Gray Whales in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve

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Gray Whales in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve

Whales along our shore
Gray whale facts and figures
World of the gray
Map of gray whale migration
Where it begins
The great migration
An invertebrate smorgasbord
Food for the whale
Our resident grays
Aquatic hitchhiker
Identifying individuals
An impressive recovery
"Mah-ac"
Finding whales
Further reading on gray whales

Whales along our shore.
Gray whales have heralded the coming of spring along the west coast of Vancouver Island for thousands of years. Migrating from their southern breeding lagoons to arctic feeding grounds they pass Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. Their numbers reach a peak between mid March and mid April. Some, however, remain along the west coast of Vancouver Island, an important habitat for this group of gray whales.

Gray whale facts and figures

Common Names:
Pacific gray, California gray, scrag, devilfish, musseldigger
Taxonomy:
S. phylum: Vertebrata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Cetacea
S. Order: Mysticeti
Family: Eschrichtiidae
Genus: Eschrichtius
Species: E. robustus (Lilljeborg)
Dimensions: (mature whale)
Body length - 13 m
Tail span - 3.2 m
Pectoral fin length - 1.5 m
Baleen length - 50 cm
Weight:
30,000 kg
Longevity:
60 years (estimated)
Reproduction:
Sexual maturity at eight years; gestation period 12 months; one calf born every second year
Food:
Marine invertebrates and small fish
Vocalization:
Low groans, grunts, clicks and "bongs"
Swimming speed:
Cruising and migration - 2 to 8 km/h. Maximum short burst - 10 to 18 km/h

World of the gray.
The eastern Pacific herd ranges from tropical waters of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. For most of the whales the annual migration covers 16,000 km round trip.
Map of gray whale migration.

Where it begins.
The gray whale's year begins in the warm calving lagoons of Baja California, Mexico. In January, females give birth to a single calf, measuring four to five meters in length and weighing one ton. With little blubber or other food resources, the newborn whale begins to nurse. Gaining an incredible 25 kg a day on its mother's rich milk, it will be fully weaned after eight months. At that time the calf has doubled its length and increased its body weight almost eight times.
Mature females, eight years and older, who are not giving birth are mating. They will carry the calf for twelve months as they migrate to the arctic and back again. Most mature females give birth once every two years.

The great migration.
Gray whales do not stay long in their southern breeding grounds. By mid February newly pregnant females, adult males, and juveniles begin the swim northward. Six weeks later, cows and their calves follow.
The whales hug the coastline as they swim, and are sometimes only a few hundred meters (or less) from shore. They may navigate by recognizing familiar coastal landmarks and following seafloor contours. Moving in small groups, grays cover about 60 to 80 km a day, a slower pace than the urgent southern migration some months before.
Some whales feed as they approach the coast of Vancouver Island. The majority of these gray whales will eventually reach their summer feeding grounds in the Bering Sea and Arctic Ocean, where they will gorge mainly on small crustaceans that burrow in the seafloor mud. By then it will be June, the peak of Arctic summer.
After months of feeding, October signals the onset of winter. It is time for the pregnant females to lead the return migration southward. Again the route hugs the continent. The majority pass Pacific Rim's Long Beach Unit in late December and arrive in the breeding lagoons a few weeks later. Here, after an 8,000 km non-stop swim from the Arctic, the cycle of birth and mating is repeated.

An invertebrate smorgasbord.
From shore, whale-watchers may see the broad top of a tail sculling across the surface of the sea - a gray whale has rolled onto its side and is feeding in shallow water. To eat, a gray whale rests the right side of its head against the seafloor and sucks in a mouthful of bottom sediments. Slowly the whale pushes its massive tongue towards the roof of its mouth, sluicing sand through fibrous baleen plates hanging from its upper jaw.
The comb-like baleen traps an invertebrate smorgasbord which the whale duly swallows. Baleen whales have no teeth and do not chew their food. Some sand and gravel is found in the stomachs of gray whales. Whether it is swallowed accidentally or deliberately, it may help to grind the food.
Grays are the only whales to eat creatures living in and on the seafloor. They feed upon several types of bottom dwelling amphipods - crustaceans more commonly known as beach hoppers or sand fleas. In Pacific Rim National Park Reserve and its vicinity, gray whales also devour tube dwelling worms (Onuphis elegans) and shrimp-like crustaceans - mysids.

