The 40th anniversary of the arrival of Humphrey the Humpback Whale passes into history.
“Humphrey the Whale is a humpback whale that twice deviated from his Mexico to Alaska migration by entering San Francisco Bay. This behavior is unusual for a humpback whale, and Humphrey attracted wide media attention when entering the bay in both 1985 and 1990. Both of his bay incursions resulted in rescue by the Marine Mammal Center, based in Marin County, California, assisted by the United States Coast Guard and hundreds of other volunteers.”
This event turned Rio Vista (River View, in Spanish) into a tourist attraction.
He returned in 1990.
“Humphrey has been seen only once since the second misadventure, at the Farallon Islands in 1991.“
On a clear day, one can see the Farallon Islands in the distance.
Humphrey the Whale is a humpback whale that twice entered San Francisco Bay during his annual migration from Mexico to Alaska in 1985 and 1990. This unusual behavior attracted widespread media attention, and both incursions resulted in rescue efforts by the Marine Mammal Center and the United States Coast Guard. In 1985, a team of scientists used whale songs to guide Humphrey back to the Pacific Ocean. The last sighting of Humphrey was in 1991 near the Farallon Islands.
They tried numerous techniques…
Their fear-based approach failed and then they the Japanese technique of oikomi…
“Numerous attempts to coax him back to the ocean failed. One initial attempt involved playing sounds of orcas to frighten Humphrey into leaving. Another attempt was made using a "sound net" in which people in a flotilla of boats made unpleasant noises behind the whale by banging on steel pipes, a Japanese fishing technique known as oikomi.”
Then…
“As a last-ditch effort to save the whale, Dr. Louis Herman, a researcher of dolphins and humpback whales, postulated that it would be possible to lure it out by playing acoustic recordings of whale social and feeding sounds.”
Quite the story and worth a read.
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