The Friendly Whales of San Ignacio Lagoon - Early Research 3pm Saturday, April 19th Langley United Methodist Church, 3rd and Anthes, Langley, Whidbey Island, WA Orca Network and the Whidbey Watershed Stewards are honored to present Mike Bursk of the Ocean Institute in Dana Point, CA as the featured speaker at the 11th annual Welcome the Whales festival in Langley, on beautiful Whidbey Island. Whidbey Island residents delight in the return of our dozen North Puget Sound gray whales that come to feed in Saratoga Passage and Possession Sound each spring, but these Grays are just a small part of the larger population of gray whales that migrate up and down the entire Pacific coast each year. Our speaker, Mike Bursk works in Dana Point, CA, at the Ocean Institute, a private non-profit educational facility. The mission statement of the Ocean Institute says it all, Using the Ocean as a Classroom, We Inspire Children to Learn. Although the Ocean Institute is largely a teaching facility, it serves the public on weekends and participates in several research projects. Mike is the captain of the institutes 71-foot research vessel, the Sea Explorer; Nearly 20,000 students annually board the Sea Explorer for an adventure at sea. On the weekends he runs marine mammal trips for the public sharing with them his passion and extensive knowledge for the beautiful whales that grace the coast of Southern California. Mikes love for the whales can be traced back in to the 1970s. At the time he was working on his B.S. in Marine Vertebrate Zoology at San Diego State. He met Dr. Steve Swartz in Baja while working during semester breaks aboard San Diego based tour boats that ran Eco-Tours down the peninsula. There was an immediate connection and soon Steve asked Mike if he would assist along with Dr Mary Lou Jones on a gray whale demographic study in San Ignacio Lagoon. I put my education on hold and skipped several spring semesters to be in San Ignacio, Mike recalls. The 5-year study sought to identify many aspects of this third largest Mexican lagoon, such as gray whale arrival/departure timelines, peak population periods during the Spring, distribution of Grays within the lagoon, and the big-three questions on everyones mind: Do Grays feed in the lagoon, conceive their young within the lagoon, or rear their young within its waters? A Yes answer to any one of these might define the lagoon as critical habitat. Mike worked from both their shoreside camp and the inflatable boat. Steve did all statistical analysis and report writing. Between December 24, 1977 and April 10, 1978, Mike never left San Ignacio lagoon, not once, a record which might still stand today for a visiting scientist. We learned FAR more about these amazing mammals than we ever expected, and discovered their social structure is complex. The population, distribution, and critical habitat results were also unexpected. Historically, this research became the cornerstone of all research to follow in the lagoons. Today, at the Ocean Institute, Mike has become a leading voice encouraging boater courtesy around ALL marine mammals, and says, We are far better hosts to the migrating Grays than ever before, adding, if I contributed nothing else, that would be enough. Orca Network, just back from their own annual fundraising trip to San Ignacio Lagoon, will be sharing slides from their trip, which is the southern end of the gray whales migration where they mate and give birth. Welcome the Whales Festival and Parade are sponsored by Orca Network, the Langley Whale Center, Homeplace of Oak Harbor, and the Langley Main Street Association. For more information and the full schedule of events, go to orcanetwork.org ###
Posted on: Fri, 18 Apr 2014 08:39:26 +0000
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