Chatham Strait/Pavlof Harbor
This morning the National Geographic Sea Lion was cruising northward on the west side of Chatham Strait, along the east coast of Chichagof Island. We noticed a lot of bird activity as we approached Iyoukeen Cove. Soon we were seeing the blows of humpback whales and headed toward a group that was cooperatively feeding on schools of herring. One guest commented that she couldn’t close her mouth because she was so stunned by what we were experiencing. We deployed the ship’s hydrophone (underwater microphone) to listen to the whales and heard the feeding scream that helps scare and concentrate the fish. A curtain of bubbles and the flash of white pectoral fins further frightens the fish into grouping close together, giving the whales the opportunity to surge through the dense mass of fish and come up together with their mouths agape. The humpbacks spend their summers feeding in the cold, nutrient-rich waters of Alaska and migrate to Hawaii for the winter months. The humpback whale is an endangered species and we are very fortunate to see these animals in their natural environment. We must not do anything to cause them to change their behavior, so we keep a respectable distance as we observe. Their population has rebounded to an estimated 20,000 individuals in the North Pacific and they may soon be removed from the Endangered Species List. When we were whale-waiting (instead of whale-watching) we were entertained by eagles and leaping salmon. We also scanned the shoreline for bears.
We relocated the ship to Pavlof Harbor in Freshwater Bay for our afternoon activities. The pink (humpback) salmon are running here now, with a few chum (dog) salmon following. After a foray in the ocean, hundreds of fish returned to their natal river and pooled below the falls, waiting for their chance to run up the falls or the fish ladder. Driven by primordial instinct, they persist in their objective to reproduce. Their spent bodies, full of resources from the ocean, will nourish the next generation of salmon as well as bears, eagles and even the trees along the stream.
A young brown bear appeared from the forest. Looking for some healthy “fast food”, it grabbed a quick meal of fresh fish and slinked back into the protection of the trees. It may have only eaten certain select parts of the fish and left the rest for others. The salmon link the ocean with the freshwater/forest ecosystem in a tremendous cycle of life.
