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breeding and feeding. They birth their calves
in the shallow lagoons of Mexico, where
warm water helps young whales grow to be
strong enough to swim in the spring before
migrating north. The majority of these
whales are heading to the Arctic circle,
while a minority of resident whales, who are
rather fascinating to scientists because of
their unique behavior, choose to stay in Ore-
gon for the summer.
Satellite tagging
Daniel M. Palacios is a professor at the
Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State
University’s Hatfield Marine Science Cen-
ter. “Whale watching is a wonderful activ-
ity,” Palacios said, “but it serves a dual pur-
pose.” Palacios referenced the work of
Bruce Mate, a professor emeritus of biol-
ogy at Oregon State. Mate founded the
Whale Telemetry Group, a study done at
the Marine Mammal Institute that tracked
tagged whales and other marine mammals
through satellite mapping. The study found
that migrating whales sometimes travel as
far as Russia.
Citizen scientists
But despite breakthrough technology,
scientists can’t observe everything. “This is
where the average citizen comes in,” Pala-
cios said. “Research is expensive and the
public can submit their observations to Cit-
izen Science. Every whale can be identified
by its markings and coloring so we can doc-
ument their migration patterns,” he added.
Citizen Science is a tool used by scien-
tists to collect data from the public using a
crowdsourcing model. Scientists can access
large amounts of submitted findings that
sometimes hint at migration behavior pat-
Lissa Brewer
The Neah-Kah-Nie Mountain overlook,
situated along U.S. Highway 101, is a scenic
place to spot migrating whales.
terns that couldn’t be collected by a single
study.
Hazardous waters
A whale’s journey and its particular hab-
its are important to researchers who keep
careful tabs on each whale. The whales face
many hazards on their journey, from entan-
glement in commercial fishing operations
and container ship strikes as shipping indus-
try vessels grow exponentially in size and
speed each year. Whales also pass through
the dangerous high seas, expanses of ocean
that don’t fall under the jurisdiction of
any country. Within these lawless swaths
of open ocean, there are no regulations in
effect to protect whales. The first ever High
Seas Conservation Treaty, which would aim
to protect sea life, is now under negotiation
by the United Nations.
Whale watching locally
Tate Pyle, a ranger at Fort Stevens State
Park, listed spring whale watching as one of
his favorite activities at the park. “In 2019,
during the Spring Whale Watch week, vol-
unteers spoke with just over 750 visitors
and counted 45 whales” Pyle said. He noted
that the Shipwreck of the Peter Iredale is a
great place to start. Another viewing area
is at Cape Disappointment State Park. Fur-
ther south, Ecola State Park in Cannon
Beach and the Neah-Kah-Nie Mountain
overlook, just north of Manzanita, are also
prime locations. Be sure to bring a pair of
binoculars!
The Oregon State Parks YouTube chan-
nel will be bringing back its whale watch-
ing livestream from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. from
March 21 to March 25.
For those that are new to whale watch-
ing, Pyle hopes to reassure. “Don’t get
discouraged if you can’t spot any whales
during the spring migration. During the
summer months, you can still spot whales
off the ocean beach and periodically from
the Columbia River beach here at Fort Ste-
vens State Park,” Pyle said.
THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 2022 // 5