An Orca Passes Through It

August-September 2003

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
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by Bryan Nichols

A transient in Juan De Fuca Strait. Bryan Nichols photo.

Why did the initiative to protect such a rich and varied area get named after a big dolphin? What’s the appeal of Orcinus orca, the killer whale—and what’s the latest news on the ones that move through the Gulf Islands and San Juans? Humanity has always had a love/hate relationship with other predators—mostly hate. We hated wolves, we hated sharks, and we hated killer whales. Many people (like ranchers and nervous swimmers) still hate wolves and sharks, but killer whales have bounced into most of our hearts, so much so that it’s not even PC to call them ‘killer’ whales anymore. How did this happen?

It helps that they don’t seem to be interested in eating us. It probably helps they have panda-like markings, and pandas are famously cute, cuddly and endangered. Better yet, orca are intelligent enough to perform tricks in watery zoos. You could make a very good argument that we began the journey from fear and loathing to love with the first captured whale. However, there’s something exhilarating, life affirming and just plain amazing about seeing killer whales in the wild. They are a reminder of how remarkable nature is, a reminder that there is so much more to the world than political squabbles, interest rates and the banality of television.

Let’s be clear though—killer whales weren’t whimsically named, and they are fearsomely impressive predators. If the cutesy wutesy image usually associated with captive wildlife makes you queasy, you need to see orca when they are out a’hunting. Lollygagging or playful whales are easy to love—but when an animal that big and toothy puts on a terrifying burst of speed and kills something right in front of you, it is humbling.

Whether they’re hunting or frolicking, Orca Pass is probably the best place in the world to see its namesake. It’s accessible, the summer weather is good and there are plenty of ways to look, from shore to ships on both sides of the border. Mammal hunting transient orca (the real killer whales) are regular visitors as well. Shocked boaters have seen them chase seals into whale watching inflatables, and last fall islanders watched them corral and kill a small baleen whale in a Saltspring Island bay. Finally,

THE PLAYERS There are three ‘types’ and at least four groups of orca that you might see in Orca Pass. Ongoing DNA studies on killer whales throughout the world are shedding some interesting light on how these populations are evolving. Resident whales eat fish, spending their winters somewhere ‘out there’ but regularly following salmon runs into two areas—Orca Pass in the south (about 80 whales) and Johnstone Strait in the North (about 200). Either way, these are the whales you are most likely to see—they travel in big pods, and are essential to the whale watching industries in both spots. J, K and L Pods are the southern residents of Orca Pass, and evidence suggests they do not interbreed with any of the northern population. Transient whales eat marine mammals, apparently exclusively. There are approximately 250 of them (some estimates range up to 300), and they can be seen anywhere along the coast, at nearly any time, though they often venture into the Orca Pass area in late summer to pick off young, inexperienced seals. They travel in small groups and don’t mix with resident whales. DNA research is revealing they likely haven’t mixed for quite some time, so they could be on the way to becoming a different species. Offshore whales only rarely venture inside Vancouver Island, and we know little about them. There are likely from 200 to 300 of them as well. They travel in large groups and probably eat fish.

it’s exciting to hear that offshore orca were spotted in the San Juans recently—that’s all three types (see ‘The Players’).

LOVING TOP PREDATORS

Our media intensive world has a weakness for what some wags call ‘charismatic megafauna’. What they mean is big, impressive and usually cuddly wildlife. We tend to lavish attention and funds on them, while pretty much ignoring things like snails, plankton and small, ugly fish.

Fortunately, top predators like orca can be partial indicators of the overall health of an area, including its overlooked snails and ugly fish. Unfortunately, our media intensive world also likes quick, visible fixes to problems so it can move on to the next big thing. Real, long term solutions rarely make for good sound bites or satisfying narratives on the news.

IS THERE A PROBLEM?

See here’s the thing: the southern residents, the orca “Orca Pass” was named for, are the best whales to watch in the world— there’s just not that many of them. These whales were the first to be photo-identified, and reports from the Center for Whale Research start with 71 individuals in 1976— what remained after amusement parks spent 10 years nabbing about 50 Shamus and Willys and accidentally killing at least a dozen more. The population climbed to a high of 99 whales in 1995—then dropped to 79 by 2001, alarming just about everybody. There appear to be around 80 now.

