and esteros* to bear her calf. Occa- 

 sionally, calves are born in shallow, 

 open water close to shore. Calving 

 occurs, or formerly occurred, in six 

 general areas: (1) San Diego (aban- 

 doned), (2) Vizcaino -Scammon, (3) San 

 Ignacio, (4) Magdalena, along the Pa- 

 cific Coast of southern California and 

 Baja California, (5) Yivaros, and 

 (6) Reforma, along the east shore of 

 the Gulf of California in the states of 

 Sonora and Sinaloa (figs. 2 and 4). 



San Diego area. --Gray whales used 

 to breed in large numbers in San 

 Diego Bay, but these were largely 

 exterminated by two whaling stations 

 at the entrance in the 1850's, 1860's, 

 and 1870's. Subsequently, boat traffic, 

 water pollution, and harbor improve- 

 ments have effectively prevented re- 

 occupation. However, gray whales 

 occasionally calve, and more often 

 mate, in open waters just outside the 

 bay. A lobster fisherman, visiting his 

 pots in kelp beds south of La Jolla in 

 January 1955, saw "many times'* a 

 gray whale cow and calf. This account 

 was recorded by Carr Tuthill of the 

 aquarium of Scripps Institution of 

 Oceanography. During the 1955-56 

 season, two calves were bornin waters 

 off the San Diego area (fig. 9). 



Two bays in northern Baja Cali- 

 fornia, Bahia de Todos Santos (in- 

 cluding Estero de Punta Banda) near 

 Ensenada, and Bahia San Quintin, near 

 San Quintin, also appear to be suitable 

 as calving areas for gray whales. No 

 whales were seen in either bay. Gray 

 whales surely inhabited both areas, 

 although no historical evidence to this 

 effect has been uncovered (fig. 5). 



Vizcaino -Scammon area . --The Viz- 

 caino -Scammon area includes ( 1 ) the 

 shoreline of Bahia Vizcaino from Punta 

 Santo Domingo to Punta Malarrimo, 

 (2) Laguna Guerrero Negro, and 



lAn estero is a long, narrow body of water parallel to 

 the coast and separated from the sea by a barrier beach. 

 A channel between an estero and the sea is a boca. A 

 lagoon (lagunaj, as the term is used here, is a large body 

 of water which extends several miles inland and is par- 

 tially cut off from the sea by a bar across its mouth. A 

 bay (bahia) is a marked indentation of the coastline not 

 usually separated from the sea. 



Figure 9. --Former San Diego calving area. 



(3) Laguna Scammon. It includes about 

 30 miles of coastline and bars, and 

 100 to 200 square miles of channels 

 navigable by gray whales, in Laguna 

 Guerrero Negro and Laguna Scammon. 

 Laguna Manuela was not occupied by 

 gray whales during the period of the 

 censuses (fig. 10). 



San Ignacio area . --Included in the 

 San Ignacio area are (1) the open bight 

 of Bahia Ballenas; (2) the large and 

 important Laguna San Ignacio; and 

 (3) the small, as yet unnamed, lagoon 

 farther south, called here "Laguna 

 Querante" (from a nearby ranch so 

 marked on the U. S. Navy hydrographic 

 chart 1493, based on surveys made in 

 1890-95). Perhaps 30 to 50 square 

 miles of lagoon channels are navi- 

 gable to the gray whale in San Ignacio 

 and Querante. Gray whales were never 

 seen in Laguna Coyote during the 

 censuses (fig. 11). 



Magdalena area .- -A distinct calving 

 and mating ground, the Magdalena area 



12 



