Laguna San Ignacio, Baja California
The name of our journey aptly describes our encounters today, for we were truly among great whales. After venturing further north in the Sea of Cortez, we awoke tied to the dock in Santa Rosalia. Shortly after breakfast we made our relatively short migration across the Baja Peninsula towards one of three breeding grounds for the gray whales, Laguna San Ignacio.
Every year thousands of gray whales make one of the longest migrations of any mammal on the planet, traveling from productive feeding areas of the North Pacific and Bering Sea to the warm waters of Baja. After spending the summer months feeding on benthic invertebrates, these “mud suckers” begin a two and a half month journey that in total will span between 7,000 and 12,000 miles. In the breeding lagoons, these fasting leviathans seek mating opportunities, give birth, and nurse their young prior to making the return trip to nutrient rich colder waters.
The shallow protected lagoons offer ideal habitat for these activities and in 1885 whalers began to capitalize on these dense annual aggregations. Commercial whalers launched small boats to harpoon the whales and the nickname “devilfish” was soon given to the whales for their ability to destroy small vessels in pursuit. The harvesting of gray whales proved to be so devastating that by 1900 the whales were no longer considered a profitable species to hunt. Although whalers continued their activities in the early part of the century, it was not until 1947 that the International Whaling Commission prohibited the take of gray whales altogether.
Despite near decimation the gray whale population has rebounded so successfully that they were the first cetacean species to be removed from the Endangered Species List in the United States. The whales continue to make their migration to the same breeding lagoons and have now established a new reputation with a new moniker, “the friendly whales”. As we were fortunate to witness today, gray whales initiate movement towards small boats with a different intention, to interact with the thousands of tourists that visit each year. People come to see these magnificent animals close up and “shoot” them with different devices, those of the photographic kind!
The name of our journey aptly describes our encounters today, for we were truly among great whales. After venturing further north in the Sea of Cortez, we awoke tied to the dock in Santa Rosalia. Shortly after breakfast we made our relatively short migration across the Baja Peninsula towards one of three breeding grounds for the gray whales, Laguna San Ignacio.
Every year thousands of gray whales make one of the longest migrations of any mammal on the planet, traveling from productive feeding areas of the North Pacific and Bering Sea to the warm waters of Baja. After spending the summer months feeding on benthic invertebrates, these “mud suckers” begin a two and a half month journey that in total will span between 7,000 and 12,000 miles. In the breeding lagoons, these fasting leviathans seek mating opportunities, give birth, and nurse their young prior to making the return trip to nutrient rich colder waters.
The shallow protected lagoons offer ideal habitat for these activities and in 1885 whalers began to capitalize on these dense annual aggregations. Commercial whalers launched small boats to harpoon the whales and the nickname “devilfish” was soon given to the whales for their ability to destroy small vessels in pursuit. The harvesting of gray whales proved to be so devastating that by 1900 the whales were no longer considered a profitable species to hunt. Although whalers continued their activities in the early part of the century, it was not until 1947 that the International Whaling Commission prohibited the take of gray whales altogether.
Despite near decimation the gray whale population has rebounded so successfully that they were the first cetacean species to be removed from the Endangered Species List in the United States. The whales continue to make their migration to the same breeding lagoons and have now established a new reputation with a new moniker, “the friendly whales”. As we were fortunate to witness today, gray whales initiate movement towards small boats with a different intention, to interact with the thousands of tourists that visit each year. People come to see these magnificent animals close up and “shoot” them with different devices, those of the photographic kind!