WHY THE DROP?

If you loved someone, would you poison, starve, deafen and annoy them? Unfortunately we seem to be doing that to our orca. Local outrage stopped the zoo roundups by the late 70s—collectors went elsewhere (notably Iceland) after that. In such a small and long-lived population, it’s hard to predict how much effect those losses continue to have. But what caused the drop in the late 90s?

Most scientists agree on three things: toxins that accumulate in top predators like whales, the depletion of many stocks of salmon they rely on, and the increasing number of noisy motorboats that surround the whales daily. To the noise problem you can add the US Navy’s ear splitting mid range sonar and potentially worse acoustical systems on the way.

Compared to other orca populations, the southern residents don’t have it easy. They were walloped by collectors in the 60s and 70s. Many of their salmon streams have been paved and dammed. They live between big cities, swim through Victoria’s sewage and venture into polluted bays in Puget Sound. And they are ‘watched’ most intensively as well—now surrounded by an average of over twenty boats all day long in peak season.

Orca are arguably the most impressive predator the world has ever seen (take that, T. rex). Everything else in the ocean either respects or fears them. Southern resident orca have been following the Fraser River salmon runs for millennia and have evolved to take advantage of how abundant those salmon are—or were.

Now there are millions of people on the shorelines around their prime hunting grounds, paving over salmon habitat and producing toxins the whales can't see, taste or avoid, toxins like PCBs that build up in their blubber. When salmon runs are small or gone, the orca are probably forced to eat more bottom fish, which are older and often considerably more contaminated than salmon.

A new problem may well be all the boats—engine noise could be disrupting orca communication and echolocation, making salmon harder to catch. These three problems are not separate. Small runs of hard to catch salmon force the whales to eat more toxic bottom fish or burn their toxic blubber to avoid starvation— but mobilizing those toxins in their fat may ultimately kill them. The world’s most impressive predator faces an uncertain future in Orca Pass.

The southern resident orca population doesn’t recognize the border. Bryan Nichols photo.

LAWS & LEGISLATION

What are our democratically elected leaders doing about the decline? These are not particularly good times for environmental or wildlife related legislation on either side of the border. But there are a few important bits of paperwork shuffling about, and every little bit of support helps.

According to Rich Osborne of the Whale Museum in Friday Harbor, “The top legislative issue right now is stopping the US Navy from getting exemption from environmental laws”. Though the military insists it is working to reduce impacts, they certainly didn’t win much regional sympathy this year. What on earth could they have been thinking when the USS Shoup came through Haro Strait in May, while the J pod of southern residents was present, and used sonar so loud it could be heard on land? Witnesses and marine mammals were both abundant— researchers and the public saw porpoises, minke whales and J Pod orca exhibiting avoidance behaviour.

Necropsy results on one of the porpoises that washed up dead afterward indicate that the sonar can kill. Ken Balcomb, director of the Center for Whale Research, has experience with this type of beaching and he reports that the animal bled to death from a brain hemorrhage caused by trauma to its inner ear. The US government needs to quickly and thoroughly examine the other porpoises that washed up around that time, and take the results into account when they consider any exemption laws for the Navy.

Also in the US is the ongoing effort to have the southern residents listed as ‘endangered’ and therefore get the benefits of the powerful Endangered Species Act. Based on what many see as a politically influenced technicality, they were considered a discreet population but not distinct (enough) to be listed as endangered.

Appropriately for whales that regularly cross the border, environmental groups on both sides of the border are supporting a lawsuit that would force the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to reconsider its listing and classify the whales as endangered. This is particularly relevant to pollution issues, which the Endangered Species Act would address.

In the meantime, the NMFS has listed them as ‘depleted’ under the (not quite as powerful) Marine Mammal Protection Act, which will help provide some funding. In Canada the southern residents were listed as endangered in 2001 but the legislation that should therefore protect them (the Species At Risk Act, or SARA) is newly minted and unproven, to say the least, and lacks the teeth of the US Endangered Species law. How the federal and provincial governments come to grips with SARA and its implications for the Orca Pass whales remains to be seen.

WHO’S WATCHING?

Lots of people want to see wild killer whales, and are willing to pay for it. That means a booming whalewatching industry and the associated infrastructure to provide food, accommodation, and souvenirs to all those folks. If done responsibly, it also means a lot of people will have seen wild whales and care more about them.

