Eye of the Whale : Epic Passage From Baja To Siberia

"Once in a while, a book comes along that redefines its subject to the extent that most previous works immediately become obsolete. Eye of the Whale is such a book...it will change the way you think about the natural world." -RICHARD ELLIS, LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK REVIEWNamed a Best Book of the Year by three major newspapers upon its initial publication, and now available for the first time in paperback, Eye of the Whale offers an exhilarating blend of adventure and natural history as Dick Russell follows the migration of the gray whale from Mexico's Baja peninsula to the Arctic's Bering Strait.Originally named "Devil-fish' by nineteenth-century whalers, the gray whale's friendly overtures toward humans over the past generation helped to spark the growth of today's whale-watching industry. This majestic marine mammal has also become a focus of controversy, as environmentalists fought to protect its breeding area from industrial development, some protested renewed hunting by a Native American tribe, and, more recently, scientific studies have noted a new decline in the whale's population.Russell's narrative interweaves the remarkable story of Charles Melville Scammon, a nineteenth-century whaling captain responsible for bringing gray whales to the brink of extinction, whose change of heart led to his becoming a renowned naturalist. Retracing Scammon's path, the author encounters contemporary marine biologists who have devoted their lives to studying the gray whale, and native peoples for whom subsistence whale hunting means survival in the most remote regions of the North Pacific.Called "an extraordinary book" by The Washington Post, Eye of the Whale is a stirring account of a creature that is changing our consciousness about the relationship between human beings and the animal kingdom. In the 1980s, naturalist Dick Russell led the crusade to save the Atlantic striped bass. Now he focuses his energies on the gray whale in this brilliant mosaic of man's complex relationship with the natural world. 48 b&w photos and 15 maps throughout. Of full-color photos. Inches below the surface, the whales appear not so much gray as whitish blue. The immensity of these creatures is overwhelming. Fully grown they reach at least thirty-five feet in length and weigh more than thirty tons-ten times the size of a large elephant. The mother dwarfs our little boat. The calf is nearly one-third her size. With a mere flick of the tail, either whale could overturn us. Eye of the Whale focuses on one great whale in particular-the coastal-traveling California gray whale. Gray whales make the longest migration of any mammal-from the lagoons of Baja California to the feeding grounds of the Bering Strait between Alaska and Siberia (nearly 6,000 miles). That the gray whale exists today is nothing short of miraculous. Whaling fleets twice massacred the species to near extinction-first during the nineteenth century and again during the early part of the twentieth century. As they moved in for the kill, whalers claimed their prey by naming it: hard-head; devil-fish; sea-serpent crossed with an alligator. These ominous tags suggest a fearsome creature, yet today the grays are most commonly known as the friendly whale, the species that inspired the whale-watching industry. Eye of the Whale shows the life-changing effect the gray whale has had upon people past and present-whalers, hunters, marine scientists, whale watchers, and even businessmen-who have looked into the eye of a whale and have come away transformed. Over the course of this astonishing book, the gray whale emerges as a millennial metaphor, mirroring a host of ecological, political, and social issues concerning our relationship to nature. The book also traces the remarkable story of Charles Melville Scammon, the whaling captain responsible for bringing gray whales to the brink of extinction after discovering the Baja lagoons in the 1850s to 1860s. Paradoxically, he went on to become one of the most renowned naturalist writers of his time, and in 1874 authored and illustrated a still-definitive work, The Marine Mammals of the North-Western Coast of North America. More than a hundred years later, author Dick Russell sets out to track the migration of the gray whale and to retrace Scammon's own path. This epic journey stretches from Mexico to California, Oregon, Washington, Vancouver Island, Alaska, and into Siberia and even remote Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East. In these exotic locales see the current controversies surrounding the gray whale: an effort by Mitsubishi and the Mexican government to build a massive new salt factory within its pristine nursery area; the Makah tribe's renewed hunting of gray whales after a hiatus of seventy years; Japan's recruitment of the Makah and other indigenous peoples in their quest to resurrect commercial whaling. Eye of the Whale is a stunning work of scientific reporting and travel writing that greatly advances our understanding not only of the gray whale but of the natural world. While it may be impossible to know for certain the fate of this majestic creature, with Russell's sage guidance we may glimpse it-in the eye of the whale

