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Whale bumps into
boat of tourists

The incident, in which the boat's
stern was lifted, is the second
to happen this season


By Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.com

MAALAEA, Maui >> Tourists on a whale-watching cruise were startled when a humpback whale came up under the 65-foot catamaran and lifted the right stern several inches.

National Marine Fisheries official Margaret Dupree said the March 15 incident is the second report of a whale bumping a boat this season, and her agency is reviewing both encounters.

The double-deck catamaran Ocean Spirit was carrying 96 passengers on a whale-watching tour off South Maui and was in a stationary position waiting for a pod of approaching whales, including a female whale, her calf and four male escorts, said Anne Rillero, spokeswoman for the Pacific Whale Foundation, operator of the Ocean Spirit.

Passengers watched the whales swim in the vicinity of the vessel for about an hour, and then one of the male humpback whales came up from beneath the vessel and hit the boat, she said.

There was a loud boom, and the right stern of the boat was lifted four to six inches.

The Ocean Spirit backed away from the male, then eventually turned around to move forward and away from the pod, as the whale followed the vessel for a few hundred yards.

None of the passengers was injured, and the whale did not seem to be hurt by the encounter, Rillero said.

"I think the people were excited. The whales were really involved with each other. We don't think it's a case of a whale ramming the boat," she said.

"This was the case of a whale pushing and shoving ... trying to get close to the mother (female) ... and bumping the boat."

She said typically, when the males are vying for attention, there is some lively interaction.

Whale researcher Deborah Glockner-Ferrari said if the report is correct, there might be a variety of reasons to explain the whale's behavior in following behind the boat.

She said the whale might have broken off from the pod and been traveling in the same direction as the Ocean Spirit or might have been curious and wanted to follow the vessel.

She said it is also possible the whale might have been pursuing the boat.

She recalled a Maui boat captain informing other boaters several years ago that a whale was charging his vessel.

Glockner-Ferrari said when her boat arrived in the area, she saw a pair of whales heading in her direction.

She said one of them broke off and swam away, but the other went straight for the boat and dived under it.

"It did the same thing to several other vessels," said Glockner-Ferrari, co-founder of the Center for Whale Studies.

"We don't know if he was having a bad day."

She said her crew has had "close encounters" this season, with whales swimming nearer than usual.

Glockner-Ferrari said she has noticed more juvenile whales in Maui County waters this year, and they tend to be "more playful and curious" than adults.

"Generally, adults are more in control or pay attention," she said.

She said she had an encounter in 1979 with a calf that dived below her rubber boat, picking up a pontoon accidentally.

Whale researcher Dan Salden said he has heard of male escort whales brushing boats but never lifting a vessel as it did the Ocean Spirit.

"I thought it was significant," said Salden, founder and president of the Hawaii Whale Research Foundation.

Salden recalled two instances in which a whale bumped his boat, one five years ago involving a young adult that pushed off his boat.

The other incident occurred in the late 1980s or early 1990s when a female whale bumped his boat with her pectoral fin, causing him to nearly fall off the vessel.

"She was very interested in the boat," he said.

Whale researchers say most vessel bumps appear to be accidental and involve calves or juvenile whales that do not have as good control in swimming as adults.

Researchers say a vessel being bumped by a whale is relatively rare, especially in Maui County waters, where federal law requires sightseeing boats to keep a distance of 100 yards when traveling in the ocean.

Boat captains usually steer their vessels well ahead of the whale's route, then put their boats in a stationary position, hoping the whales will pass them.

The maneuver gives the whales the choice of swimming toward or away from the vessels.

Whale research vessels are exempt from the 100-yard standoff distance. Whale researchers say in calving waters off Baja California, gray whales are known to rub and bump vessels.

In one account a gray whale lifted a small wooden boat and carried it on its back for a short time. Another account described a gray whale pushing her head under a boat and twirling it in circles.



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