[env-trinity] Times-Standard: Gray whale makes a quick trip to the Klamath River

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_26257038/gray-whale-makes-quick-trip-klamath-river


Gray whale makes a quick trip to the Klamath River
Local professor says curious behavior is not uncommon
By Will Houston
whouston at times-standard.com @Will_S_Houston on Twitter
POSTED:   07/31/2014 11:37:41 PM PDT0 COMMENTS

Click photo to enlarge
A gray whale had a quick swim in the Klamath River estuary on... (Photo courtesy of Merle Stevenson)
The lower Klamath River received a large marine visitor on Wednesday when a gray whale made a quick swim through the estuary before returning to the ocean, according to Yurok Tribe Fisheries Program Manager Dave Hillemeier.
During its brief tenure, the gray whale chose to remain close to salt water, Hillemeir said.
"The whale just hanged out around the lips of the lower quarter mile, and was only there about 45 minutes," Hillemeier said after talking with the crew members present at the scene.
Wednesday's visit was the not the first time a gray whale has swam into the Klamath River.
In June 2011, a mother gray whale — known as "MaMa" — and her calf swam upriver and stayed under the U.S. Highway 101 bridge, drawing crowds of curious people. The calf eventually separated from its mother to swim downstream. The mother whale died that August due to the exposure to freshwater and lack of food, according to Humboldt State University zoology professor and Marine Mammal Education and Research program director Dawn Goley, who was present the day MaMa died.
"Her skin and physiology weren't able to accommodate being in freshwater," Goley said. "Her immune system was compromised. She died of a combination of starvation and infection."
While the mouth of the river has a mix of saltwater and freshwater, Goley said the pure freshwater of the upstream areas is not the optimal place for whales to stay for too long, though the behavior of whales to swim upriver is not unprecedented.
"Gray whales can become curious and go into the rivers and if they find something they like, they might stay," she said. "Sometimes there is abundant prey there. Oftentimes, they just come in and then leave. I'm pretty happy to hear this whale came in and left."
With the federal government announcing Wednesday that it would not be releasing water from Trinity Lake to prevent fish kills in the Trinity and lower Klamath rivers, Hillemeier said he was also glad the whale decided to leave.
"It's a good thing that it turned around and went out," he said. "The lower Klamath River is no place for that whale to be."
Will Houston can be reached at 707-441-0504.
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