Northwest may be as far as some gray whales go

During the great annual gray-whale migrations between feeding grounds in the North Pacific and breeding spots off Mexico, about 200 individuals apparently take up "seasonal residence" in the Pacific Northwest, scientists say.

Six gray whales, for example, have been spotted around Whidbey Island nearly every spring since 1991, says biologist John Calambokidis of Olympia-based Cascadia Research. Other small groups of gray whales return annually to preferred spots along the coasts of Oregon and British Columbia.

"In recent years, we've done a much better job identifying these seasonal resident animals," Calambokidis said. In some cases, "we have evidence they don't go to Alaska," he said. "They migrate south to the breeding grounds but seem to make this their primary feeding area."

Calambokidis presented recent research about grays as the Puget Sound Georgia Basin Research Conference got under way yesterday at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle. The three-day session, featuring scores of scientists on a range of topics, is sponsored by the state's Puget Sound Action Team and Environment Canada.

In a brief luncheon address, Gov. Christine Gregoire said she is making "real science" a priority in making decisions about the environment. There need not be a conflict between business and the environment, she said — businesses are drawn to the region for its quality of life.

Historically, Calambokidis said, gray whales that ventured inland were likely more vulnerable to shore-based hunters than those that swam farther offshore, churning all the way north to the Bering and Beaufort seas of Alaska and the Chukchi Sea off Siberia.

The ones that stop in the Northwest tend to not have as many young as the larger population, he said. Determining the gender of the seasonal residents is a work in progress, but females with calves tend to start the migration late and inland stops "may not be advantageous" for them, Calambokidis said.

Some of the returnees move on in early summer and may head north, he said. Some only drop in once or twice. Grays seen farther inland, in central and south Puget Sound, tend to be stragglers foraging for food — sometimes desperately — that rejoin the migration if they can.

Gray whales, the first creatures listed for protection under the Endangered Species Act, were decimated by commercial whaling that peaked in the late 19th century.

Recent gray-whale counts conducted along the migration route suggest the population may have settled at about 17,000 animals — roughly the pre-whaling total, Calambokidis said. The grays were removed from the Endangered Species List in 1994.