"Although you won't see it in most weather reports, we're being affected by a heat wave, and it could have a profound effect on creatures -- from whales to sharks to threatened sea stars. We may not notice it, but marine creatures off the Bay Area coast are already feeling the heat. Ocean temperatures in the North Pacific have been recording historic highs due to what's commonly known as a "blob," or marine heat wave."
"And one thing that was pretty clear from the distribution of the humpbacks is that the few ones that we counted, they all of them were closer to shore and not at the shelf break," Jahncke said. "Again, there was no krill, a shelf break. So, where they were closer to shore, most likely feeding or looking for the fish."
Ocean temperatures in the North Pacific have reached historic highs as part of a large marine heat wave, or "blob". Long-term monitoring of the Northern California ocean shelf shows dramatic reductions in whale sightings and krill abundance. Recent counts recorded only two blue whales compared with more than 40 the previous year, and roughly 50–60 humpbacks compared with about 170 earlier. Humpbacks observed were located closer to shore rather than at the deep-water shelf break, indicating shifts toward inshore feeding where fish may be present. Similar migrations during past heat waves have increased risks of ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear.
Read at ABC7 San Francisco
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