Pete Thomas Outdoors

Increase in shark sightings reported at La Jolla Cove

A veteran scuba diver who frequents La Jolla Cove told a local news station that he has seen more sharks this season than during "any year in my 45 years of diving here."

Rod Watkins of Scuba San Diego was interviewed by CBS8.com, which on Sunday aired footage (posted below) showing a large sevengill shark. Watkins had been guiding a family of four and said the shark sighting was the highlight of the family's trip.

The veteran diver added that groups of 10 or more sharks have been spotted recently in Cove waters, in areas also utilized by kayakers and swimmers. Most of the sharks have been sevengills or soupfins. No explanation was given as to why shark sightings are on the rise, but sevengills are opportunistic and this is the pupping season for harbor seals.

Sea lions also are abundant in this area.

Soupfin sharks are considered harmless to humans because of their small size. Sevengills, according to the International Shark Attack File, have been implicated in only five unprovoked attacks on humans since the 16th century.

Spotters alerted as tagged great white shark is tracked swimming close to shore off South Africa

Shark spotters were put on alert Saturday in the Fish Hoek/Kalk Bay area in South Africa after a tagged great white shark was tracked swimming along the coast (see graphic).

The female shark, one of several great whites tagged by the nonprofit group OCEARCH, is named Lesley. She measured 13 feet, 8 inches and weighed 1,742 pounds when she was tagged off False Bay on April 15, 2012.

Fish Hoek is on the western shore of False Bay. Lesley, who is classified as an immature shark, had previously zigzagged about while swimming as far to the southeast as Cape Agulhas, which is about 80 miles from the shark's present location.

She has not rounded the Cape of Good Hope (toward Cape Town) and has stayed reasonably close to land.

Among white sharks being tracked by OCEARCH are four that were tagged off the East Coast of the United States. One of them, at the time of its last "ping" on March 22, had rounded Florida's tip and entered the Gulf of Mexico.

--Pete Thomas

Legal to carry shotgun slug ammunition when turkey hunting?

In support of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and its effort to keep hunters and anglers informed, Pete Thomas Outdoors, on Thursday or Friday, posts marine biologist Carrie Wilson's weekly California Outdoors Q&A column:

Question: I wonder if you can settle a bet for me and my friends. They told me when hunting for turkeys, it is illegal to also carry shotgun slug ammunition. I disagree because what if someone wants to carry slugs in case they get the chance that a pig might run by. Please set us straight. (Rob, Paso Robles)

Answer: Sorry, your friends are correct! Only shotgun shells with loose #2 size shot or smaller may be in your possession while hunting for turkeys (California Code of Regulations Title 14, section 311(b)). So, if you are hunting turkeys, you cannot carry a slug because it’s not shot loose in the shell. If you are hunting wild pigs with a shotgun using slugs in the California condor range, the slugs must not contain more than 1 percent lead by weight.


Q: When I was a kid, we used to hunt carp with a spear gun. We’d jump into the creek and get carp up to 21 pounds. It was a lot of fun for a bunch of skinny kids with the fish pulling us all over the pool! Can you please clarify the regulations and let me know if, where, when or even if it is still doable? (Damian L., Modesto)

A: It is only legal to spearfish carp in the Colorado River District, parts of the Valley District, parts of the Kern River and in those areas listed in CCR Title 14, section 2.30. It is only legal to spearfish carp in the areas listed in this section.


Q: I am new to hunting and have a question. I understand that in order to hunt with a handgun, the barrel length needs to be four inches or longer. However, I have a Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan 454 Casull 2.5 inch barrel. I do not plan to hunt with it, of course, but would like to know if I can carry it as a back up. I do not want to purchase another gun if I already have one. Please help me with my question. (Daniel K., Los Banos)

Skimboarder jumps over the sun in amazing photo sequence

The photo sequence atop this post speaks for itself: Skimboarder Bill Bryan is depicted as jumping over the sun during a recent session in large shore-pounding surf.

Photographer Robbie Crawford shared the sequence Monday on his Facebook page with a vague caption that reads: "Not many people can jump over the sun… But Bill Bryan can…"

As of Wednesday afternoon it had been shared more than 350 times.

