1998
UAS NEWS RELEASE ARCHIVES
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April
28, 1998 Four humpback whales were sighted and three photographed for later identification by UAS students on a three day field trip in Stephens Passage between Juneau and Frederick Sound. Between Friday and Sunday the 12 students in the Biology of Marine Mammals class observed 40 Dall's porpoise in a dozen different groups, two harbor porpoise, over 200 sea lions at two different haul-outs, and more than 150 harbor seals, in addition to the four whales. "We were able identify three of the four humpback whales by photographing their flukes," according to instructor Beth Mathews. The whale information will be sent to Jan Straley, a Southeast whale expert in Sitka, to add to her database of which whales are in what locations at different times of the year. In addition the students helped gather scat from harbor seals for a study by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game being done by Lori Jemison who was on the trip. "She now knows a lot more than she did before about the distribution of harbor seals and where she might find the scat," Mathews said. "And we hope to work with her next year." Mathews said although other schools offer marine mammal classes, "I would guess than less than five percent of them get to do a trip like this and have the likelihood that we do to see such a range of marine mammal species." All was not calm for the student researchers during the field trip however. Rough water on Saturday turned some of them a bit green around the edges, according to Mathews. "They were good natured about it," she said, "and I would argue it was part of the experience."
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