicans resting and feeding in the oil-shiny, gas-reeking water. How they survive – how they tolerate it – I can’t imagine.
In short, perhaps not a productive research foray in the Slough, but – for the volunteers – an excellent introduction to one of the Bay’s most significant ecological features.
The day’s cake also had two layers of icing. On our return, we learned that Sean had the Spy Hop running well enough to make a test run out into the Bay itself, and he invited us to go along. Only a few minutes out, cruising at about 20 knots, we picked up an escort of dolphins, who swam alongside and went bow-riding only a few feet beneath our eyes. It was the volunteers’ first exposure to these extraordinary animals – and to the feeling of privilege that accompanies the sense of being welcomed to their world.
Then, that night, Peter (who also took the pictures accompanying this entry – and a hundred more I wish I could include here) gave a presentation for the volunteers on marine mammals – an hour remarkably packed with information on the cetaceans, pinnipeds and carnivores that are the focus of our attention here. The wealth of information, coupled with a scientist’s passion, made for an inspiring talk.
A great day – both on the water and in the classroom.

2006-10-10T08:42:00.000-07:00

Daily Report by Donna:

Today Anna, Larry, Dave and I went out to do otter surveys. I really enjoyed the otters on Tuesday. We watched the raft for a while and that gave which gave us an appreciation of otter group dynamics (and was very entertaining as they love to play!). We then watched an adult male forage for clams. The group on Monday said the otters mainly ate worms, but this guy was definitely a clam guy. It was a beautiful day and we were relaxing at the end of the surveys by walking along the beach. Unfortunately we came across a dead otter pup that had washed up on shore. We went back and got a garbage bag from the habor master and then went and got the pup. The little guy will have a necropsy performed by Dr. Melissa Miller. She is the pathologist with the California Department of Fish & Wildlife. Anna said an earlier team had found a dead otter as well and that Melissa said it was a poster child for domoic acid. Domoic acid is a type of poison produced by harmful algae blooms. Anchovies, sardines and other shellfish are exposed to the poison and then ingested by marine mammals. Melissa will let Anna know what killed the otter pup and she will post this info on the blog – stay tuned!

2006-10-10T07:15:00.000-07:00

A MOMENT OF PRIVILEGE by Larry

We are riding the Spyhop, North in Monterey Bay. Is the boat now okay ? This is a surprise treat, as we had to switch plans this morning because the Astrix became unreliable, as was this Spyhop. My virgin kayacking experience was the alternative this morning – and it was awesome !

“Larry, you take the bow watch ’10 to 2’.” I really got to take the bow, as I was sitting at the point of the Spyhawk, holding onto the railing, as we bounced on the swells of Monterey Bay. The wind and spray could not wash off my grin, as I scanned the blue expanse before me. I’m wishing I had my 20D – but maybe not! The Powershot point-and-shoot now has salt residue from this morning’s kayacking adventure. I do have THAT camera under my Personal Floatation Device (what do I know – I thought it was a “Life Preserver”).

“Harbor Seal at 2 o’clock.” “Good spot!” answers Peter. There sure is lots of waves and surf to scan. Peter, covering 2 to 6, shouts: “Sea Otters at 3 o’clock.” Seems pretty far out in the Bay for them, without kelp. We had been watching 60 sea otters, back in the Elkhorn Slough estuary, for the past two days. There they are – just doing their adorable “sea otter thing” : floating on their backs; groom, groom, roll, groom, roll.

Now my hands are getting tired, and I’m losing the Leo Decaprio feeling, at the point of MY boat: “I’m the King of the World!” Sean breaks the silence: “I’m going to check those circling birds, off shore, at 2 o’clock.” Later we found out that Anna had given Sean some direction.

All five of us watch the rolling surf, under the flock of feeding birds. As the gap closes to about 200 yards, Sean shouts over the wind: “There They Are!! Dolphins at 1 o’clock!!!” Where? Where!?! Then my grin gets even wider, as I see that first dorsal fin in my binoculars. It is breaking out of the white surf, heading North towards Santa Cruz. We are going fast now, and the spray and bouncing means hold on tight, as my wet shoes point the boat. Peter shouts: “ Larry, watch under the bow. They are coming under us.” I’m thinking: “How the hell did they get here so quickly? I just saw the fin parallel to the beach.” I then look down between my feet. Oh My God!!! There are two grey and white slick bodies. They are just under the water surface, going the exact speed as our boat, as if they were attached to the point! I am looking down, over my First Wild Dolphins!