Because people might be curious about the location and technical aspects of this photo session, I asked Crawford to share some details and here's his response:

"The photo was taken in Laguna Beach at one of the heavier shorebreak spots in California. I shot this image with a GoPro HD2 on 10 shot in 1-second burst mode.

"I had been working with Bill Bryan a lot over a couple months and we were coming up with some pretty cool angles. On this particular evening the tide was rising and there was starting to be a really heavy surge where head high waves would break just feet from shore.

"As the sun was setting I said to Bill he should try to jump the sun. So I set up with the sun directly in front of me and Bill Bryan being the amazing athlete that he is did it on his first or second try. He's one talented human."

--Pete Thomas

--Note: Find Robbie Crawford and Bill Bryan on Instagram

Dolphin 'funeral procession' witnessed off Dana Point (video)

 

The waters off Dana Point on Tuesday were the scene of what one boater described as a dolphin funeral procession.

The accompanying footage shows a bottlenose dolphin, presumably a mother, carrying her dead calf on her back, while other dolphins followed close by. (Cetaceans have been known to tote dead offspring in what appears to be mourning behavior, but the phenomenon is rarely witnessed.)

The macabre episode revealed that not every mammal sighting is a cause for celebration, and that dolphins, like people, experience the loss of young and deal with that loss in ways that are both sad and touching.

The footage was provided by Capt. Dave's Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari (above) and Dana Wharf Whale Watch (below).

"I believe this calf has been dead for many days, possibly weeks," Capt. David Anderson states in his video description. "You can see the flesh is decaying. In my nearly twenty years on the water whale watching I have never seen this behavior. Nor have I ever seen anything quite as moving as this mother who refuses to let go of her poor calf."

Said Tony Green, a passenger aboard the Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari vessel: "The last thing I expected to see today was a funeral procession and it was a pretty profound statement about the emotions that those animals feel and how much … alike we are."

 

Sea lion pups are starving off Southern California

Sea lion pups cannot find enough food off Southern California, so they're coming ashore emaciated. Many are dying and the more fortunate mammals are ending up at overwhelmed care facilities intent on feeding and ultimately releasing them.

According to CBS News, about 100 sea lions are rescued on California beaches annually. More than 700 have been rescued so far this year. Most are recently-weaned pups.

"They're very sick," said Keith Matassa of the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach in Orange County.

The facility, one of a handful from Santa Barbara to San Diego, has rescued more than 130 sea lions, which is a record for the first three months of a calendar year.

"A normal sea lion at this age—8 to 9 months old—should be around 60, 70 pounds," Matassa said. "We're seeing them come into our center at 20 to 25 pounds, and they really look like walking skeletons."

SeaWorld's San Diego-based rescue unit has brought in more than 170 animals so far this year, compared to 113 for all of 2012.

"It boils down to these pups are not getting enough food to survive on their own," Dave Koontz, a spokesman for the facility, told the San Diego Union-Tribune. "After they are weaned from their mothers, the food is not there or [is] at a depth they can't reach."

Sea lions prey on small fish, including schooling bait fish such as anchovies and sardines. Mysteriously, these bait fish have been scarce for much of the winter and perhaps this caused adult sea lions to wean their pups prematurely.

What's worth noting, however, is that the sea lion population off California and the U.S. West Coast is robust, perhaps at or beyond carrying capacity. Sea lion numbers have skyrocketed since the Marine Mammal Protection Act was enacted in 1972, and the most recent population estimate, in 2008, was 297,750. This is just the U.S. (West Coast) stock, and does not include Mexico or Baja California.

The primary breeding and nursing grounds are the northern Channel Islands, and the highest concentration of sea lions is in Southern California.

Bait fish have been scarce for much of the winter off the Channel Islands, according to fishermen. Hence, wayward pups are finding their way ashore from Santa Barbara to San Diego.

I encountered a pup Sunday afternoon while walking just north of Swamis Beach in Encinitas (pictured at right). The skinny mammal was 40 yards from the water, climbing on boulders and falling between cracks in the rocks. I telephoned the SeaWorld stranding hotline and left a message, which was not returned. I assumed the facility was simply overwhelmed, so I continued my walk, hoping the sea lion would somehow survive, but realizing it probably would not.

