Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 6, Number 6, 1 Iune 1989 — Departing Friends [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Departing Friends

Having spent the past few months in Hawaiian waters, the magnificent humpbacks are now making their trans-Pacific migration back to their arctic feeding grounds. Humpbacks arrive in Hawai'i around mid-November eaeh year. They eome here

to mate and nurse their young in our warm waters. According to experts, the song that the whales bring with them changes a little eaeh year. A whale's song ean be heard for great distances beneath the ocean's surface as well as from above. During their stay in Hawai'i the whales, with the exception of newborn calves, will eat little or nothing and survive off the blubber that is stored in their bodies. Upon returning to their arctic feeding grounds the whales will dine on small marine animals such as zooplankton, fish, and shrimp known as "krill." There are basically two categories of whales:

toothed whales, including the sperm whale, killer whale and dolphins will hunt fish, squid and other marine animals; while baleen whales, such as the humpback, gulp down large mouthfuls of water teeming with krill, then force the water out of their mouths through the baleen whieh acts as a strainer to trap food for the whale to digest. Whales are mammals, not fish. They breathe through lungs instead of gills and may stay underwater for nearly an hour before surfacing for air. A newborn humpback whale is called a "calf." It is almost white in color, has hair on its body and drinks milk that flows from its mother's body. Historically, whales have been hunted for many reasons. Their bodies were used for food, oil and other by-products. The ancient Hawaiians used the teeth and bones of certain whales to make various tools and objects such as the niho palaoa, or whale tooth lei, whieh is made of a whale tooth pendant supported by a lei of braided human hair. Western mariners collected whale teeth and engraved designs into them. This process of engraving is known as scrimshaw. Many pieces of scrimshaw were traded in the town of Lahaina on the island of Maui. In the 1880's Lahaina was known as the "whaling capital of the Pacific." Whalers eame from all around to replenish supplies, sell and trade their goods, and enjoy the pleasures that the port had to offer. Because of over-harvesting by whaling ships, whale populations of the larger species became severely depleted. Today, as a result of increased public awareness and respect for marine mammals, laws have been passed to protect the whales. In spite of illegal poaching and neglect for our laws by some countries, the humpback whales seem to be making a comeback. This year however, they will have other problems to contend with when they return to Alaska, due to the hazards of a recent oil spill that has polluted their summer feeding grounds. Whales, the largest mammals ever known, as graceful and intelligent as they are big, deserve from us the friendship and respect they need in order to insure their peaceful and continued existenee on earth.

Humpback whale and calf