February 3, 2017 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 3A
Up close and personal with gray whales
This allows the team to follow the
whale’s migration patterns, their
health and nutritional state. Aerial
photographs allow the team to docu-
ment breeding females with or with-
out a new calf. This can also give
the team an estimate of the number
of calves produced each year, which
is an important key of reproductive
health and part of Sullivan’s advi-
sor marine ecologist Leigh Torres’
research. Sullivan noted that photo-
graphing a gray whale involves mul-
tiple photos and a lot of patience.
“To identify gray whales, we need
to take five photographs compared to
one photo of the underside fluke of
a humpback whale or one photo of
the profile of a dorsal fin and sad-
dle patch of an orca,” said Sullivan.
To identify gray whales, research-
ers need to photograph the knuckle
ridge along the back, underside of
the fluke, both sides of the head and
body showing scarring, barnacle pat-
terns and mottling to make individual
identification.
By Rebecca Herren
Seaside Signal
Summer vacationers are not the
only part-time residents of our re-
gion.
About 200 gray whales in the Pa-
cific Coast Feeding Group return ev-
ery year. Instead of migrating with
the rest of the population north to the
Bering Sea, they cavort for several
months along Oregon’s coastline.
Known as resident whales, ani-
mals in the group do not live in the
area year-round.
Tracking gray whales
Oregon State University gradu-
ate student Florence Sullivan studies
gray whales.
She is part of a research team
for Geospatial Ecology of Marine
Megafauna Lab or GEMM Lab,
studying the Pacific Coast Feeding
Group, gray whales that feed in the
southern waters between northern
California and southeastern Alaska.
At a “Listening to the Land” lec-
ture presented by Necanicum Water-
shed Council and the North Coast
Land Conservancy on Jan. 18 at
the Seaside Public Library, Sullivan
noted that gray whales do not feed
during migration, which makes the
Oregon coast an important habitat
for them on their return migration to
Alaska.
The focus of Sullivan’s research
is to document the foraging behav-
ior of the feeding group, document
the affect of manmade disturbances,
overall health, body condition and
the whales’ response to changing
ocean conditions.
After the findings are completed,
Sullivan works with local communi-
ties and whale-watching operators
to create scientific guidelines for
vessel operation in the presence of
feeding gray whales.
The researchers’ viewing loca-
tion is concentrated between Titch-
ener Cove and Mill Rocks near Port
Orford and Depoe Bay. The team
uses a surveyor’s instrument called
a theodolite to track and map the
BRYCE SANDLIN/ISTOCK PHOTO
A gray whale breaking the surface. Researchers believe some whales are attracted to foraging hotspots along
the Oregon coast because of an abundance of mysid shrimp to feed upon.
movement of individual whales
as they forage. The data collected
shows the whales’ traveling patterns
between kelp beds, how they search
for food and how they interact with
vessels.
New research techniques such as
Go Pro cameras and aerial drones
benefit the team to closely observe
the whales’ patterns and behaviors,
and hydrophones aid in recording
the ocean noise — natural, human
and mechanical — whales become
exposed to.
In an effort to gain a better under-
standing of the foraging ecology of
the gray whales’ feeding group, the
team collects samples of a particular
prey called mysid. Mysids are small,
shrimp-like crustaceans found near
the kelp beds.
“We think the reason they’re at-
tracted to these foraging hotspots
along the Oregon coast is an abun-
to get these whales to disrupt their
migration north, or is there some
other mechanism that makes 200
whales act differently than the other
20,000? That’s what we hope to find
out.”
Monitoring the activities of com-
mercial, charter and recreational fish-
ing boats, as well as whale-watching
boats can also determine the effects
on whale behavior.
REBECCA HERREN/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Florence Sullivan, center, discusses
the “Watch Out for Whales” brochure
with Lianne Thompson, Jeff Gage,
Judith Pearson and Jim Border.
dance of mysid shrimp,” Sullivan
said. “During summer months, the
mysid can be really dense from the
sea floor to the surface and really
close to shore. We want to know if
this wealth of foraging is enough
Understanding patterns
Sullivan pointed to a series of
graphs and charts explaining how
the data collected on vessel noise
showed a significant disruption to the
whale’s behavior patterns while trav-
eling from one kelp bed to another,
whereas there was little change to
their behavior when actual foraging
and eating was in process.
Photographing individual whales
is another form of data collection.
A mad scuttle
Leigh Torres, who was unable to
make the lecture, also collects data on
the behavior patterns of the whales in
the feeding group, but by means of a
most unusual technique. This system
of analyzing data is through whale
fecal matter.
The collection of fecal matter is
no easy task, however.
Aerial drones alert the research-
ers when a whale defecates creat-
ing a large red plume, springing the
team into action. It then becomes a
mad scuttle to coordinate their ac-
tions and scoop up the best possible
sample before it sinks rapidly to the
ocean floor.
