>> The only caution I have on this is that seals ARE more afraid of kayaks than they are of motorboats. This has been documented. (see http://www.qed.com/ack/ack/1994/april_94.htm#seals1) But again, he did not stick around to "harass" them. Just being out on the water makes some contact unavoidable, which is why the act states that it is ok to allow the animal to approach you. Mike >> ************************************************************************** * I think there was a follow-up to this article in a more recent issue of Atlantic Coastal Kayaker. As I recall, researchers observed that the sight of a kayak crossing the mouth of the bay, not even heading towards the seals, was enough to disturb them -- more so than a motorboat. I don't know how good a seal's far vision is, but apparently a silent kayak looks more like a natural predator than a noisy motorboat. Maybe we should all carry radios and turn them up loud when we are near seals! By "we" I mean sea kayakers in general. I live a thousand miles from the nearest ocean. My wildlife experience is with mergansers, loons, whiskey jacks, bears, moose, and river otters, mostly in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Though mergansers are very easily disturbed, loons are much less so. Once, while paddling solo in the BWCAW, a loon crossed the path of my boat barely 20 feet from the bow. Later on the same trip, my route coincided with a flock of 7 to 10 loons. As I approached, the flock slowly parted to let me through, then rejoined after I had passed. Had they showed more alarm, I would not have come so close, but I by then was already familiar with loons' tolerance for canoes. River otters are curious and not easily alarmed. I know one person who twice has had a tug-of-war over fish with river otters. Once I met a young one on a portage while I was carrying my canoe in the opposite direction. The otter merely made a detour around me and continued up the path. Another time, when I was camped in the BWCAW, a mallard hen landed in the water near our canoes, waddled up to where we were eating supper, and hung around nervously, apparently waiting for a handout. I was told later by a ranger friend that it was probably part of the flock that Dorothy Molter, the last resident of the BWCAW, used to feed nearby. Chuck Holst *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Apr 09 1998 - 09:49:06 PDT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:29:55 PDT