Food for the whale.
Although it would take at least one hundred million to equal the weight of an adult gray, amphipods (Ampelisca sp.) form the bulk of the whale's diet. These subtidal relatives of the familiar "beach hoppers" trap microscopic plankton floating past their delicate burrows.
Tubeworms protrude from a fragile tube made of mucous embedded with fine sand particles. The worm may grow up to 15 cm in length.
The mysid Holmesimysis sp.) is also known as an opossum shrimp. It swarms in large numbers near reefs and kelp beds close to the sea floor.

Our resident grays.
As many as 40 or 50 gray whales reside along the coast of Vancouver Island and Washington State during the summer. Most of these will rejoin the main herd as it migrates south again in the fall but some gray whales stay on the west coast of Vancouver Island all year.
These whales feed along beaches, rocky shelves, and reefs in all three units of Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. Many adult whales have been observed to return year after year to feed in the rich waters off the west coast. For these whales Pacific Rim is an important summer range.
The best time for whale watching from the shores of Pacific Rim National Park Reserve is from late February to June, but gray whales have been spotted in every month of the year.

Aquatic hitchhiker.
One of several species of "whale lice" found on gray whales is the amphipod Cyamus scammoni. These crustaceans cling to barnacles that are partly embedded in the whale's skin.

Identifying individuals.
Over the last decade, scientists have observed the migration and behavior of gray whales along the coast. They have been able to identify individual whales that spend the summer in waters off Pacific Rim National Park Reserve year after year.
Tracking the movements of these elusive behemoths poses obvious difficulties. They have acute hearing and eyesight, both in the water and along the surface. Many are wary of approaching boats, making close observation difficult even in the best weather conditions.
One way of identifying individual gray whales is by observing distinctive skin patches and markings. Their slate-gray skin shows conspicuous white blotches, cream-colored encrustations of barnacles and whale lice, and colored scars.

An impressive recovery.
Had you strolled along Long Beach at the turn of the century, it is unlikely you would have seen a gray whale. Grays were relentlessly hunted 120 years ago, even in their calving lagoons. In 18 years of whaling, an entire population of gray whales was all but annihilated.
Commercial whalers decimated the western Pacific herd of gray whales which are now rare. In the Atlantic Ocean, grays, or "scrags" were hunted to extinction by 18th century Basque whalers.
International protection was granted in 1947, and since then the eastern Pacific herd has increased from a few hundred to more than 18,000 whales. It is the only large population of gray whales left in the world.
The International Whaling Commission still permits an annual catch of 180 gray whales, mainly by the native people of Alaska and Siberia.

"Mah-ac".
The gray whale played a role in the life of Nuu-chah-nulth people on the west coast of Vancouver Island. They held the whale in great reverence. Considerable ceremony and personal discipline attended preparation for the hunt.
Only a Ha'wil or chief was permitted to throw the first harpoon at Mah-ac. After a successful hunt the whale was towed ashore and welcomed with much ceremony. It was then divided up according to tradition, and the blubber was rendered into oil - an important food of the Nuu-chah-nulth.

Finding whales.
Most of the world's great whales range over open ocean, far from land. There are a few places where you can observe them from the shore. In Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, whale-watchers enjoy the rare opportunity to see these immense creatures in their natural environment.
Here are answers to some commonly asked questions.
How do you watch for gray whales?
Scan the ocean surface for a spout (a spray of tiny water droplets) from the blowholes on top of the whales head. Then, use binoculars or a spotting scope for a closer look. Most gray whales swim within 3 km of shore.
How often do gray whales surface?
While feeding, grays tend to stay in a small area and follow a simple pattern of breathing and diving. Usually they spout three times at intervals of about 20 seconds while on the surface. Then they sound for two to four minutes to feed, resurfacing to repeat the cycle.
What sort of behavior may you see?
Whale-watchers usually see only a small portion of the whale. When spouting, it rolls forward and seems to lift partly out of the water revealing its splotchy skin and a row of bumps (or knuckles) along the lower back. While diving in deeper water, the whale occasionally shows its graceful, barnacle-encrusted tail, a display called fluking. Don't be too surprised if you see the whale thrust its head out of water to look around. This is called spy-hopping. If a whale breaches, it will jump almost completely out of the water, landing on its back with a huge splash.

Further reading on gray whales.
Banfield A.W.F., The Mammals of Canada, University of Toronto Press, 1974.
Several authors, The Oceanic Society Field Guide to the Gray Whale, Legacy Publishing Company, San Fransico, 1983.
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