^ WHALES COUNTED 



EEl EXTRAPOLATION FOR 



WHALES UNSEEN 



Figure 3.— Daily counts and extrapolations of gray 

 whales passing San Diego during the southward mi- 

 gration, 1954-55. 



Areas of Migrating and Wandering 



For census purposes, areas of mi- 

 grating and wandering have been broken 

 down as follows: 



Northern area . --The northern area 

 extends for 350 miles from San Diego 

 along the west coast of northern Baja 

 California to Punta Santo Domingo, at 

 the northeast periphery of the huge, open 

 Bahia de Sebastian Vizcaino (fig. 5). 



Vizcaino area . --The Vizcaino area 

 extends from Punta Malarrimo on the 

 south shore of Bahia de Sebastian 

 Vizcaino, not far from Laguna Scam- 

 mon, west and then south around the 

 Peninsula de Vizcaino to Punta Abreo- 

 jos at the northern end of Bahia 

 Ballenas, near Lagiina San Ignacio. 

 A few gray whales were seen at Isla 

 de Cedros and the Benitos, 30 miles 

 northwest. Bahia San Bartolome was 

 never seen occupied by gray whales 

 during the period of the censuses 

 (fig. 6). 



San Juanico area . - -A 75 -mile stretch 

 of low, sandy coast extends from Boca 

 Querante to Boca Las Animas, and 

 includes the important open bay, or 

 bight, of San Juanico. No whales were 

 seen within the small, but apparently 

 deep Laguna San Gregorio at any time 

 during the censuses. Cows and calves 

 were seen in Bahia San Juanico and 

 it was possible that the calves were 



born there, although the area was not 

 considered a true calving ground (fig. 

 7). 



Cabo San Lucas area . --The large 

 Cabo San Lucas area comprises the 

 entire coastline of the "Cape Area" 

 of the Peninsula of Baja California, 

 from Boca Santa Marina to near La 

 Paz, around Cabo San Lucas. Before 

 the discovery of calving grounds in 

 the Gulf in February 1954, whales 

 seen in this area were thought to be 

 nonbreeding wanderers, but it is real- 

 ized now that the gray whales seen in 

 the Cape area were, at least in part, 

 migrants to and from the Gulf (fig. 8), 



Extralimital areas . --Gray whales 

 were observed a number of times in 

 winter outside their normal range, 

 in the Gulf of California and near 

 offshore islands in the Pacific. 



In the Gulf, north of the regularly 

 used La Paz and Y^varos areas, 10 

 gray whales have been seen (1) four 

 adults at Canal San Lorenzo near 

 La Paz; (2) a cow and calf at Bahia 

 Concepcidn, 250 miles north on the 

 east side of the Gulf; (3) two adults, 

 slightly north of Santa Rosalia; (4) one 

 adult, 100 miles north of Santa Rosalia; 

 and (5) one adult at Punta Final, 500 

 miles north of Cabo San Lucas, on 

 the east side of the Gulf. 



In the Pacific, gray whales have 

 been seen at Isla Guadalupe, 125 miles 

 off northern Baja California, and at 

 Isla Clarion, the westernmost island 

 of the Revilla Gigedo group, 375 miles 

 southwest of Cabo San Lticas. One 

 whale was seen within 100 yards of 

 the beach of the northeast bay on 

 Isla Guadalupe, on February 15, 1957, 

 by Arthur Flechsig, zoologist from 

 Scripps Institution of Oceanography. 

 On March 13, 1957, Daniel Brown, 

 also from Scripps, saw 1 5 gray whales, 

 4 of which were calves, at the south- 

 west end of Isla Clari<4n. 



Calving Areas 



The female California gray whale 

 normally resorts to lagoons, bays. 



