April 7 & 8 evening and early morning navy sonar activity in Haro Strait

Anybody listening to the OrcaSound hydrophone last night would've heard some pretty strange sounds including an 'electronic' sounding voice saying serials of numbers and then pinging. According to Jeane Hyde's report on her blog Whale of a porpoise the sounds continued for over 8 hours (check out the entire play of events on her blog).

Bellingham Coast Guard confirmed that the sounds last night likely came from a U.S. Navy submarine similar to this one

Initially there was the electronic voice reading a series of numbers, then silence and then the pinging began. Nobody was aware that a navy exercise was supposed to be happening and no ships were seen in the Strait at the time. It is likely it was a U.S. Navy Submarine and when Jeane finally got in contact with the Bellingham Coast Guard this was confirmed.

Orca Sightings network listserv email reported many marine mammals in the area throughout the day inluding Transient killer whales (Orcinus orca), a minke whale (Baleanoptera acutorostrata), 1 or 2 gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) and porpoise (likley both Dall's, Phocoenoides dalli or harbour, Phocoena phocoena). Maybe we should be concerned?


Related blog and web posts

Whale of a Porpoise - Jeane Hyde's blog with sequence of events

Postcards from Friday Harbour - Post with info on Navy's plan to increase training around San Juan Islands

Orcinus Orca collective - with edited film of sounds from last night

Beam Reach - blog post from the organization that runs OrcaSound

John Boyd's compilation of April 7 sounds

MARINE NIGHT: How I Stopped Worrying About Global Fisheries

Monday, April 27
Do you suffer from “doom overload”? Does science have the answers? What can one person do? Biologist and writer Brian Harvey will present an entertaining talk and slide show about his experiences “taking science on the road” to aquatic biodiversity hotspots from British Columbia to Brazil. Brian is author of The End of the River, which The Globe and Mail describes as “a brilliant and instructive book, alive with the author’s seditious intelligence”. Everyone is welcome. 7:30 p.m. Room 159, Fraser Building, University of Victoria.

Thank you to the Victoria Natural History Society for putting together another great season of talks and field trips! To learn more about this great group check out their website: www.vicnhs.bc.ca

Children and nature awareness option!

We received notice of this upcoming kids camp...Whale Camp! Wish they had this when I was younger!

Here's the info forwarded to us from the Salish Sea Association of Marine Naturalists (SSAMN i.e. sounds like salmon!)

WHALE CAMP
August 16-21, 2009
at Fort Worden State Park, Port Townsend, WA
For youth ages 12-14

• Spend an exciting week on Puget Sound with marine scientists and visual artists who will take you into the world of these wonderful animals.
• Examine our new orca skeleton
• Help design a new exhibit
• Conduct hydrophone research
• Assemble a gray whale skeleton
• Create your own sounds and movements based on your observations
• Take to the water on an orca whale-watching cruise and visit the Whale Museum in Friday Harbor
• Create large marine sculptures

Housing is in the dormitories at Fort Worden State Park, with supervision by experienced counselors. Meals are at the Fort Worden Commons, where food is fresh, organic and local.

Tuition, room and board for Whale Camp is $865, and scholarships are available.

Deadline for application is May 15.
Learn more and register online at www.centrum.org/youth or call Martha Worthley at 360-385-3102 X120

And a PDF of the flier for this cool looking camp!

Link to post about moulting elephant seal hauled out in Victoria Harbour yesterday!

Go to Maiacetus...WNU member post about this elephant seal!
http://maiacetus.blogspot.com/

April is Children and Nature Awareness Month!

We've all heard that the future is in the hands of children so what will the future hold?
Nature-deficit disorder is a term that has been coined to describe the increasing numbers of children who have little to no unstructured playtime in the natural environment. Richard Louv, award-winning author of "Last Child in the Woods", writes:
"Nature-deficit disorder describes the human costs of alienation from nature, among them: diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, and higher rates of physical and emotional illnesses."
Playing outside without structure and supervision allows kids to develop common sense, problem solving skills, and wonderful imaginations. They also build a life-long relationship with nature that will last a lifetime and give them the desire to live a more active lifestyle and reduce their chance of suffering from depression.
There are many ways for everyone to encourage kids to get outside!

Parents can give kids their own garden plot, take them on hikes, encourage walking and riding bikes to school, and support (or start) initiatives by teachers and schools to increase outdoor education.
Teachers can incorporate the outdoors into every aspect of the curriculum (in elementary and secondary schools), encourage community involvement by the students, start a school garden or stream restoration project, and lead by example- conserve water and power, recycle in the classroom, compost.
Citizens can volunteer their time with kids groups like scouts and guides, start a community garden, engage with the local rec centre to lead nature walks, and get involved in mentoring.
Everyone can get involved in "Leave no Child Inside" initiatives!

Get started learning about this issue at these websites:

Children and Nature Network
Child and Nature Alliance (a British Columbia based initiative)
Richard Louv (author of "Last Child in the Woods")
EKOS Communications (Richard Louv Podcast)
The Centre for Ecoliteracy

This information is taken from the PRESS RELEASE

Alexandra Morton, registered biologist, author and marine researcher, will be speaking and showing slides on Saving Wild Salmon at two venues in the Victoria area in April.

Saturday, April 18 at 7:30 PM at St. Ann's Academy Auditorium, 835 Humbolt, Victoria. Donations gratefully received at the door. Sponsored by the Sierra Club.

Sunday, April 19 speaking at the 10:30 AM service at Victoria Unitarian Church at 5575 West Saanich Road, in Saanich, north of Hartland Ave. (across from the Red Barn). Slide presentation and forum at 12:15 after church service. Donations optional and gratefully received.

An activist for wild salmon, Alexandra Morton established the Raincoast Research Foundation soon after moving to the Broughton Archipelago in the mid 1980s, where she studies whales and the effects of fish farming on wild salmon. She started "Adopt a Fry Program" http://www.adopt-a-fry.org of Pacific Coast Wild Salmon Society, and also directs the work of the Salmon Coast Field Station in Echo Bay, which houses research scientists working on the enhancement of wild salmon ecosystems. See http://www.salmoncoast.org

Alexandra has written many books, articles and scientific papers and has received many awards. In June 2005, Alexandra filed a legal action under the Fisheries Act for illegal release of sea lice into fish habitat, which has recently been decided in her favour. The court ruled that the province has no jurisdiction over fish farms and that they are the mandate of Federal Fisheries and Oceans. For more information see: www.raincoastresearch.org

SAVING LUNA is on CBC this Sunday April 5 and Tuesday April 7!!

Get your box of tissues handy! This is a great documentary about orphaned L pod whale, L98 (aka Luna), who ended up on his own in Nootka Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, in 1991. This young killer whale was a long ways from his family with whom he should have spent his entire life had things gone normally. Instead, he was 200 miles away from his home waters and having to forage and entertain himself...and ended up causing a lot of controversy in this quiet part of the world!

Luna and a friend at the dock in Nootka Sound (Source: OrcaSightings Network)

Luna tried incredibly hard to make contact with humans resulting in heated debates about whether this contact should be allowed and how to deal with him. The government attempted to move him closer to his family and First Nations did their best to prevent them from moving the 'spirit' of their recently deceased chief...and so things got very intense in Nootka sound!


This is a great documentary which ended up receiving 17 international awards and many more nominations. Definitely recommended viewing!


Get some more info about Saving Luna from CBC Saving Luna page:

http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/thelens/2009/savingluna/#

View the preview on YouTube:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik-UDAjBCaw


Read more about Luna`s life on Orca Sighting`s network Luna page:
http://www.orcanetwork.org/news/luna.html