KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
Visibility was spectacular during the Feb. 24 flight over the western side of Kodiak Island. While only a single humpback whale was sighted, scores of seals were logged in the vicinity of the Trinity Islands with data forwarded on to Alaska Fish and Game. Jacob Resneck/KMXT photo
Researchers in Kodiak routinely survey the archipelago’s marine mammal population. Migrations of whales and populations of harbor seals help biologists help track the health of the ecosystems which are indicators for things like climate change and other phenomena. KMXT’s Jacob Resneck rode along on a recent air survey and filed this report.
— survey flight pkg 4:58 "We strap into a … Island, I’m Jacob Resneck."
— amb – starting up
We strap into a DeHavilland float plane at Trident Basin off Near Island. Researcher Kate Wynne, a marine mammal specialist for Alaska Sea Grant’s Marine Advisory Program sketches out the afternoon’s course.
— wynne 1
— amb – starting up
Then Pilot Dean Andrew pushes the throttle forward.
— andrew2
In seconds we’re aloft. It’s a clear and sunny day – with excellent visibility as we move south running along Chiniak Bay, admiring the gun placements on Long Island. At Kiliuda Bay we cut across toward Old Harbor and south to the Trinity Islands
We cruise at about 1,000 feet above the water and I’ve been tasked to keep a look out on the right.
— wynne2
It being February Wynne explains it’s a slow time for whale sightings but important to see how many are wintering around Kodiak before they migrate out of the area.
— wynne3
It’s just in the Sitkalidak Straits where we sight our first whale.
— wynne4
The lone male humpback is the only sighting that day but that’s not all researchers are looking for. The archipelago (arc-ih-pelago) is critical habitat for harbor seals and other marine mammals. Many of these species have been in decline for years.
We buzz along the shoreline of Tugidak (teh-geed-ik) Island. This area is indicative of the plight of harbor seals in the Gulf of Alaska.
— wynne7
We head back north toward Uganik Bay. The water is a brilliant turquoise blue. Also aboard is researcher Lei Guo from China. Guo recently completed his PhD at the UAF Fairbank’s Fish Tech on Near Island where’s he’s been studying the makeup of the ocean and how it relates to food stocks. He remarks on the unseasonable bluish green color of the water. So we ask him about this.
— lei guo1
Wynne’s been photographing the seal along the shore. The photos will be turned over to Alaska Fish and Game where they’ll be counted and logged.
More than three hours in the air and we’ve only seen a single whale.
— wynne9
So it’s time to head back. Despite the lack of whale sightings, the seal data will be useful to state biologists and the research is continuing.
amb – landing
Around Kodiak Island, I’m Jacob Resneck.
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