the California Gray Whale Was The First Whale To Be Legally Protected And The First To Recover Sufficiently To Be Removed From The Us Endangered Species List. An Environmental Journalist Explores The Complex Relationship Between Whales And Humans Through Tracing Gray Whale Migration, And The Conversion Of 19th Century Whaler Charles Melville Scammon To Naturalist. Russell Includes Illustrations And Useful Web Sites. Originally Published In 2001 By Simon & Schuster, New York. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, Or

kirkus Reviews

a Keen And Passionate Anthropological-natural History Of The Gray Whale, Twinned With A Portrait Of The Whale's Great Nemesis-turned-admirer, From Environmental Journalist Russell (the Man Who Knew Too Much, 1992, Etc.). Known To Whalers As The Devil-fish For Its Fiercely Protective Behavior When With Its Young, The Gray Whale Has Been Brought Back From Endangered Numbers By A Ban On Its Hunting. But Habitat Destruction Can Do As Easily What Over-hunting Once Nearly Accomplished, And Much Of Russell's Account Is Concerned With The Fight Over Protecting Mexico's San Ignacio Lagoon (the Whale's Critical Calving Area) From Development Into A Saltworks. Russell Also Tells The Story Of Whaling Captain Charles Melville Scammon, Who Hunted The Gray With Remarkable Zest And Success (he Could Fill His Oil Barrels In 8 Months When Other Captains Took 4 Years), But Who Also Took Great Interest In Studying His Quarry-to The Point Where He Abandoned Whaling And Wrote An Important Book On Marine Mammals. That Work Is Still Referred To In Gray-whale Research, Which Says Something About How Little Of The Whale's Behavior Is Understood, Notes Russell. The Author Tries For A Reporter's Balanced Approach In His Far-flung Reports On The Gray, Dispatched From Everywhere Along The Wide Arc Starting In Baja California And Moving Up The Us And Canadian Coastlines, Then Sweeping Across The Bering And Chukchi Seas To The Russian Far East. He Covers Controversial Native American Whale Hunts, And He Writes About The Hunting Of The Tiny Western Gray Population Along Sakhalin Island By Indigenous People In A Way That Makes The Take Acceptable. It's A Big Story And There Is Much More: On The Whale's History Andchoral Repertoire And Anecdotes Aplenty From Countless Days Afield Talking With Folks For Whom The Whale Is An Ever-recurring Event. Anyone Who's Been Held Rapt In A Whale's Presence Will Find This A Delight-and Those Who Haven't Will Find It An Inspiration.

Named a Best Book of the Year by three major newspapers upon its initial publication, and now available for the first time in paperback, Eye of the Whale offers an exhilarating blend of adventure and natural history as Dick Russell follows the migration of the gray whale from Mexico's Baja peninsula to the Arctic's Bering Strait. Originally named'Devil-fish'by nineteenth-century whalers, the gray whale's friendly overtures toward humans over the past generation helped to spark the growth of today's whale-watching industry. This majestic marine mammal has also become a focus of controversy, as environmentalists fought to protect its breeding area from industrial development, some protested renewed hunting by a Native American tribe, and, more recently, scientific studies have noted a new decline in the whale's population. Russell's narrative interweaves the remarkable story of Charles Melville Scammon, a nineteenth-century whaling captain responsible for bringing gray whales to the brink of extinction, whose change of heart led to his becoming a renowned naturalist. Retracing Scammon's path, the author encounters contemporary marine biologists who have devoted their lives to studying the gray whale, and native peoples for whom subsistence whale hunting means survival in the most remote regions of the North Pacific. Called'an extraordinary book'by The Washington Post, Eye of the Whale is a stirring account of a creature that is changing our consciousness about the relationship between human beings and the animal kingdom. "Eye of the Whale focuses on one great whale in particularthe coastal-traveling California gray whale. Gray whales make the longest migration of any mammal - from the lagoons of Baja California to the feeding grounds of the Bering Strait between Alaska and Siberia (nearly 6,000 miles). That the gray whale exists today is nothing short of miraculous. Whaling fleets twice massacred the species to near extinction - first during the nineteenth century and again during the early part of the twentieth century." --Book Jacket