Eureka, CA - After about seven weeks of swimming in circles under the U.S. Highway 101 bridge, the 45-foot-long gray whale shows no signs of leaving the Klamath River for the ocean.
Throngs of tourists hoping to catch a glimpse of her have crowded the Highway 101 bridge since the female whale and her calf swam up the river. Some have taken to boats and kayaks to get an even better look, said Ashala Tylor, a photographer who lives in the area.
Tylor has tracked the whale, whom the locals have named Mama, and her calf since they swam upstream June 24. The calf hasn't been seen in the river for about three weeks. Student volunteers with Humboldt State University last spotted the calf just outside the mouth of the river.
Through photos and on her blog, www.AshalaTylorImages.wordpress.com, Tylor has documented paddle boarders, kayakers and people on power boats getting to within a few feet of the whale. She also has photographed someone wading into the river to approach the whale.
"From what I've seen, my concern is people getting too close to her right now and not realizing how big she really is," she said, adding that she's seen kayaks with children in them approaching the whale. "Somebody can get hurt. Everybody needs to stay back and give her space."
Since the calf swam out to sea three weeks ago, scientists with Humboldt State University, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Association, the University of California Davis and biologists with the Yurok tribe have been trying to get the adult to follow. Scientists have tried noisemakers and hoses to keep the whale from swimming upstream. They have played recorded sounds of Killer Whales, the gray whale's main predator. Neither of those worked for very long.
Last week, HSU Marine Biology Professor Dawn Goley and her students took to the ocean to survey wild pods of gray whales to see if they could spot the calf. Goley said their other goal was to record the sound of gray whales as a way to incite the river-bound whale to swim downstream.
"Neither of those things were successful," she said.
On Sunday, Goley, who has been taking a series of photographs to compare the whale's condition on a day-by-day basis, said the whale's behavior hasn't changed. The whale is still under the bridge.
Goley also said she is concerned with people getting too close to the whale, pointing out that it's not only dangerous to the whale, but it's dangerous to the people.
"There's been a lot of people wading in and swimming with her, so we're seeing an increase in activity in the water," she said. "It's dangerous to people and to the whale. She's being touted as a gentle giant, and while she is giant, I'm not sure you can count on her to be gentle."
For other Klamath residents, the whale's presence is something special. Hal Khalaf, owner of Klamath Camper Corral River Beach Resort on the northwest corner of the bridge, said he hasn't noticed a change. The whale seems to be just as active now as when she first swam upstream, he said.
"She's still moving," he said. "She still rolls on her side."
Khalaf said he and his family started keeping an eye on the whales a few days after they swam upstream.
"We're from Arizona, so it's been really cool," he said. "My daughter's 9 and my son is 4 and for them, this has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience."
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