Like a light switching off, they are gone. I am smiling in shock, and Peter shouts: “There are four of them off the port bow!” As I look to the left – there they are – porpoising at our same speed. When they are out of the water, I see grey, smooth, glistening bodies – like well polished autos. They travel along side, like an escort into THEIR land. How do they do that – match our speed and direction – seemingly with NO effort ?

The whole scene seems surreal –even though I have seen it before, on TV and in movies. They seem to be glancing at us, with grins on their faces, as they perform these acrobatics. I feel like they are saying: “Look what I can do!” (And I do not see this feeling as anthropomorphic – they DO seem to be thinking at a level higher than I have ever seen in an animal.) Finally, they drop down, in unison. Then “bow-ride,” under my feet, for a few seconds – and they are gone.

They were in complete command of this species interaction. I am in total awe! I have seen many other animals in the wild. All of them run, or move away, when approached. But this is the first time I have experienced another wild animal COME TO ME ! They, openly, came to “check us out.” There is no doubt that THAT is what they were doing. They had come, from a distance, to where WE were , and were not hiding when they got there. We were the visitors – and they left no doubt as to where we were – in THEIR habitat.

I am so very privileged !

2006-10-09T18:00:00.000-07:00

Day 2 report by Eugene (Otter team):

Off to the Otter Area, at Moss Landing, for our first attempt at testing our observation and logging skills, where we were certainly not disappointed by the show of otters in the channel. Foraging sessions kept us busy with the otters feasting on worms (long red sausage like) and later clams. That certainly kept us all busy at our logging sheets. Dolphins and Sea Lions nearby added to the atmosphere. Observing rafts (Otter groupings) followed. This was somewhat more difficult in the tighter units to distinguish the different otter antics, in playing, resting travelling and grooming. All this in company of three ladies (in their mid 70s) working away at their watercolors!
Our stomachs' yearning for Burritos in liu of the packed lunch rewarded us with an extensive solo performance by Ophelia, an otter at the boat anchorage site. Larry put all his filming skills in capturing this on video.
A change of wind and the inflow of fog sent us back to base for a data logging session, and looking forward to a Frittata dinner prepared by Anna & Peter.

2006-10-09T17:56:00.000-07:00

Day 2 report from Hiroko (Dolphin Team):

What a wonderful shining day it was!
Yes, here is California where I expected!!
Today Sean, Anna, Bill, Donna and I went on the dolphin reserch.
It was exciting day, we saw 6 dolphins. Some of them were milling very near our boat!! We have to shout when we found any animals. Like a "Tweleve o'clock dolphin!". However, it was hard to recogninze what animal it was.
For me, it was easy to find a dead sun fish (Japanese MAMBO)...
During the reserch, we were sitting on the boat that was very cold and almost froze. However all members are so nice and warm. Anyway, I enjoy a lot!!

2006-10-08T21:07:00.000-07:00

Welcome Team 6!

(oops, on the audio blog I say "Welcome Team 5"...need sleep)

Listen to the audioblog to meet each of the teammates.
(There is a short pause after my erroneous intro, so keep listening to meet everyone!)

Not featured in the group photo is a visitor from the Earthwatch office, our events manaager, Rachel Borgesano. Too bad she could only join us in the field for Day 1. Check out the Earthwatch Events page on the Earthwatch website to learn more about events in your area!

2006-10-07T18:22:00.000-07:00

Team 5/6 Break update from Anna:

After Team's 5 departure, we all had a few days to relax. Peter enjoyed two whale watches, Sean spent his time catching leopard sharks in the slough and I was visited by my mom and aunt. We went on a whale watch, visited Phil's Fish Market and Peter drove us into the bay on the Spy Hop. Monica was our prime dolphin spotter! We enjoyed some nice dinners at our favorite sushi place, the Crystal Fish, went to Passionfish, and foraged at Pacific Grove's mexican restaurant, Peppers. On Thursday night, I brought my mom and aunt to the ice cream rodeo and we all got on the horse, but unfortunately we don't have photos to share.