Tracking what gray whales eat
can tell researchers important infor-
mation about their reproductive hor-
mone levels and if ocean noise caus-
es physiological stress in the whales.
They can also identify individual
whales, their sex and if females are
pregnant. Torres’s study shows that
ocean noise also effects how whales
communicate.
Maritime archeologist explores many lesser-known shipwrecks
Hunters from Page 1A
One slide of Dewey’s pre-
sentation revealed a photo of a
bronze bow. “Entire areas in the
Mediterranean are littered with
these bronze bows from galle-
ons that sank during the many
battles that took place there,”
he said. Another slide showed
a row of vessel-like casks made
out of terra cotta. “These are
the only things left from this
shipwreck from the Bronze
Age.” The 40 to 50 casks found
measure about one foot wide by
two feet tall. This style of stack-
able container held grains, oils
and wine.
Over the years, Hollywood
has glamorized shipwrecks and
treasure hunting in such movies
as “The Deep,” “Fool’s Gold”
and “The Goonies.” But who
really owns abandoned ship-
wrecks?
Up until 1988, divers could
sneak around and salvage a few
trinkets they found on aban-
doned shipwrecks. But due to
the damage many historical
wrecks received from salvag-
ing, the Abandoned Shipwreck
Act was signed into law.
Shipwrecks embedded in
lands in which they lie belong
Located on
Clatsop Spit
near Fort
Stevens, the
wreck of the
Peter Iredale
is the most
visible and
well-known
wreck on the
Oregon coast.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
to the State including rivers,
lakes and up to three miles
offshore. The federal govern-
ment owns anything beyond
that. Furthermore, no person
shall claim an abandoned ship-
wreck or its artifacts since the
Law of Salvage and the Law
of Finds in Sec. 6 is applied to
Sec. 7 of the Act. Any military
crafts (boats, planes, ships or
barges) belong to the military
“forever” he said. This includes
sunken military craft — foreign
and domestic — found in U.S.
waters; the country that com-
missioned them protects these
sunken crafts.
An archeological site, Dew-
ey explains must be 50 years
or older in the State of Wash-
ington and 75 years in Oregon.
He discourages treasure seek-
ers from making a site claim
for excavation due to the mass
amounts of paperwork and the
amount of money needed for
an excavation. “It’s expensive
to claim an excavation site and
by doing so many historical ob-
jects have been lost to private
collections.”
Sites around shipwrecks are
as important as the artifacts. “If
they had been lost into a private
library, there would have been
nothing left to see because the
ship is gone,” Dewey said refer-
ring back to the wreck with the
containers. “So there is a good
reason to leave artifacts where
they lie.”
The shipwreck of the Peter
Iredale is the most visible and
well-known wreck on the Ore-
gon coast. Located on Clatsop
Spit, its skeletal structure tow-
ers above the wet sands during
low tide. Even though larger
and more famous shipwrecks
such as the Titanic and Peter
Iredale are intriguing, Dewey
said lesser-known ships that
have wrecked in the region
equally capture his attention.
One such wreck was found
on the Seaside beach in No-
vember 2014. Three men were
metal detecting in the dunes
and uncovered a large piece of
wood. Dewey investigated and
sent his data and a drawing of a
boat keel to the State’s archae-
ologist. After much research,
the State concluded it was a
1950s trawler.
It didn’t take long for the
Colewort Creek boat to be
identified. The abandoned boat
was located in the Lewis and
Clark National Historical Park
and through word of mouth, a
relative and a photo, the boat
was determined to be a 1920s
square stern gillnetter owned
by a local man who transported
milk from a dairy farm to the
Astoria market.
The ongoing Beeswax
Wreck Project is a shipwreck
near Nehalem beach. The ship
is thought to be the Santo Cris-
to de Burgos, a Spanish galleon
from 1693 that wrecked some-
time around 1700 between
Cape Falcon and the Nehalem
Spit.
Future projects for the team
include the Coastal Survey
Project to examine the T.J. Pot-
ter, a side-wheel steamer built
in 1888 in Portland. It traveled
from Portland to Astoria and
Portland to Ilwaco, Washing-
ton. In 1920, its license was
revoked and abandoned on
Youngs Bay where it was
burned and salvaged for metal.
The Potter remains on Clatsop
County property.
The Silvia de Grasse, a lum-
ber schooner that sank in Lo-
cated on Clatsop Spit, Astoria
in 1849 is located on the rocks
off Pier 39. And, the C-Trader,
another lumber freighter sank
in 1963 and is located in the
Columbia River near buoy 20.
This summer, the team will
study the Emily Reed wreck
that ran aground in 1908 and
is known to be located in Ne-
halem Bay on the South Jetty.
A 1700s wreck is rumored to be
located in the southern harbor
of Nehalem Bay and Dewey
would like to take a look at it at
a later date.
JASON GOODDING
MEMORIAL CONCERT
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