We have now encountered over
468 humpbacks (nearly 50% of the Gulf of Maine stock)
in our 8 trips to the Great South Channel. With
the assistance of the Whale Center of New England, we have
photo-identified 174 different whales during these
trips.
GREAT
NEWS: Local whale watching trips with
the
Viking
Fleet starting in July 5, 2009! We will be sailing
on Sundays,
Mondays, and
Tuesdays though
July and August. Trips will leave the Viking Landing
at 9:30 AM and should return around 3:30 PM.
Dr. Artie Kopelman
(CRESLI's president and Adjunct Associate Professor of
Marine Sciences at
Dowling College)
and students from his Dowling College
Whales of Long Island just returned from a research
whale watch cruise in the waters around Montauk on the
Sea Wife IV. On this 9 hour trip, they spent 5
hours amongst approximately 24 finback and several minke
whales. There have been whales near Montauk for a few
weeks now, feeding on the large supply of sand eels and
other prey. It's been 6 years since they've been here
in good numbers for an extended period. Let's hope
this a reversal of the trend over the past 6 years.
* on 4/04/09, extreme winds (30+
knots, gusting to 45 knots) forced the trip to be cancelled
on-site. Seal observations and photographs were
by CRESLI's Dr. A. H. Kopelman later that morning
** on 4/05/09, seals were flushed from
the haulout site shortly after our arrival and were kept off
the haulout site by the presence of a vessel constantly
travelling back and forth through the groups of seals in the
water. The vessel operator then wrongly decided to
bring the vessel onto the sandbar just adjacent to the
haulout site. His actions could be in violation of the
Marine Mammal Protection Act and the vessels number
will be submitted to the appropriate authorities.
$ 4/26/09 -
extreme warm weather and significant activity by boaters on
and around the haulout site kept seals away. 10 Seals
had been sighted the day before; 2 were seals sighted on
4/27.
CLICK HERE
for schedules,
information, and
sighting reports
Please note that the remaining 2009
Cupsogue dates have been cancelled
Harbor and Grey seals at
Cupsogue Beach, March 8, 2009
Educators
and group leaders, please note that walks,
cruises and other activities can be
scheduled. Please go to our
educational material page for more
information.
Whales and dolphins of the Gulf Stream
waters off of Long Island at Veatch and Block Canyons,
September 7-10, 2007,
click here for a photo gallery (Finback, humpback, and
sperm whales; bottlenose, common and Risso's dolphins).
Offshore whale
DVD videos available for purchase,
click here
To get on our mailing list for a variety of excursions,
click here.
Enlarged, high resolution, signed matted or framed copies of
CRESLI images can be ordered from this site.
EDUCATORS: For information about CRESLI cruises, walks,
lectures, other programs, and availability of in-service credit please
click here.
CETACEAN SIGHTING NETWORK: If you've seen any whales, porpoises, or dolphins
while you were out on the water, CRESLI would like to hear from you.
Click here to get to a sighting report form
Photos (by others) of Long Island's Coastal Biota and Ecosystems:
click here
CRESLI
and Dowling College are teaming up with
SEANET (The Seabird Ecological Assessment Network) to
help perform important research via beached bird surveys.
These surveys are being carried out to identify and record
information about bird mortality along the northeastern
coast. Data collected by SEANET volunteers are used to
examine the spatial pattern of bird carcass deposition and
how it varies across time. Because regular monitoring of
beached birds has not been done in this region, these
surveys will provide baseline information about bird
mortality as well as help detect mass mortality events such
as oil spills. Seabirds are especially sensitive to
petroleum and other pollution, because the physical
properties of oil degrade the insulating and waterproofing
properties of feathers, and ingestion or inhalation of oil
can also poison birds. Because there is a large amount of
shipping traffic offshore, there is a great risk to seabirds
from both large spill events and small-scale discharge of
waste from boats on a daily basis. Numerous other threats
such as contaminants, diseases, and offshore development
threaten coastal and marine birds, which can serve as
indicators of ecosystem and human health.
All images, videos and text contained within these web pages of this site are
COPYRIGHTED and may not be commercially reproduced, or utilized in any
manner, without the prior written consent of the owner, The Coastal Research and
Education Society of Long Island, Inc.. All Rights Reserved.