Unfortunately, my family had to depart on Saturday, but we were joined by another visitor, Rachel B., the events manager from the Earthwatch office.

2006-10-03T23:13:00.000-07:00

2006-10-03T18:57:00.000-07:00

Team 5 Otter Census/Research Food for Thought, reported by Brian Wegner

On Monday 2 October (Day 8) Team 5 conducted the periodic otter census in the entire Elkhorn Slough. The field team was lead by Daniella, driving Spyhop, assisted by Rania, Lynn, Shinae, and myself. We starting in the early afternoon in hopes of noting an increased foraging population at low tide, and the weather was absolutely beautiful. While boating up the slough we saw numerous shorebirds in the Elkhorn reserve, an ideal habitat for snowy and great egrets, brown pelicans, godwits, and several other species. But we didn’t see a whole lot of our endearing sea otters. Proceeding back towards Monterey Bay we commenced our census count and location data collection. By the time we reached the Moss Landing channel breakwater, we had counted a total of 44 sea otters, an unusually low number considering an estimated population of approximately 80 sea otters in the Slough. Fortunately, during our early morning field excursion today (3 October), we observed 83 otters in area 3, the typical rafting location of a considerable number of the sea otters in the Slough, at dawn just prior to sunrise.
I was very happy to see that the Slough sea otter population had not dropped precipitously. The Team had hypothesized that the low census count may be an indicator the otters were shifting their foraging and activity patterns to the Bay outside Moss Landing Harbor due to the possibility of more food availability. This morning we observed the 83 otters in the area 3 rafting location at dawn quickly dispersed, with many foraging in the channel and a considerable number of otters exiting to Monterey Bay. Within two hours of sunrise only 20 – 30 otters remained in the raft, and the number of foragers, groomers, and players were high compared to those resting. As noon approached, the population increased to about 40 otters with the majority resting in a very tight raft following their early morning burst of activity. As Robert reported earlier, it was indeed a very interesting day in the field.
As my time with Team 5 is coming to a close, I have thought about the challenges, difficulties, requirements, and need to study sea otters and dolphins, as well as many areas of nature. The hypothesizing above is of an elementary nature and is purely conjecture based on sparse data. Much more data must to be collected to confirm the repeatability and consistency of basic behavior conclusions, with the need to collect even more data and conduct more analyses to determine whether and what human behavior – if any - is impacting the well-being of the southern sea otters and what policies should be adopted to ensure a healthy and thriving population. Understanding biology is not physics or engineering and nature has a complex laboratory - difficult, if not impossible, to control. One cannot ask an otter or dolphin why it behaves as it does, and the circumstances surrounding behavioral activity cannot be duplicated or consistently repeated to easily confirm observations. Despite these difficulties and challenges, we owe it to our earth and our conscience to do everything we can to ensure we are not damaging or endangering the rich and diverse environment with which we have been entrusted.

2006-10-03T15:38:00.000-07:00

Small Blog in Maltese - Robert

Kif intom Celine u Eugene?
Din hija l-ahhar gurnata tieghi hawnhekk! Esperjenza tal-genn kif tista tghid wkoll Celine! Awguri Eugene u nispera li tara hafna delfini, sea otters u baleni. Monterrey post tal-genn kif wkoll l-istaff hawnhekk. Niltaqaw Malta wara l-esperjenza tieghek.

2006-10-03T14:57:00.000-07:00

Last Day on the Field - By Robert

Today, being the last day on the field was quite different the the previous ones. Peter, Lynn, Brian, Jill and myself left the house early in the morning around 5:30am and drove up north towards Moss landing Harbour to do the usual sea otter observation surveys.

Quite an early start for the day! However, it was all worthed being up so early as was quite amazing to watch the wildlife in the area at that time of the day. The weather was good - clear skies, good visibility, calm seas, although quite chilly. However, later on during the day the sun was shining and the rest of the day was pretty hot.

Before dawn, as it still dark, we counted around eighty otters which were all in the same area. Later on, by sunrise the group began to scatter, and by the time we left the field (around noon) there were only 45 in the same area.

