California IN BRIEF : SAN DIEGO : Patrols Try to Stop Harassing of Whales

Coast Guard and National Marine Fisheries Service agents began patrolling the San Diego coast to prevent weekend boaters from harassing migrating gray whales, officials said. The huge mammals, which are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, travel down the coast on their journey from Alaska to their breeding grounds off Baja California. “I don’t think anybody starts out their day by saying, ‘Let’s go harass some whales today.’ I think they just want to get closer,” Fisheries agent Ray Sautter said. “But when you start seeing boats that are making course changes to pursue the whales and whales making course changes to evade the boats, that is a violation.” Sautter said he called for the patrols after observing boaters while he took a whale-watching cruise. Fines for harassing whales could be as high as $25,000, he said.