. California fish and game. Fisheries -- California; Game and game-birds -- California; Fishes -- California; Animal Population Groups; Pêches; Gibier; Poissons. 140 CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME swimming a few feet underwater ran into the anchor chain causing the boat to lurch and necessitating my clutching the mast to keep from being thro\\ii from the boatswain's chair. In most cases, closely-ap- proaching whales veered away from the vessel or sounded as soon as they became aware of its presence. All the collisions occured within several hours after the boat was anchored in a new area, indicating
. California fish and game. Fisheries -- California; Game and game-birds -- California; Fishes -- California; Animal Population Groups; Pêches; Gibier; Poissons. 140 CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME swimming a few feet underwater ran into the anchor chain causing the boat to lurch and necessitating my clutching the mast to keep from being thro\\ii from the boatswain's chair. In most cases, closely-ap- proaching whales veered away from the vessel or sounded as soon as they became aware of its presence. All the collisions occured within several hours after the boat was anchored in a new area, indicating that the whales quickly learned the location of a vessel and avoided the area. Physical contact between gray whales and the anchor chain of a vessel was reported by Huey (1928) in San Ignacio Lagoon. A skiff was actually holed by a whale during an expedition to Scammon Lagoon to implant electrodes in whales for studies of the heart beat (White and Matthews 1956). Also, Scammon (1874) vividly reported incidents of small boats being smashed by gray whales pursued by whalers. I believe that physical encounters between gray whales and vessels are accidental unless the whales are angered by harassment. Despite their huge size, they are remarkably timid. Inadvertent col- lisions probably resulted from the whales' inability to see well directly ahead through the murky lagoon waters. Regardless of the active or passive nature of encounters, they do occur and it is unwise to pursue or closely approach gray whales in a skiff. 20-1 o c Q>. 8 Number of breaches 10 FIGURE 4. Frequency of number of breaches in sequence for 74 gray whales in Scammon Lagoon, Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original California. Dept. of Fish and Game; California. Fish and Game Commission; California. Division of Fish and G
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