What about the notion that whale watching is killing whales? Common sense tells us that a hundred boats swarming around a pod of 25 whales can’t be good. But it’s difficult for us to imagine how much room there is in the ocean when you’re not trapped on its skin. While boats are always at the surface, orca only spend about five percent of their lives there. What seems like a crowded mob scene to us is more of a noisy, erratic ceiling to them.

Of course it’s not that simple—though they might not need to spend much time at the surface, it is essential for them to breathe. And any shallow behaviors (most notably the slow, ‘sleeping’ movements) are disproportionately affected. Worse still, cetaceans like orca use sound to communicate and ‘see’ with echolocation—so all those engines could be disruptive and potentially harmful to their hearing.

Editor’s note: The good news is that the Whale Watch Operators Association Northwest and groups like Soundwatch have been working hard to develop standards to minimize impact. See Guidelines.

The problem is that it’s relatively easy to blame and complain about boats ‘harassing’ the whales, but it’s considerably harder to convince thousands of businesses and millions of people that their buy, use and flush lifestyles are poisoning animals they might never see. We’ll likely do far more to‘save the whales’ by reducing our use of toxins at home and at work—and convincing our governments to protect wild salmon and enforce the laws that are supposed to keep our air and water clean and healthy.

So here’s what you could do. You could support the Orca Pass initiative—there are plenty of ways mentioned in this issue. And you could check out the websites below, each packed with information, links and ways to get involved.

Finally, you could get out there and see where our whales live. If you’re concerned about boat noise, consider models like San Juan Island’s Limekiln Park, the best place in the world to watch whales from the land without annoying them. Wherever you go, you certainly won’t see whales every time, but they share a remarkably beautiful area with us and a whole lot of other interesting animals and plants. Seeing for yourself will convince you that Orca Pass is worth protecting.

GET INFORMED AND INVOLVED

Dolphins and whales provoke strong emotions in people and there is a wealth of information out there about them. As with most things, it’s reader beware. Though they might seem scientific or official, some sources contain ‘facts’ that are contradictory, poorly researched, outdated or just plain wrong. Be skeptical—look for current references, alternative viewpoints, hidden agendas and funding sources.

Here are some places to start:

The Whale Museum (Friday Harbor, WA): www.whalemuseum.org. Includes the Soundwatch boater education program.

Center for Whale Research (San Juan Island, WA): www.whaleresearch.com/. Uses Earthwatch volunteers to collect and maintain the ongoing photo-identification records—like the book of Exodus, they keep track of who begot who.

Pacific Biodiversity Network (Winthrop, WA): www.pacificbio.org/. Has up to date info with scientific citations included; follow the endangered species link.

Orca Network (WA): www.orcanetwork.org. Advocates specifically for the Southern Residents; good place for news updates.

BC Cetacean Sightings Network: www.wildwhales.org. Compiles sightings data for all 23 species pf cetaceans found off BC. Good way for recreational and commercial boaters to get involved. Your Governments: Federal, provincial and state governments have their own information programs and some dedicated biologists, and of course they must ultimately make, justify and enforce the laws.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada: www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/homeaccueil_e.htm

National Marine Fisheries Service (US): www.nmfs.noaa.gov/

SSHHH! WATCHING WHALES QUIETLY The oceans are getting more crowded and the cumulative engine noise may impair an orca’s ability to hunt and communicate. Kayaks and sailboats are an obvious if not always practical solution. Silent running technology is another possibility—perhaps we need to be working on stealthy whale watching boats. ‘Noise free zones’ in an area like Orca Pass are another way to help—refuges that powerboats must keep out of while whales are present. But what about watching whales from land? Our steep shorelines lend themselves to it—in many spots orca will venture right into the kelp near shore. Why are we not setting aside the best spots as viewing areas for the public? Make the ‘quiet zones’ just offshore, so land-based viewers get a terrific experience. Limekiln Park on San Juan Island is a fine example, but more needs to be done, particularly in Canada. Where’s the whale watching park on Pender? On Saturna? On Mayne?

© Bryan Nichols has helped tag killer whales and worked in ecotourism on both sides of the border in Orca Pass. He lives in Nanaimo, BC.