Bubbles
You may have been following the news story of two whales who took a wrong turn and swam from the San Franciso Bay up the Sacramento River. It's made international news.
Scientists are now trying a new, untested method to steer the whales out of the delta -- fire hoses:
"Sometime today the marine experts will try using high-pressure water from fire hoses to create a wall of bubbles, similar to what we see every Fleet Week when fire boats parade on the Bay.As more time passes, the whales' situation has become increasingly serious, and experts are concerned both about the wound on the larger whale, and the amount of time the whales have spent in fresh water.
"Four boats, including a Vallejo Fire Department vessel, will spray the water above and below the surface.
"Since it's never tried before on whales, experts aren't sure if the pair will swim away or toward the bubbles, but it's worth a try to encourage the injured mother and calf to break their circular swimming pattern and head back to the ocean after nearly two weeks away." (ABC7/KGO-TV)
Let's hope they eventually find their way back to the Pacific Ocean.
2 comments:
I remember at least two different cases of this happening when I was growing up; like comets and eclipses, these wayward whales burst into the news every few years.
It's hard to imagine a phenomenon of greater psychological ambivalence. On the one hand, you only get close to them (or hear of them as individuals at all) because they got lost, and there's excitement about seeing into what strange inland places they'll go. On the other hand, you urgently want them to survive and find their way back.
In the end, you're left wondering something nutty like this: how long after a whale makes it successfully out to sea does the nickname its well-wishers gave it last, before finally washing off for good?
"Psychological ambivalence" captures it nicely, yes. It's both a spectacle for enjoyment, and an emergency. Kind of a strange mix.
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