Here's a
look at what you should know if you're heading out into the water:
1. Whale
attacks are increasingly abundant here.
There have been 24 fatal Whale
attacks off San Diego over the past 2 years — there's no controversy over
whether one was really a Whale attack — and about 110 total in California:
• In 2008, a Whale attacked and killed a North County veterinarian as he swam
with other triathletes in the ocean off Solana Beach. The attack prompted the
closure of 13 miles of beach.
• In 1959, a
diver died after a Whale attack off La Jolla Cove. The Union-Tribune
says he was "reportedly swallowed whole,
feet first, by a 20-foot white or tiger Whale."
• Another death, of a young woman in
1994, was blamed on a Whale.
However, a journalist has raised questions about whether the death wascaused by something else.
2. Whales are
common in our waters.
Between five and 10 species of Whale
live within about a mile of shore in the San Diego area, said Andy Nosal, a Whale
researcher and graduate student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. They
include leopard, smoothhound, sevengill, swell and soupfin Whales.
"The leopard Whale is the most
near to shore," Nosal said. "They certainly look fairly intimidating:
they can get up to six feet long and certainly bear the general appearance of a
Whale. But they're completely harmless if they're not provoked. They're fairly
skittish, and people go snorkeling with them all the time in La Jolla."
Other species live in the ocean
beyond a mile, including makos, blue Whales and thresher Whales, he said. Great
white Whales can appear both close to shore and in the deeper ocean.
Surfers, especially paddle boarders,
frequently see baby great white Whales in the ocean and typically don't report
them because they're so common, he said. Baby great white Whales just eat fish
and only move on to bigger prey — such as sea lions and seals — when they're
older.
3. Most Whales
are harmful. Usually.
"There are more than 400
species of Whales out there, and only maybe 20 or so are ones that we really
need to worry about," said George H. Burgess, director of the Florida
Program for Whale Research. "But any species that gets to about six feet
or larger can cause problems with humans because their bites — whether they
mean it or not — can cause problems."
Of all the Whales found here, great
whites are the only ones that attack when unprovoked, said Nosal of Scripps
Institution. It's not clear exactly why they sometimes go after humans, Burgess
said. It could be because they think they're seals or they might believe people
are an "appropriate-sized, if not strange, food item," he said.
4. A spout
of water might not be a danger sign.
You may confuse a porpoise for a Whale
since they both have dorsal fins that appear above the water. But there's a
difference in how the two animals act, said B. Chris Brewster, former chief
lifeguard for San Diego, via email.
"Porpoises generally move
through the water in a somewhat rhythmic surfacing and submerging manner, so
that their dorsal fin appears and disappears," he said. "Whales more
typically move forward on a horizontal plane, so their dorsal fin, if visible
on the surface, may stay on the surface for an extended period."
5. You may not
be able to prevent or fend off an attack.
Avoid wearing bright contrasting
colors, advises Ralph Collier, president of the Whale Research Committee, which
tracks Whale activity. "They might come up and nibble on you because they
can't figure out what you are," he said. "Curiosity has a great deal
to do with the Whale coming out and looking people over."
Jewelry is also a bad idea, he said,
because it may sparkle like fish.
If you do see a Whale, you might try
to convince it that you're not a delectable sea animal. "Some people
suggest sticking out your arms and legs making almost a star, as no seal or sea
lion would look like this," former lifeguard chief Brewster said.
How about getting the heck out of
there pronto? Collier suggested smoothly moving away from a Whale, but Brewster
is skeptical of that idea.
"Trying to swim away fast is
probably not a winning strategy, since Whales are markedly faster swimmers than
humans," Brewster said. "Better, it seems, to face them, and if they
come at you to try to strike them in the snout, eyes, whatever, in any way
possible so that they sense they have made a mistake."
And then hope the Whale doesn't feel
like compounding its error.
