In a recent email discussion with a local whale expert I gathered the following:
The person who was onboard HSF and reported the whale strike to NMFS yesterday has lived his whole life on Maui, knows the ocean and feels that his observation of a whale strike is being dismissed and covered up.
He reportedly said
“I know a collision. That was a strike. That was no wave. The entire boat shook underneath where I was sitting. They hit a whale. This was no calm maneuver. The boat slammed into a whale and came to stop. This is a cover up. They are covering this up. Other passengers around me felt the same impact. Other people in other parts of the boat did not."Apparently divers were ready to survey the hull yesterday but were told to stand down due to lack of ‘credible evidence’.
Individuals who have spoken with the passenger (who reported the strike) all agree he is credible, sincere and concerned.
It is possible the HSF veered to miss a whale and the action of a hard turn resulted in a wave slapping between the hulls creating an impact sound/vibration that the passenger interpreted as a whale strike.
Then again, the average pod size in HI is about 2.2, so if they ‘missed’ the one they saw, what about the other one or two they didn’t? The concern here about reducing strikes, but really about the result when HSF strikes whales. This should be a wake-up call to HSF to abandon the ‘summer route’ and slow down.
Experts are now collectively wondering: “will HSF even know if it hits a whale?” At 355 in length, the aft portion is some 200 feet from the wheelhouse. The vessel can strike a whale anywhere on its length. A direct strike with the bow or keel is no different than a ‘glancing blow’ from the ship’s side. A strike is a strike. But in the latter case, it may never be felt in those roiling seas. Ditto for a direct strike. No one knows. And no one has an answer. In part, this is what the IT Permit will determine — probability of strikes and number of takes (strikes, kills) before the operation is suspended.
One whale expert is willing to withhold judgment on whether there is a cover up in progress, but there is at least one passenger on yesterday’s trip that claims that a whale strike is being covered up.
4 comments:
Karen,
There was also this appropo reply from somebody else to the report that you mention:
"...Very nicely stated.
Since they came to full stop, it would be interesting to know
whether they made any real effort to determine if a whale was
actually hit.
Did any officer go to the back of the HSF and make an observation?
Did they record their exact location? Report it? And ask other boats/ships to help report a possibly injured whale?
D..."
Without that effort of inquiry, and without a passenger picture, there is plausible deniability,
Aloha, Brad
We now have Capt Parsons stating (on KGMB camera) he saw the whale 100 yards or a football field away and missed the animal by a “half a footbal field or 50 yards”.
Yet the same Capt Parsons testified, under oath, in Cordoza’s court he had a 100+ yard blind spot in front of his vessel.
Further, he now states this is the first or second time they have had such an encounter. Yet HSF April 08 logs (reported to OTF) show 4 such close encounters of less than 100 yards.
...Capt. Adam Parsons said this is only the second time he has come close to a whale since the Superferry began operating...
As for the comment about only the second time he has come close to a whale, that may be true for Capt. Parsons, but Capt. Campbell of the Alakai also had a similar close approach on 4/11/08, and Capt. Curtis of the Alakai also had similar close approaches on 4/16/08 with one whale, and on 4/22/08 with two whales. (See pages 67-75 of this .pdf, also reminder that the Alakai did not operate during much of the whale season last year.) These are just the 5 instances of close approaches that have been documented and made readily available to the wider public. Are there other instances at other times that have been documented but not published to the wider public?
It is clear that passengers will need to get picture/s or video of any future situations if at all possible.
Joan Conrow explores the reasons that make it so important for HSF to deny a whale strike over at KauaiEclectic
Post a Comment