We started off our work on the field by looking for sea otter footprints and also sea otter scat, which we've collected for lab sampling. After that, Jill and myself observed different otter behavioural patterns by recording the number of sea otters exiting and entering the harbour. We also observed a sea otter carrying a pup which was coming in from the ocean. In the meantime, Brian and Jill did the 5 min sea otter behaviour survey. Later on during the day, after a well deserved coffee break, both teams swapped roles.

We also saw a few dolphins just off the harbour jetties which were heading north.

Another exceptional day!!

I would like to take the opportunity to thank Daniela, Peter, Anna, Sean and Shinae for their dedicated work and also the other volunteers on this project for making this a most enjoyable and unforgettable experience.

2006-10-02T22:42:00.000-07:00

Traditions.

Mission for Teams 6 and 7: get Peter on the horse.

(hint: we have learned that peer pressure does not work)

2006-10-01T15:11:00.000-07:00

Evening report by Anna:

Although we typically go out into the field in the mornings, it is important to sample otter behavior at all times of day, during all tides and weather. Today we departed Pacific Grove in the early afternoon and planned to stay in Moss Landing harbor, observing raft until just before dinner. When we arrived at the state beach parking lot, only four of the otters were in the usual rafting place, the group had moved out into the harbor channel, apparently evading some kayakers that were approaching a little too close. Sarah and Jill began 5-minute behavioral scans on Area 2 while Brian and Lynn scoped out the channel where we typically find otters foraging. Most of the otters we found were grooming and traveling out to open sea. As we watched one leave the channel, Brian and Lynn spotted a bird on the water that was behaving unusually, flapping its wings on the surface, although not really going anywhere. I walked out on the jetty for a closer look, and found that it was entangled in some fishing gear. Brian joined me on the jetty to take photographs, but unfortunately, we couldn't reach it. We called California Fish and Game dispatch to attend to the situation, so hopefully someone got out there after we departed. Please remember to take care of your fishing gear!

When we walked back to the parking area to check on Sarah and Jill, there was a baptismal ceremony taking place at Track Beach!! There were lots of onlookers singing and clapping, and we watched the guy submerge into the slough water. After the crowds dispersed, Sarah and Jill continued to observe Area 2 while Lynn, Brian and I scoped out Areas 6, 8 and 9....no otters taking an evening swim.

Lynn and Brian then took over the behavioral scans so Sarah, Jill and I could walk the beaches, scanning the surf for our favorite cetaceans. And Jill spotted them! Although I don't know how she saw dorsal fins while sticking her nose in bull kelp....(photo coming soon)

2006-09-30T21:34:00.000-07:00

Day off report by Rania:

A day full of fun and excitement! Finally the weather began to get better. This was our day off, so we all made sure to make the most out of it and to explore the area as much as possible.

As for me and Robert, we went on a whale watching trip which turned out to be really great as we saw five humpback whales and we managed to take a few good pictures of them too.

Later we went on a tour that took us all around Monterey, from cannery row to the 17 miles drive. The scenery there was just amazing. After coming back we had a walk all around Fisherman’s Wharf.

We just didn’t let the fun end up so quickly; later in the evening Anna, Shinae and Sean suggested that we would all go out for sushi. I’ve been hearing them talking about wanting to order sushi ever since I got here, so I got curious and wanted to give it a try. Robert also decided to come along.

I believe it was really exciting to try something totally new. I tried different kinds of sushi. Honestly, I thought I wouldn’t like any, but to my surprise, some of them were really good!! My favorite one is called “pink lady” which is mainly made out of crabs. I think I might become a sushi lover too !

2006-09-29T17:35:00.000-07:00

Today's report from Shinae:

Another fabulous day on Bottlenose dolphin survey! The weather wasn't too cooperative with clouds and thick mist, which almost felt like a rain, but we were prepared with lots of layers. Today's dolphin survey team, Brian, Robert, Rania, Sean and I left Moss Landing harbor shortly after 8am and saw two dolphins just as we were leaving the channel. We followed them to the south part of the bay and saw our first school of dolphins consisting of at least two pairs of cow/calf pairs and a few adults.

