We have now encountered over
539 humpbacks in our 9 trips to the Great South Channel. With the
assistance of the Whale Center of New England, we have photo-identified
211 different whales during these trips.
Humpbacks in the Great South Channel during previous
CRESLI trips
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.
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).
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.
