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http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_081607WAB_blue_whales_LJ.3cfbb601.html

Several blue whales sighted in B.C. waters

10:45 AM PDT on Thursday, August 16, 2007

KING5.com Staff and Associated Press



SEATTLE - Blue whales may be coming back to Northwest waters.

The Olympia-based Cascadia Research, a whale-research organization, says a recent survey off northern Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands recorded five blue whale sightings, including a mother and a calf.

Cascadia says that's the largest documented concentration of blue whales in those waters in more than 50 years.

Blue whales are the largest animals known to have lived on Earth. Their numbers were severely depleted by commercial whaling that continued into the 1960s.

John Ford, a biologist with Canada's Fisheries and Oceans department, says the blue whales were seen in deep water feeding on krill.

In recent years, surveys have found only one or two verified sightings of blue whales in the region.

The 10-day survey that just ended Monday covered offshore waters off northern Vancouver Island, Queen Charlotte Sound, and west of the Queen Charlottes and documented more than 400 sightings of 11 species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Large numbers of fin whales, humpback whales, sperm whales, and killer whales were also found on the surveys.

"The sightings of blue whales were the biggest surprise of what was already a very successful trip" said Ford

Dawn Bailey
Eatonville, WA
dawnsdog at rainierconnect.com


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