> Mon, 23 Oct 2000 From: Melissa Reese, Subject: Whales > (watching/chasing) > I wrote: > > So Tom - I encourage you to seek out some of these > magnificent creatures and paddle with them. I think > you'll be very pleasantly surprised. > > And Shawn responded: > > >>This response isn't necessarily a direct response > to Melissa, but to everyone in general. > > Before everyone rushes off to seek out and paddle > with whales, keep in mind that the Marine Mammal >Protection Act in the US states that you must stay at >least 200 yards away from marine mammals. You also > shouldn't put yourself on an intercept course so > that they will swim toward you where you are >stopped.<< > > - -snip- > > Good point Shawn. This is why (in spite of the > response to Jackie I > just wrote), I generally don't advertise my > location. > > I'm hoping that even though I just mentioned it in > my last post > response to Jackie's question, the people reading > this list will respect the whales and the generally > quiet life they enjoy before coming out here > with "100-or-so close friends" to chase them around > every weekend. > > In general, I've come to respect the people on this > list, and trust that most - if not all of you - are > considerate to the marine wildlife we encounter, and > act responsibly when you're around them. Melissa I have no plans in the immediate future to travel to the left coast to see some whales, as I can't seem to budget enough time to get down to the local paddling clubs on they're scheduled trips between running a construction company which provides me with a living stipend, and such recreational activities as writing rhetorical responses to internet postings. However, if under some circumstances I found myself investing more than an hour an a half of travel time to see anything; you could safely bet I would likely try to get as good a look at it as possible while being sensitive to the prevailing circumstances, which would include my personal safety as well as the feelings of any persons or other mammels in the general vicinity. I am, truth be told, a very sensitive person. I have, on some occasions while paddling, been surrounded by hundreds of minnows. I think I handled myself pretty ethically around them, although I did try to get as close to the school as possible out of curiosity. Had I had a net and fishing pole, I would have harvested some of them to use as bait to catch larger game; but this, of course, would only be to get food to eat, or to satisfy the inate male instinct to hunt and provide. Then there was the time I was paddling on a Staten Island Creek with thousands of live things that lived on the mud banks, and it became a game to me, a challenge of sorts, to try to get as close to them as possible without them scurrying back into their holes. I didn't want to hurt them, I just wanted to see them. Now they were not mammels. They were reptiles, or maybe insects. But should we be less considerate of reptiles or insects than mammels. Actually, yes....to a point. At some point human intrusion can disturb the ecological balance even of insects and reptiles. Back to the whales. If I could make one of these whale watching trips, it is unlikely that I would bring another 100 paddlers with me; as despite my concerted efforts, I have to date been unsuccessful in getting even one other paddler to join me on one of my planned trips. This is, of course, probably due to the fact that I am a novice paddler that no one wants to go out with either because they figure I can't take care of them, or because their afraid they'll wind up having to take care of me. Both of which are true. There concerns are undoubtedly exacerbated by the nature of all my planned trips which involve roll pracice, rescues, and/or surfing. I'm not sure if the prospect of petting twenty-ton mammels three miles off-shore would enhance or detract the chances of my success in attracting other paddlers. Worrying about a hundred kayakers chasing whales in the middle of the ocean strikes me as akin to worrying about a hundred mosquitos buzzing around a human in a picnic site. The human will suffer some bites, a bunch of mosquitos will get squished. If I was concerned about whales, I'd be more worried about 1/8 mile long whaling ships that plied American waters and fired exploding harpoons into any whales that closed to within 200 meters of their gunsights. Any Government regulations to protect whales from kayakers should be considered akin to Government regulations prohibiting shore fisherman with a hook on the end of a string from taking certain fish when there are commercial fishing vessels legally plying the waters with nets hundreds of feet long hauling in tons of fish at a clip. So, in summary to any concerns, don't worry about me, at least, bothering the whales. Tom Dowling (who doesn't even know the result of tonights game because of all the time he's spent writing this treatise. (God bless (help) the Mets.)) *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:18 PDT