As the dolphins started to scatter we moved to the North Bay where we spotted a second school of dolphins included at least seven to ten dolphins. Among them, we observed as two dolphins cooperatively chased, pinned , and played with a large fish. As the dolphins tossed the fish into the air near the surf line, Sean identified the prey as a King salmon . It was an incredible sight!

The waves getting roughter and the wind was cold but we coudln't possibly call it a day, so we decided to go back to the South Bay to see if the first school of dolphins we saw ealier was still around. We started seeing few dolphins as we came close to the channel of the harbor and several more off the South Bay. The two cow/calf pairs we observed ealier in the morning from the first school of dolphins were still there! The excitement started when Sean and Brian shouted out "One of them caught a fish!!". We all turned around kept our eyes open (I kept my camera open) to see what it has in it's mouth. It was extremely hard to take a snap shot of the dolphin when it came out of the surface with a light colored object in it's mouth. I managed to take a single photo that is hard to clearely identify what it was in the dolphin's mouth.

Later when we came back to the house, Daniela thought it might have been a fetus of the dolphin, which she has seen a dead calf/immature fetus carried around by dolphins. On our way back to the harbor from such an exciting day at the sea, we saw a sealion feeding on a sunfish. Aside from being wet and cold, It truly was an amazing day.

2006-09-28T07:02:00.000-07:00

This morning at 10am, Sean will be speaking about whale disentanglement on the local NPR station:KUSP 88.9 Santa Cruz. If you are in the bay area this morning, give a listen. It should also be posted on the web soon after the program is aired.

Listen to to the broadcast at http://www.kusp.org/shows/totb.html.

Please note: Although the written description of the program for September 28th is incorrect, the file does have the correct recording.

2006-09-27T22:50:00.000-07:00

Thank you, Ruth, for sending the care package! We all agreed that your homemade cookies were delicious, the Belmont Hill water bottles have already been utilized in the field and I LOVED the maple cookies!

How, you may ask, does Ruth know I am so fond of maple? It's probably because she watched me wolf down two giant maple bars at the Woodwards Marine fuel dock the morning of the Whale Disentanglement. It could also be that I talk endlessly about eating maple cotton candy at the Big E. I hope all New Englanders that have been reading the blog have also made a trip to my favorite fair. (Maple cotton candy can be found in the New Hampshire Building, Enjoy!)

2006-09-26T12:54:00.000-07:00

A Great First Day in the Field for Team 5 Sea Otters: Report by Brian and Audioblog by Lynn

Though the weather was cloudy and quite cool, not atypical for Moss Landing and the mouth of Elkhorn Slough in Monterey Bay – even in September, the marine mammal activity was fabulous, perhaps also not atypical. As the Sea Otter monitoring group entered the coastal state park observation area, several dozen harbor seals were lying and resting on the sandy beach along the slough. A multitude of shore birds were active, but for me, most amazing were the dozens of brown pelicans flying all around. At the observation area just inside the breakwater/channel of the slough, about 30 of the roughly 80 southern sea otters that live in the slough were “hanging out”. Shortly after learning the sea otter activity monitoring data taking requirements and procedures, the bottlenose dolphin monitoring team on the Bay reported significant dolphin activity just outside the Moss Landing breakwater, so we scurried to the Bay side of the dunes and the jetty. There we saw an active group of dolphins that remained in the general area until we left in the early afternoon. This in fact was atypical, as the dolphins had not been sighted in this area by the Earthwatch teams all summer. The sights were amazing, and included sighting a mother and her calf gallivanting inside the channel. Add to that the numerous harbor seals that curiously checked us out all day, and the occasional sea lion, it was a marine mammal lover’s paradise!

But the neatest sea otter experience occurred on our way home. Just prior to leaving the park area and getting on California Highway 1, we saw a single sea otter in the slough right next to the road. The road was actually a land bridge between two bodies of water in the slough with six buried underwater culverts that facilitated the tidal flow of water under the bridge. As it turned out, this medium grizzled, middle-aged otter was actively foraging clams and mussels. Adult sea otters, weighing about 45 – 60 pounds, eat about 15 pounds of food daily to maintain their weight and body temperature. This area of the slough, and in particular the 2 foot diameter culverts, was apparently a rich food source. With the otter so close to the shore and road (sometimes within 30 feet), the team was able to positively identify it as a female, a very rare observation – males are somewhat easy to identify but females can seldom be confirmed unless accompanied by a pup.

