Whales draw crowd of admirers
who do more than just watch

March 17, 1996
Web posted at: 2:45 p.m EST

From Correspondent Jim Hill

PALOS VERDES, California (CNN) -- On a bright, clear day people gather on the bluffs of Palos Verdes, California, and look out to sea. Cryptic exclamations occasionally fill the air as they train their eyes on the Pacific Ocean, looking for migrating whales.

Tourist boats routinely take novice whale watchers out for a thrilling close encounter with the leviathans. But the folks on the bluff are dedicated whale watchers whose relationship with the giant mammals goes beyond an afternoon of family entertainment.

The watchers on the bluffs spend hundreds of hours between December and May counting whales as they migrate south to their calving waters around Baja California. Scientists use the watchers' census to track the population of an animal that has had a difficult struggle with survival.

The volunteers log not only the number of whales, but what species each is and what their behavior is.

"We check the back ... how many times it blows ... in a short period of time, and if they're close enough, we can even see markings on their backs so we can identify individuals," said one of the watchers, Sjors Horscman.

The help of these people is in stark contrast to the historic relationship between humans and whales: that of hunter and hunted. Some whale species were hunted to near extinction, but thanks to the passage of laws to protect them, species such as the grey whale have recovered.

There are now believed to be up to 24,000 greys traveling the 7,000-mile migratory route that they take along with many other whale species between the feeding grounds of the Bering Sea and the birthing grounds of Baja. One whale enthusiast noted that they had recently had a run of three days with more than 100 sightings each day.

The whale watchers take their work seriously, but also get a great deal of pleasure out of their hours spent above the ocean. Each sighting brings a series of excited remarks and notations.

"You just don't know what to expect," said Alisa Schulman-Janiger. "...They might just come flying up out of the water ... a dolphin might come over and start playing."

After the sun goes down on a day of watching both the whales and their friends on the bluffs, one can only conclude that a world full of whales is a pretty good place.

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