Monterey Bay Whale Watch Map of Marine Mammal
Sightings in the Monterey Bay Region
June 26 - July 25, 1998
compiled by Richard Ternullo
Note: Numerous California Sea Lions, Harbor Seals, and Southern Sea Otters are seen on all trips, and are not plotted on the chart.
Large baleen whales are making an incredible presence in and around Monterey Bay and the spectacle is impressive. Massive amounts of krill have attracted large feeding aggregations. In the past few weeks peak daily counts of Blue and Humpback Whales have been in the 40-80 range, with a peak of about 150. About 50 Fin Whales were seen offshore on 7/27. It is possible there are more than 200 whales of three species within a 30 mile radius of Monterey Bay.
Most dolphin sightings have declined with no reports of Risso's Dolphin during the month, and the lack of Common Dolphin since early in the month.
The sightings plotted above were compiled by Richard Ternullo for the period 6/26/98 to 7/25/98.
Sightings reported by B. Cutter, B. Krebs, Monterey Bay Whale Watch, Oceanic Society Expeditions, L. Oliver, Shearwater Journeys, R. Ternullo, J. Williamson.