We postponed our return to the house for nearly an hour, recording the event as the otter continuously dove and foraged in front of our very eyes. On two occasions she retrieved a cluster of mussels numbering 10-12, and she proceeded to crack each shell and devour its contents. When the otter found a particularly large clam, we observed that she would also grab a rock, which it placed on its belly and then used her paws to slam the clam on the rock to break it open. Her final dive seemed to be taking longer than previous dives – she had been surfacing in about 30 seconds because of the good food supply, though otters can stay submerged for up to 5 minutes if necessary – and then we noticed that she had surfaced on the other side of the road! The otter swam through the culvert to the other side, where this summer’s teams had never seen an otter. In fact, that area of the slough had not even been designated a number, so today we assigned it as Area Zero.

It was exciting to observe the otter actively foraging at such close range, and to see the otter do something not previously sighted. It was a great way to end our first day in the field. We are looking forward to more great experiences as we continue our research.

2006-09-25T18:32:00.000-07:00

Welcome Team 5!

As usual, we have an international crew! From left to right: Robert is from Malta and Rania is from Egypt; they have both been sponsored by their employer HSBC bank to participate in the project and are charged with doing a community outreach project when they return home. They are both excited, and sure to take the experience home. Brian and Lynn are joining us from Austin, Texas. This is their first Earthwatch team, and they have come ready for all tasks! (They've also been putting in some additional hours in the kitchen...as I type this, I am smelling Brian's lasagna cooking in the oven...mmmmmmmm). Last, but not least, are Jill and Sarah our mother-daugher powerhouse from Whales. Over the past several years, Sarah has volunteered on lots of dolphin projects all over the world, and she has taken her mum along to help us in Monterey Bay. We appreciate their experience with the dolphins, and are showing them the ropes with our friendly otters.

2006-09-24T18:12:00.000-07:00

Do you like sushi? Our crew certainly does. the project staff members ritually dine on sushi between teams.

Between Teams 1 and 2 we went to the Crystal Fish on Lighthouse; between 2 and 3 we tried out Takara in Pacific Grove one day and another evening we used our chopsticks to pick maki and nigiri off of the otter trays at Toyota on Wave St; between 3 and 4 we sampled the fish at Sakuru on Lighthouse; and on our most recent break....we enjoyed sushi 3 nights in a row!! It was a must after we were joined by Shinae Yoon who is a student of Daniela's back at UMASS and a fellow sushi addict. We went back to the Crystal Fish on Friday and Saturday, and Sunday evening brought us back to the resting otters at Toyota. Yummmmmm.......

2006-09-22T21:22:00.000-07:00

NEWLY POSTED!!!

Captain's blog:
Read Sean's newly posted account of the August 31 orca observation.

Read about the September 3rd Whale Rescue.

Read reflections about the Marine Mammals of Monterey experience by Allison Smith, Team 2.

2006-09-21T22:14:00.000-07:00

Farewell to Team 4!

It was an exciting team, and everyone was very patient with the unfriendly sea conditions that we encountered.
Although we didn't have too much in the way of dolphin photo id, we had a lot of great experiences. it was the first team that we tried a night otter survey, and now we know that when the sun sets....it gets dark.

And I never did get the full story about the egg.

2006-09-21T22:12:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Andy!

2006-09-20T22:01:00.000-07:00

Otter Census:

Today Celine, Ashley and Tom joined Tom Kieckhefer on the otter cenus in the slough. We met Tom K at the North Harbor launch ramp in the late morning, and before departing into the slough he shared with us his sea otter collection. He had shells as examples of different prey items, an otter skull, a pelt and in the photo, Ashely is holding a 15lbs weight that illstrates how much food an adult otter consumes in one day!

The crew was up the slough for over 4 hours and the counted 69 otters for the day, and one sickly sea lion up at Kirby Park.

2006-09-19T22:08:00.000-07:00

Do you recognize this team leader?