NOAA heads to Long Beach to help whale out of Rainbow Harbor
For nearly a week, families and eager marine life enthusiasts visited Long Beach's Rainbow Harbor after a minke whale was spotted in and around Catallina Landing.
"We spotted it in multiple areas," 9-year-old Cole Schreiner said.
The child and his family made the spontaneous field trip to Long Beach from the Mojave Desert town of Yermo for their chance to spot the whale.
"We drove three hours here to go see the whale," Schreiner said.
Marine biologist Alisa Shulman Janiger said there are more than 500 minke whales between California and Washington.
"They don't travel in groups, so it's really special and people are absolutely entranced," she said.
Experts don't know why the animal made its way into the harbor. Unlike killer whales that have teeth, minkes have baleens.
"Baleen whales have those fibers that help them filter out the sea water as they feed on the krill and small fish," said Dawn Nygren-Burker, a coordinator from the Aquarium of the Pacific.
A team that included a scientist from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tried three times to coax what's believed to be a 20-foot teenage whale out of the harbor by revving their boat engines.
"Kind of turning ourselves in circles, slowly moving forward," NOAA scientist Justin Viezbicke said. "We were able to push it out of teh bay here and kind of out into the channel."
Scientists believe it turns around when it gets to a nearby bridge.
"Some of these marine mammals just aren't really comfortable swimming underneath objects or structures, especially when there's a shadow," Viezbicke said.
The NOAA team said they plan to leave the whale alone for now. It appears healthy, and scientists don't want to cause the animal stress. For now, they are giving it a chance to leave on its own.
