Whales losing fear of humans

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Science Writer

Marine scientists say a change in humpback whale behavior probably means there will be more close encounters with humans, putting both parties at risk.

A humpback breaches off Ma'alaea, on Maui. Whales are showing less fear of boats, leading to closer encounters. Advertiser library photo • Nov. 17, 2002

"There are things the whales are doing that they never used to do," he said. "I've been out on boats where they come up and touch the boat with their bodies or tap it with a fluke."

The animals may be responding to a change in human behavior over the past century from industrial whaling to commercial whale watching, from a period when they were being killed for their blubber to one in which they are being viewed regularly by humans armed only with cameras.

"You're seeing a younger generation of whales who are more comfortable with interaction. Some are not fearful of humans at all," said Christine Brammer, O'ahu program coordinator for the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary.

Whale researcher Greg Kaufman of the Pacific Whale Foundation on Maui said that since whales don't consider boats as threats, they are ignored and sometimes jostled.

"A whale-watching boat sometimes gets lifted up while they've just been sitting there. The boats are inconsequential to what's going on (between the whales).

"If you park cars where bears are rolling around, you're going to get the paint scratched. That's what's going on here," Kaufman said.

He doesn't want to make too much of it, but Kaufman suggested there also may be a level of interest by the whales in humans. Waving, clapping and colorfully dressed tourists in a boat may be interesting to the big animals.

"A whale-watching boat is like going to a zoo for a humpback. Where else can you see so many humans in a cage," he said.

The new familiarity, which Kaufman likes to call "the slow progression of the curious humpback whale," is also caused by their increasing numbers. There were perhaps 2,000 humpbacks in Hawaiian waters each winter a decade ago, but there are 5,000 or so now. The numbers have risen roughly 7 percent a year in recent years.

Mobley said more whales simply means more interaction.

"They're not aggressive at all. There are just more of them, and they're big," he said.

Two incidents during the past two month have heightened concerns.

Three-year-old Ryker Hamilton of Norfolk, Va., died after hitting his head on a rail during a Christmas Day whale-watch cruise off O'ahu. Observers differed on whether the Dream Cruises Hawai'i boat ran into the whale or whether the animal swam toward the boat.

In early January, Maui firefighter Sandy Parker, 27, was knocked unconscious when his 18-foot fishing boat struck a whale as he was heading from East Moloka'i to Maui's Kahului Harbor. He suffered serious head injuries and bruises.

"That kind of stuff hasn't happened before and there's a good chance there will be more of it," Mobley said.

As little as two or three decades ago, the relationship between humans and whales was much more distant, he said.

"They used to be scaredy cats. You couldn't get close to them," Mobley said.

Both Mobley and Kaufman said whale researchers, who have permits to work close to the federally protected animals, may be partly responsible for the change.

"There have been a lot of generations of baby humpbacks, that the first animals they saw in the water was a human and they learned it wasn't a threat," Kaufman said.

The latest whale population figures should be developed from the 2004 "Ocean Count," to be held Jan. 31, Feb. 28 and March 27 by the whale sanctuary with volunteers on all islands. For information or to volunteer, check the Web site www.hawaiihumpbackwhale.noaa.gov, call 397-2656 on O'ahu, or dial the toll-free number (888) 55-WHALE.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 245-3074.