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From Fox News (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,110369,00.html):
Saving the Whales, One Fish at a Time
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Sperm whales in the Gulf of Alaska are letting humans do all the work.
Researchers are investigating what commercial fishermen have long known: that the whales have learned to pluck sablefish off hooks attached to long fishing lines.
"They somehow just pick them off like grapes," said fisherman Dick Curran. "I don't know how they do it."
No one knows how the whales have come to target sablefish, also called black cod, whose oily, rich flesh has become a lucrative product in Japanese markets. So a coalition of commercial fishermen and biologists has begun to investigate.
"My interest is biological," said whale specialist Jan Straley, a lead investigator in the project, "and I really want to understand what these whales are doing."
To harvest black cod, fishermen sink a 2-mile-long line with baited hooks every 3 to 6 feet. Each end is anchored to the sea floor along the continental slope and buoyed at the surface. After an 8- to 12-hour "soak," fishermen haul the line, sometimes harvesting hundreds of sablefish in a single set.
Over the past few decades, some of the gulf sperm whales apparently realized that fishermen were bringing this deep food source to the surface, and learned to remove a 20- to 30-inch fish from hooks.
Straley and her partners have found that male sperm whales may patrol the edge of the continental shelf, where the water is 1,200 to 3,000 feet deep, and wait for fishing boats.
"For sure they know the sound of hydraulics engaging. ... It's like ringing the dinner bell for them," said Linda Behnken, director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen's Association, which is coordinating the study.
"Everyone knows whales are smart, and they're proving it," she added.
Saving the Whales, One Fish at a Time
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Sperm whales in the Gulf of Alaska are letting humans do all the work.
Researchers are investigating what commercial fishermen have long known: that the whales have learned to pluck sablefish off hooks attached to long fishing lines.
"They somehow just pick them off like grapes," said fisherman Dick Curran. "I don't know how they do it."
No one knows how the whales have come to target sablefish, also called black cod, whose oily, rich flesh has become a lucrative product in Japanese markets. So a coalition of commercial fishermen and biologists has begun to investigate.
"My interest is biological," said whale specialist Jan Straley, a lead investigator in the project, "and I really want to understand what these whales are doing."
To harvest black cod, fishermen sink a 2-mile-long line with baited hooks every 3 to 6 feet. Each end is anchored to the sea floor along the continental slope and buoyed at the surface. After an 8- to 12-hour "soak," fishermen haul the line, sometimes harvesting hundreds of sablefish in a single set.
Over the past few decades, some of the gulf sperm whales apparently realized that fishermen were bringing this deep food source to the surface, and learned to remove a 20- to 30-inch fish from hooks.
Straley and her partners have found that male sperm whales may patrol the edge of the continental shelf, where the water is 1,200 to 3,000 feet deep, and wait for fishing boats.
"For sure they know the sound of hydraulics engaging. ... It's like ringing the dinner bell for them," said Linda Behnken, director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen's Association, which is coordinating the study.
"Everyone knows whales are smart, and they're proving it," she added.
