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What's happening on Oahu waters

While every day on the ocean promises something new, some events are particularly noteworthy:

Oct. 11th, 2007 - Dolphin 2V returns! -So happy to report that we saw Two-V today for the first time in almost 1 1/2  years! We used to see him on an almost daily basis from 1995 until about 2000. He was identified as an adult in the early 90's.

Following the spring breeding season of 2000, he disappeared until the following May.
As happy as we were to see him after his first bout of “going missing”, we were concerned with a new behavior he was showing, which was having seizures!
He would be suspended at the surface, with just a portion of his dorsal fin above the waterline. Then he would begin twitching, much like a dog does when "dreaming."
Tori questioned some colleagues then performing behavioral studies on captive dolphins at the Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Lab, and found that when the dolphin females are in "heat" (breeding season) their estrogen (or is it progesterone?) rises.  
Similarly, the testosterone in the males rises, to the point that it becomes a neurotoxin – causing seizures!  Good to know that Two-V was still a very viable male, though possibly one that wasn’t “getting enough.”
Since 2000, we saw him come in every breeding season, with his last sighting in the spring of 2006. Since then he had missed the fall season, the winter season, the spring season (which he hadn’t missed yet!), and now we were approaching the end of the fall breeding season with still no sight of him.
And yesterday, hurrah! He was back! He was looking good and was with some other males that we recognized, but hadn’t seen for awhile (such as Ripcurl). Confirming our belief that offshore males (males that only come in for breeding season and are not nearshore otherwise) do exist.
We should get pictures back this weekend and will post them on Two-V’s site at that time. Thanks to all his adoptive parents for your support, enabling us to be there when he was.

All Woman Crew... Hero's! When the fishing boat leaving the launch ramp blew up, our Island Spirit crew dodged flying debris and burning gas to lend assistance to the injured fishermen - and pushed another boat out of harm's way.

A Global Problem - "Lovin' Nature to Death" - Boat traffic continues to grow on the Waianae Coast impacting nearshore fisheries, Hawaiian spinner dolphins, and the local community. What the community is doing to take matters into thier own hands.

Feb. 8th - Humpback Whale Calf Found Dead On Shore During the eight day grounding of the Cape Flattery (video available), a humpback whale calf in close proximity was in trouble. The calf was sighted swimming lethargically in circles with no mother in sight. About an hour later, it was almost ran over by one of the tugboats assisting the grounded ship, who according to radio transmissions never knew the calf was present although it was under observation by other vessels. Later that day, it washed up to shore with one of its pecs cut off. Weirdly, the lost fin was reported to be from a shark attack. However no sharks were sighted when the calf was in trouble. The circling to the left would tell that the fin was already missing and it would make sense that sharks would still be there with the blood in the water IF it had been an shark attack. Other experts agree that it did not look like a shark attack. There has been no known investigation into whether the tugboats could have hit the calf prior to the morning sightings.

Meanwhile the heavily damaged reef is undergoing repair. Tons of cement (the load the ship was carrying) were dumped on the reef while offloading to lighten the ship. See photo to right, this scenario of cement blowing and spilling from the crane during transfer to a nearby barge was repeated over and over for days. Can anyone say "toxins" and long-term damage to the food chain, besides the paving over of precious corals? However the cement is barely mentioned in reports that focus on the scouring of the bottom by the grounded ship.

Feb. 5th 2005 - Waterspout off of Barbers Point video We witnessed three of these that day towards the end of the charter (the other two were much smaller). What a sight. I imagined whales and dolphins flying through the vortex rather than "We got cows..."

Sept. 12th 2004- Helping Dolphins? As some of you may know, we have been involved for years in seeking to sustainably limit the number of people interacting with the resident dolphin pod. The State keeps assuring us that this will happen. In July they added yet another tour operator, this one with 15 kayaks, to launch in a prime dolphin resting ground. Because they've put a unenforceable restriction that the tour must not come within 50 yards of the dolphins, they feel they have made a step towards conservation.

However this kayak group is a swim with dolphins tour for Japanese visitors. A couple of the reasons the 50 yard condition is not enforceable is that the State cannot enforce a Federal law (the feds need to and appear unable to by their own accounts - the guidelines are simply guidelines and not a law), and there are not enough state agents available (by the agents own admission) to monitor the kayaks actions.

We and others have regularly taped or photographed their "violations" of the permit as they continue to actively pursue dolphin swims. We have asked how many violations it takes to get the permit pulled, but state officials don't seem to know. A permit with no bite is only one more additional license. When will the State step up to the plate?

Here's what's really weird (in my perfect world anyhow). The permit that was unprecedentedly fast-tracked through, seemingly because of a padded Governor request, was signed early July, 2004 at a State meeting. Go to the kayak tour website, cut and paste the japanese text into babelfish, you can then read about the staff and crew celebrating the granting of their permit on June 1st, before the permit was even up before the board, for public hearing, or signed (the banner behind them in the celebration picture gives the date - it mentions "return to Makua" as they were under a Cease and Desist to not operate from there at that time)! How did they know the permit would be granted, before the hearing happened or state officials knew? There was (disregarded) and continues to be strong opposition at continued hearings, including from representatives of the local Waianae Board where the tours take place.

We do not see this as the state taking promised steps to safeguard the dolphins, but indeed the reverse as they continue to grant more tours/people access to the dolphins daytime habitat.

It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment. Ansel Adams

Sept. 9th 2204 - Distressed Turtle - We were upset to find a large female Green Sea turtle wrapped in fishing line at the Turtle Rock today. It seemed the hook was in her mouth and the line was wrapped tightly around her the base of her flipper. So tight, the flipper was swollen, white and not useable. Armin and I attempted to free her, but decided she was too big and we didn't have the proper gear (especially as the line was acting as tightly wound tourniquet). Although entangled turtles are not so unusual, the weird part was that we called the the Turtle Rescue Team and were told that they don't do underwater rescue attempts. We would have to capture the turtle, bring her onboard (all 350+ pounds of her) and they would meet us back at the dock. Again, we were not equipped to safely capture (three of her flippers were fully functional!) and transport this already stressed animal. We called some diver friends to come to her rescue.. Wierder, the Turtle Team toots their horn about saving a smaller turtle from the same predicament just a couple of miles down the road. Lifeguards were able to deliver the turtle to them. It seems this would've been good time to tell the public that there are more turtles that they are unable to rescue due to ... whatever.

July 2nd 2004- Attack of the trumpetfish! We don't know if this sea-creature was particularly friendly or if there was something fishy going on. Maybe he was just itchy, but this fish wouldn't leave our passengers alone. He was first attracted to Capt. Russell who was in the water retrieving a mask someone had dropped. The trumpetfish allowed Russell to inspect him for injuries and then the fish went on to visit Vera. Vera was delighted at first but then became a little (rightfully) agitated when the fish wouldn't leave her alone and kept rubbing against her. Husband Jerry came to her rescue and distracted the trumpetfish as they both swam back to the boat, fish following them! The fish continued to rub against Jerry (allow a little time for movie to load) as he sat on the boat ladder. As we left the snorkel area, the fish followed the boat! Interestingly on that same adventure, Maura Jordan got "mobbed" by a school of milletseed butterflyfish. These fish are always friendly (looking for food), but were unusually bold on this day.

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