Floating in the line up of Bolinas beach, the surfer rises as a swell passes beneath. Searching the darkening horizon, she waits for one last wave. A splash disrupts the ruffled surface and a shadow passes beneath the surfer’s feet. Nervously she glances around. A wave lifts and stroking shoreward she rides it to the sand. Glancing west, a red sun backlights the jagged spires of the Farallon Islands as a seal erupts through the crest of a wave. It’s Sharktober, and if you surf in the Red Triangle, the region of our coastline that includes the Bay Area shoreline where 40% of all white shark attacks on humans in the USA occur, you know the sharks are back.
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At the apex of the Red Triangle, are the Farallon Islands, the major feeding grounds for some of the largest white sharks in the ocean. And they visit every year, returning from one of the longest migrations by any animal. Thirty miles west of the Golden Gate, when the marine layer lifts, one can catch a glimpse of the mysterious Farallon Islands. The Farallones are also the hub of much of our local marine life, from plankton to seabirds to whales. The coastal Miwok Indians called them the Islands of the Dead, and the Devil’s Teeth by Spanish mariners who dreaded the unseen rocks and fog shrouded spires of the Farallones. Named by eighteenth century Spanish explorers, Farallones means sea stacks or rocks that jut from the sea, and have been the source of shipwrecks for centuries.
The rocks of Southeast Farallon Island are loaded with sea lions (California and the larger golden Stellar’s) as well as Northern fur Seals all recovering from near extinction by protection under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Five species of pinniped come to shore on the islands, and in some cases breed. Others haul out to give birth and mate including harbor seals and the white shark’s favorite food, northern elephant seals. The water is rich with plankton including the krill so important to many forms of marine life from the tiny Cassin’s Auklet to the mighty Blue Whale. Biologists with Point Blue (formerly Point Reyes Bird Observatory) keep watch from the old lighthouse, recording the bird and pinniped population, as well as people who enter the Sanctuary waters near the island. They also record the white shark observation program, recording predations as part of a research project initiated over 30 years ago. Important for breeding and resting sites for the seals, these islands and the remote rocks are critical nesting sites for hundreds of thousands of seabirds.
Regulations require mariners to stay 100 yards away from the islands and outlying rocks to avoid disturbing nesting and breeding seabirds. State regulations ban fishing south of SE Farallon Island, middle rock and North Farallon Islands. We headed uphill in the light wind and visited Point Reyes and Drakes Bay where another haul out of elephant seals exists. The exterior edge of Point Reyes is also a state marine protected areas with a 1000 foot exclusion. The protected Drakes Bay, part of the Point Reyes National Seashore, waters swarmed with cormorants, pelicans and shearwaters. Combined with federal protections are state marine protected areas established under the California Marine Life Protection Act.
Each year Shark Stewards leads trips into the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, with each voyage providing unique and memorable experiences collecting data and seeking sharks and wildlife during the months we term Sharktober. Our field trips introduce the public to marine ecosystems, marine life and management challenges for both. Using the App Whale Alert we record the vessel’s track in real time and add observations of marine mammals, providing data for resource managers and scientists. Now, we are using the Trident ROV with Open Explore with National Geographic to observe and document habitat and wildlife in our Sanctuary and Marine Protected Areas to monitor health and abundance.
Being on the water in the National Marine Sanctuary, and in our California Marine Protected Areas helps our guests understand the importance of marine ecosystems as well as management issues that extend beyond state waters. Black albatross spread their 7 foot wingspans, veering and dipping fish from the waves. Hailing from the Northwest Hawaiian Islands – now part of the Papahanaumokuakea- a Marine National Monument protected but currently under threat under the current administration, these birds only come ashore once a year to mate and lay their single eggs on the ground. Sooty Shearwaters shoot past, migrants from New Zealand to feed in the rich waters of our Sanctuary. It is always an adventure out at the islands, and these trips leave our guests amazed at the diversity and abundance of marine life so close to the city of San Francisco, and gives us a better appreciation of the continued challenges to restore and protect wildlife and ecosystems.
All of this wildlife is currently at risk as the Administration considers opening the Sanctuary to oil and gas development, and reducing or eliminating the Marine National Sanctuaries of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands and the Pacific Remote Islands. Should we fear the shark, or respect her? We call the return of the sharks to the Sanctuary Sharktober, and instead of maligning the white sharks, we are celebrating the shark with Sharktoberfest in a series of education, talks and film events. As a surfer and diver, I believe we can co-exist with these perfect predators, and having white sharks in our ocean means it is healthy and still wild.
Join Some celebrating sharks or on a Farallon Island Expedition during Sharktober, discussing sharks and conservation, collecting data as well as watching for whales and other marine life. And see what is protected, and learn why it deserves to remain so.
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