Camila Calderón, veterinarian at Copas Sur-Austral Oceanographic Research Centre from the University of Concepción, claimed there are few studies about abundance and biodiversity of cetaceans in the Bío Bío Region. Nevertheless, species with frequent records are the Sei whale (also known as Rudolphi’s whale), Fin whale, Humpback whale, Risso’s dolphin, Chilean dolphin, Killer whales and Sperm whales. “Sightings mainly happen at Chome Cove, Llico, Santa María Island, Mocha Island, and the Gulf of Arauco in general.”
How much do we know about blue whales, humpback whales or killer whales? What are the geographical zones where to see them? What level are we in terms of research and conservation? How much importance do Chilean and South American coasts have? How do whale communicate with each other?
“Chile is a passage for whales, where they can be spotted all along its coast. Those animals travel from north to south to feed themselves during spring and summertime, and they return from south to north for breeding, in waters from Peru, Ecuador and Colombia,” explained Anelio Aguayo, researcher at the Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH).
“Among zones in the country where to see cetaceans, the list is lead by the Chilean Antarctic Territory during summertime, with the presence of Humpback and Minke whales. In second place, in waters from Aysén and Magallanes regions, between late spring and early autumn, we can spot Rudolphi’s and humpback whales,” specified Aguayo.
“In third place are Bío Bío, Los Ríos and Los Lagos regions, where you can see blue, humpback and Rudolphi’s whales.”
“It’s then followed, in terms of sightings, by Coquimbo and Valparaíso regions, with records of humpback, southern right and fin whales during spring and summertime. And finally, in Tarapacá, Antofagasta and Atacama regions, during spring, summer and autumn, there are sightings of humpback, southern right and fin whales,” commented the veterinarian from the University of Chile and postgraduate at the National Institute of Oceanography in Surrey, England.
Presence in the Bío Bío Region
Camila Calderón, veterinarian at Copas Sur-Austral Oceanographic Research Centre from the University of Concepción, claimed there are few studies about abundance and biodiversity of ceatceans in the Bío Bío Region. Nevertheless, species with frequent records are the Sei whale (also known as Rudolphi’s whale), Fin whale, Humpack whale, Risso’s dolphin, Chilean dolphin, Killer whales and Sperm whales. “Sightings mainly happen at Chome Cove, Llico, Santa María Island, Mocha Island and the Gulf of Arauco in general.”
Regarding whale season, Calderón claimed they begin to be seen starting in November and during summertime going southwards, then they return to their reproduction zones at low latitudes.
“This is a general description, because every species behaves in a different manner and, without an official sighting network or current surveys in the region, we don’t know if, for example, there are animals staying all year long or there is a food zone like the Gulf of Corcovado and Francisco Coloane Sea Park in Magallanes,” explained the professional.
Mortality and stranding in cetaceans
Anelio Aguayo specified that stranding stands for one or many cetaceans arriving alive at the coast. When animals come dead at the beach, it’s not cetacean stranding but cetacean mortality.
Causes of death are wide ranging, affirmed the researcher. For example, by crashing with fishing boats, merchant ships of different sizes or tourist yachts, a collision that causes traumas or mutilations in animals; on the other side, when ehales are severely hurt by boat propellers, they can die in high sea or near the coast.
“Marine mammals also die of intoxication by venom produced by poisonous algae, the so-called red tide. Other threats are plastic consumption, small bottles, tubes, syringes, jars, infections caused by parasites, bacteria and viruses.”
Regarding strandings, Anelio Aguayo thinks they are caused by all types of alteration that might affect a cetacean’s audition system, considering this organ is the most developed in this species, which they use for navigation, searching for food and communicating with fellow whales.
“Any alteration in the sound wave emitter or receiver in cetaceans will cause a failure in the audition system, misleading animals, causing a fear or stress in some of them, which might end up in a stampede, taking some of them to the beach and getting there alive,” he added.
“While others escape offshore and they are safe, some specimens will sink and, if they rather do it for fear instead of lung capacity or anoxia ability, they might also die in the sea or get dying to the beaches,” described the researcher.
On the other hand, Camila Calderón, from Copas Sur-Austral, explained that Sernapesca, since 2009, has a record of mortality and stranding in cetaceans across the country’s coast, nonetheless, there is no official cause data, only hypothesis.
