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Posted by jas on 06:59:49 08/30/03
A friend of mine turned me on to this story last week. Here's a quote from an article I found online written by Supervising Ranger Jim Serpa, Doheny State Beach from Aug/02:
"What truly amazed me though was the fact there were two surfers in the water not 50 yards from the whale. With the whale still in the surf and decaying at a rapid rate, the scent trail it was laying down could have been picked up by even the poorest smelling species of shark. Many of us thought this was the whale that had been in the news recently. Lifeguards had towed that whale away from the coast while a multitude of sharks dined on it. Those sharks were a rogue’s gallery of scary sea critters from the local waters, including two huge White Sharks, some Mako’s and numerous Blues. Trail One was definitely not the place you wanted to be in the water." http://www.dohenystatebeach.org/nn-whale%20of%20a%20tail.htm
Below is part of an article about their recent speculation into why the whites might be hanging around San Onofre.
"Although scientists have been unable to explain what's drawing the sharks to the Trail One area, Domeier said the decaying remains of a whale buried near there last year "may have resulted in chemical leaching into the ocean" during higher tides, luring sharks from afar." -LA Times
I'm not staying out of the water, just staying clear from areas where white sightings are almost daily. It makes sense that the whale carcass is attracting them to that area. The article from last year mentioned that some blues, makos and a couple of whites were chomping on the carcass just off shore. Just like a squirrel going back to retrieve a nut from the ground it previously buried.
And next time the "experts" tell you about some fertile reef, rich with marine life, attracting the GWs to San Onofre, you can politely respond "Could you guys please bury the next whale carcass a little further off of the beach?"
jas
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