Josh Meredith's Blog

Anchovies are a type of small salt water fish that swim around in schools all day. They are also something that is extremely disgusting to put on pizza. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if they have claimed someone’s life before because they are just that bad tasting, Humpback Whales love themselves some anchovies. This has become a problem in Santa Cruz California where schools of anchovies have been swarmed close to the shore attracted more than a few humpback whales. If you are a whale watcher, this is awesome news for you. If you are a surfer or a avid kayaker, the already unsafe water has become an even more dangerous place.

Humpback Whales surface lunge feed on the anchovies meaning that they come from the bottom of the ocean and come up through the surface with their mouth agape collecting all the oily anchovies they can. Unfortunately, the whales don’t really care much if a human on a surf board or in a boat is on the other side of the surface. A sail boat has already been struck by a whale, and multiple kayakers and surfers have been capsized. The Santa Cruz Harbor Patrol has been trying to keep people off of the dangerous parts of the water. Some stupid people have been harassing the whales. Unfortuanely for them, the whales are protected by federal law so those people who need to get their brain checked will be paying hefty fines anywhere from $2,500 to $32,000.

Humpback Whales weigh as much as 40 tons, and they grow well over 50 feet in length. So it is hard to get our of the way of these huge mamals when they start coming to the surface. The key to getting out of the way is to watch the birds. Humpbacks will herd the schools of anchovies to the surface which also brings opportunistic birds to the water trying to get an easy bite of anchovies. So the birds are giving away the presence of the whales. If you see birds dive booming into the water near you, get away fast.

http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/30915/lunging+humpback+whale+nearly+swallows+up+surfer+kayaker/