“But, as data, neither the best stranding network in the world can determine the cause in 50% of the cases. It’s not an easy job. It will surely improve by the time,” she added.
This year in Talcahuano, added Calderón, the first necropsy on a dead fin whale was made at the San Vicente Bay, in partnership with experts from the University of Concepción, San Sebastian University, Amevefas, Panthalassa ONG and Sernapesca which, according to the veterinarian, “it was a huge collaborative job that determined that the whale died of a collision with a boat, a significant advance in order to specify causes and work on preventing new collisions.”
Experiences in sightings
“Chome Cove is definitely one of my favourite places but, as sightings are occasional and still there aren’t tours to make observations, my favourite place for whale sighting is Chañaral de Aceituno Cove in the Atacama Region. It’s a paradise. You can see fin, blue, humpback whales, Peale’s and bottlenose dolphins, and if you’re lucky, you can see killer whales,” said Camila Calderón.
She added that, in Chañaral de Aceituno Cove, prices are accesible for the community and, today, this is important because, otherwise, it’s considered elitist. The veterinarian also highlighted her experience at Agua Fresca, Magallanes, “where you can spot local Peale’s dolphins that bring you a great spectacle and where you can have the chance to do kayak and zodiac trips.”
Anelio Aguayo began telling his experience with the following assertion: “We all know in general terms that whales and baleen whales breed at tropical or warm waters during winter months and they search for food at Antarctic cold waters during summer months, in the Southern Hemisphere.
With this knowledge, he travelled to the Antactica on winter months in 1993, 1994 and 1995, first in an American icebreaker ship, Nathaniel Palmer, later in Chilean Antarctic ship Capitán Pardo, and later in Chilean Navy’s icebreaker Oscar Viel, where he observed Minke whales in the middle of Antactic ice, a season in which, according to his knowledge, those animals should stay in tropical waters for reproduction.
“This observation staggered my acquired knowledge on cetaceans, which I inherited from professors during my specialisation years in Chile, Peru, United Kingdom, Norway, Canada, Sweden and Mexico. Finally, I published a scientific note in the Chilean Antarctic Institute Magazine, titled “Is there a Population of Minke Whale, that Overwinter among Antartic Sea Ice? Serie Científica INACH, 41: 91-98. Santiago, 1994″.
Whaling
Daniel Quiroz, anthropologist from the Subaddress for Research from the National Cultural Heritage Service, has a research field for mammal hunting, especially large cetaceans, in South American coasts.
He claimed that, in these latitudes, whales were hunted for commercial purposes since the early 17th century, with some activities in the State of Bahía, Brazil.
By the middle of that century, American whaling ships penetrated into whale banks in Brazil and, at the end of that era, they arrived to the Pacific through Cape Horn.
“It’s pointed out that the first cetacean hunted at the coast of the Pacific Ocean was a sperm whale, near Iquique, in 1789. By 1830, large-size whaling from Chilean coasts began, both in coastal and pelagic forms,” described Quiroz.
This type of whaling – he added, was made from rowing-propelled shallops, by using harpoons and manual spears. By early 20th century, modern whaling comes to our coasts, using steamboats and harpoon cannons with explosive tips. This type of whaling ended in 1983.
Pre-Columbian Whaling
Regarding this, Anelio Aguayo, from INACH, declared that pre-Columbian whaling was developed in times prior to the arrival of Europeans, an activity made by nomad canoeist native people from fiords and southern channels known as Kawashkar, who used fat and meat from some dead cetacean species found at beaches.
“Other primitive people who inhabited southern Chile were Onas and Yamanas, who also used fat and meat from cetaceans, as well as sea lions.”
Both Yamanas and Kawashkar, assured Aguayo, were able to hunt dolphins by using handmade harpoons from their boats, whether by tying up stones or carved bones to the harpoon’s tip, with animal tendons or vegetable reeds.
The present
Also, Daniel Quiroz assured that whaling activities are not done today at South American coasts.
“Japan instead has a permission from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to develop what’s called scientific whaling. The impact on the mammal’s population is quite debatable and can’t be evaluated in this small space. The impact is rather symbolic and communicational.”
In any case, stipulated Quiroz, “Japan is not the country currently hunting more whales in the world. According to IWC statistics from 2016, Japan hunted 488 whales, Norway did 591, Denmark did 162 and Russia did 122,” calculated the anthropologist.
