By John Hankins
How perfect to be welcomed by a huge Blue whale–albeit a skeleton–in front of the SB Museum of Natural History at a celebration of our area becoming a Whale Heritage Site (WHS), now only the ninth so accepted across the globe.
Whale Ho!
It’s a big deal for marine life, as it is for the region. It covers 70 miles east to west off the Ventura and Santa Barbara County coasts up to six miles offshore, including the Channel Islands Marine Sanctuary.
“The WHS aims to achieve an environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable balance between the natural environment, visitor expectations, and local business and community needs...It has proven to attract millions more (dollars) into the designated sites” according to its website, at: www.sbwhaleheritage.org
Often called a ‘whale superhighway’, hundreds of whales and thousands of dolphins ply the Channel on either side of the islands. The whales swim thousands of miles from the North Pacific down to Baja Mexico, passing along our shores and eating krill along the way.
“Santa Barbara Channel has unique topography and the whales come through with their calves” after breeding southward, said Adam Ernster, a filmmaker-photographer specializing in whales and marine life.
“Nowhere has inspired me more than the Santa Barbara Channel,” the UCSB graduate added. (That’s his photo above and on our front page!)
He was speaking at the SB Museum of Natural History during a celebration of success Nov. 30 hosted by the SB Maritime Museum and the now-famous “team” that are instrumental in bringing this about. They are:
- Hiroko Benko, President, Condor Express,
- Jean-Michel Cousteau, founder of Ocean Futures Society,
- Holly Lohius, marine biologist and educator, who has been part of Cousteau’s expedition team for over 20 years,
- Greg Gorda, Executive Director, SB Maritime Museum, which acted as the fiscal agent for the effort.
Hiroko has a particular role in this history. In 1973, she and her husband Fred Benko (now deceased) started the first whale watching operation here. He went to New Zealand in 2011 to build the Condor Express, a special boat to be around marine wildlife as it has no propeller.
“We finally dignified these incredible animals for the ecological role they play in enhancing ocean productivity. The more whales, the healthier the ocean is,” she told an audience at a prior celebration at the Bacara Nov. 11, especially honoring Cousteau with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Holly, too, has a history; starting in 1992 at UCSB investigating the number of whales being killed or injured here and elsewhere.
Speaking of which, National Geographic found that “though the stark population declines from hunting have largely stopped, several whale species are threatened or endangered—including the Blue whale, Right whale, and Fin whale—by a combination of fishing net entanglements and being struck by ships.”
That problem is being addressed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). A representative told the audience it’s been trying for 15 years to get international shipping to slow down, reducing the chances of striking marine life and “it’s wonderful for our air quality too.” Apparently, cooperation has risen from 60 to 80 percent partly due to incentives.
Notably, the SB Channel is a special place in the world, and the only Heritage Site so far to encompass a marine sanctuary.
Its relatively remote position at the confluence of two major ocean currents supports remarkable biodiversity and productivity, according to the site’s application. It is also special to the Chumash culture, along with shipwrecks, artifacts and endangered species. On land there is a thriving commercial and recreation activity, ranging from fishing to tourism.
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“Whales have become newly symbolic of real values in a world environment of which man is newly aware. Whales live in families, they play in the moonlight, they talk to one another, and they care for one another in distress. They are awesome and mysterious. In their cold, wet, and forbidding world they are complete and successful. They deserve to be saved, not as potential meatballs, but as a source of encouragement to mankind.”
–Victor Blanchard Scheffer, biologist and author of natural history books, notably the 1969 prize-winning classic, “The Year of the Whale.”