--Pete Thomas

--Top image is courtesy of the Pacific Marine Mammal Center. Second image, showing a stranded sea lion at Swamis Beach, is by Pete Thomas

No buyer for whale shark 'accidentally' killed off India

If there's good news to be gleaned from a report in India, about fishermen who claimed to have accidentally netted and killed a protected whale shark, it's that they could not find a buyer in either their local market, in Dighi, or at a larger market in Mumbai.

Maybe this will help cut down on so-called accidental catches of docile creatures that are vulnerable to fishing pressure throughout their tropical habitat.

The bad news, of course, is that one of these mysterious gentle giants was killed and ultimately dumped at sea.

DNA India reports that the whale shark caught last week weighed 780 kilograms, or more than 1,700 pounds.

The story quotes a forest department official as saying, "It is obvious that it was an accident; the fishermen did not intend to catch this particular fish."

Plankton-eating whale sharks, which are still hunted in parts of Asia, are the largest fish on the planet and can reach lengths of 40 feet or more.

Little is known about their migration patterns or their overall population, but their numbers are believed to have declined sharply over the years.

They're prized as tourist attractions at scuba-diving destinations within their range, and in these areas, obviously, they're worth far more alive than they are dead.

Great white shark ignores bait, shoves head inside dive cage

 

Shark divers off Gansbaai, South Africa, received a bigger thrill than they were expecting this week when a large great white ignored the dangling bait outside the cage and instead tried jamming its head through the steel bars. (Note: footage contains profanity.)

Bryan Plummer was on the boat and captured the footage, along with the reactions from others watching from the deck.

States Plummer in the video description: "Apologies for any profanity in the video. It was an out-of-control situation."

It's not clear how many divers were in the cage but a newlywed named Roger can be seen closest to the shark's head. Fortunately, he swam downward and avoided injury.

The shark eventually swam off.

Penguins conquer boredom by mastering iPad video game

 
For two penguins named Jeremy and Newsom, March Madness is pursuing a virtual mouse on an iPad video game.

Hugh Ryono, a volunteer at Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, donated an old iPad loaded with a cat game app to the aquatic birds as an enrichment tool.

"Sure enough, when Jeremy and Newsom noticed the iPad in the exhibit they both waddled on over," Ryono wrote on his aquarium blog. "Jeremy was the first to try it out but Newsom was the only one that really got into it… "

Newsom especially seemed to like the squeak that the mouse made when he put his beak on the virtual critter."

For those who are familiar with this game, Ryono added, Newsom set the penguin high score of 1,600.

The young penguins are part of the new June Keyes Exhibit and the iPad was intended to keep them busy while the older penguins are pairing up during the spring mating season.

--Pete Thomas

Why don't game wardens release all poached animals?

In support of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and its effort to keep hunters and anglers informed, Pete Thomas Outdoors, on Thursday or Friday, posts marine biologist Carrie Wilson's weekly California Outdoors Q&A column:

Question: I support the work of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and want to congratulate and say thank you for all your services. However, I was watching an episode of "Wild Justice" recently and something didn’t seem right about the way the game wardens carried out a couple of operations. On the show, game wardens busted a poacher with 42 abalone. The wardens spied on a group and knew they were fishing illegally, so why didn’t they stop them when they came back to the beach? Why did the game wardens allow the group to pull the abalones away from the beach and wait? By the time you guys busted the group, all 42 abalone were dead. My 4-year-old daughter couldn’t understand why you didn’t catch the poachers as soon as they hit the beach so the abalone wouldn’t have had to die. Can you please give me an answer so that I can explain it to her? (Christopher R.)

Answer:  Wardens are often faced with the dilemma of when to make contact on a poaching case. According to CDFW Lt. Patrick Foy, there are circumstances where a warden can make an excellent poaching case, contact the perpetrator, and return the live animals to the water/or wild. Those cases usually result in a fine. There are other times, such as the one you reference, where an effort needs to be made to prove that the perpetrator’s actions weren’t just a one time occurrence by a person who wasn’t aware of the law. If a warden can document that the perpetrator’s actions were planned, and intended to make a profit poaching wildlife, it is called commercialization. Commercialization cases are difficult to make, but when a warden makes them, they can lead to life-time revocation of fishing privileges, steep fines, and even jail terms. The wardens in the case you watched made the judgment that the loss of 42 abalone was necessary to permanently take the poachers out of business.


Q: Is it legal to hunt and bring a wolf hide from another state into California? (Stephen H.)