Historical component by Mocha Dick
Armando Cartes, PhD in History and professor at the University of Concepción, is the author of the book Los Cazadores de Mocha Dick. “At a popular mythological level, there was the idea of a white whale travelling across the coast of the Bío Bío Region in the past,” he detailed.
“I moved to the United States and visited whaling ports in the East Coast, including Nantucket Island. I was at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., the largest in the world. And I also visited the Chilean coast and islands, as well as their bibliography. That’s how emerged the clues that helped me recover the story of Mocha Dick.”
Cartes explained that the 1836 novel Mocha Dick is definitely an important text, because it was written by Jeremiah Reynolds, who travelled our coasts and knew what he was talking about. It was also the inspiration, among other sources, for major novel Moby Dick, by Herman Melville.
“That is America’s national novel, equivalent to Romeo and Juliet for English people or El Quijote de la Mancha for Spaniards. It’s not just good literature, it expresses a national sentiment of freedom and entrepreneurship, which preceeded the advance to the Far West, during America’s building process.”
Do we have the most famous whale in the world? We might say yes, assured Cartes, though he clarified that there are many mythological whales, from the one who swallowed Jonas and is featured in the Bible, but few like Mocha Dick. Pequod, Captain Ahab’s ship, tells a microcosm, with crew from all over the world. “There are great moral metaphors and subtexts in this novel. Hence its literary importance.”
On the other side, Anelio Aguayo stipulated that a very interesting fact is also a Moby Dick film so many children in the world watched some time. “The fact is that my English professor, Dr. Robert Clarke, from the National Institute of Oceanography in England, was scientific advisor for the film, working along with the great American actor Gregory Peck, establishing a long friendship with him, both of strong character, according to the story told by my professor,” concluded Aguayo.
Corcovado Gulf Expedition
The Corcovado Gulf Expedition project lead by Susannah Buchan, associate researcher from Copas Sur-Austral Oceanographic Research Centre, collected information about the presence of blue whales in the Chilean Patagonia and their distribution in estuarine systems with the aim of starting conservation strategies.
The mission succeeded at monitoring the vocalisation from blue and sei whales, through a device called Glider, an online navigation submarine that achieved raising information about oceanographic conditions in the habitat of these endangered species, in the Corcovado Gulf area, south of Chiloé.
“The purpose of this research is to understand the distribution and ecology of whales, a symbolic species that was hunted for many centuries, so it’s very important to protect their food and communication areas, in order for these populations to continue their restoration process,” specified the researcher.
Ships: the main danger
Currently, some of the threats faced by the whales are collisions with ships, netting and rigging from fishing and salmon farming industries. Beside these hazards, noise pollution caused by marine traffic misleads cetaceans and complicates communication between them.
Dr. Kate Stafford, researcher from the University of Washington, United States, assured that blue whales transmit very low frequency signals; in fact, they are below the human hearing range, but they also make sounds in the same frequency band and use the same signals that ships make.
“Therefore, the systematic traffic of large ships increases what we know as environmental noise. And, because sounds from ships are in the same frequency as those from blue whales, there is a chance to cause the so-called masking, which reduces the area where these species communicate at the presence of noise from ships,” advised the researcher.
According to Dr. Mark Baumgartner, researcher from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the United States, in order to manage human activities in the ocean, we need to know where the whales are.
“At this point the Dmon technology comes into play, because it’s a system that helps us monitoring where whales are, a necessary information to transfer to shipping and fishing industries, in order for them to change their working area or reduce the speed of their ships,” commented the researcher.
Baumgartner emphasised that Dmon detects sounds and typifies them into a so-called tone track which, after an analysis made by experts, helps determine what species are making sounds in the ocean.
Conservation status of some cetacean species in Chile
- Southern right whale: Critically endangered
- Blue whale or Giant rorqual: Endangered
- Common rorqual or fin whale: Vulnerable but slowly recovering
- Sei whale: Endangered
- Bryde’s whale: Vulnerable but recovering
- Humpback whale: Vulnerable but steadily recovering; Antarctica: Least concerned in Antarctic waters
- Dwarf Minke whale: Least concerned in Antarctic waters
- Killer whale: Least concerned
- Sperm whale: Vulnerable, but with data from the Relative Abundance Distribution index (RAD).
(Source: Anelio Aguayo, Chilean Antarctic Institute)