Seasons Come and Go

"To everything, turn, turn, turn...", so they say and that is true of life here in the San Juan Islands. The indicators are small currently, but the times they are a changing. I saw a second Steller's sea lion in a week today, which means they are starting to wander back down here from Alaska. This one was probably another sub-adult male that was not that impressive to the females, so he is back in our waters to work on his physique so that he has more success next year.

These large otariids, or eared seals, winter-over here in The Islands and then spend the summer in Alaska feeding and wooing the women. They are a very large seal and their faces heavily resemble that of a dog. Amazingly though, they are directly related to bears. This is also true of harbor seals, but as a true seal, harbor seals are a step further removed and have been adapted to living in a marine environment longer than the sea lions have.

Another marker of the changing seasons is the end of our sunset trips. These were all lovely times on the water and I will miss them exceedingly. Of course, we still have our afternoon tours and we are still seeing our endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales. Again today actually, we were off of the south end of San Juan Island and saw members from all three resident pods. The J pod males were there, as were either L7 "Canuck" or L77 "Matia", and K40 "Raggedy" with here brother K21 "Cappuccino".

There were many more animals around, maybe even all of them, but they were spread out in a way that made it hard to tell. It was definitely almost a super pod, just without all of the acrobatics and vocalizations. It appeared as if we caught them during a resting and traveling period, with maybe some slow feeding going on as well. Either way, it was a lovely day on the water and I truly enjoyed our guests as well as my co-crew Ashley and Capt. Craig. The M/V Sea Lion needs its recognition as well, since it has served us admirably this season and is a very comfortable boat to both work and sightsee on.

So, from all of us at San Juan Safaris, to all of you wildlife watchers out there, thank you and we will...

See You In The Islands!
~Tristen, Naturalist


Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©

Songs of the Orcas

They say that there is a first time for everything and I believe it. While our orcas do not sing the way that humpback whales do, they can certainly make some beautiful sounds. Of course, they also make some rather strange sounds that resemble razzes.

This was an evening of magic, courtesy of our Southern Resident Killer Whales. As the whole J pod family plus some tumbled and rolled along through the waters, we could identify one individual after another. The calves waved their tails and the adults cartwheeled around. There was gambolling and splashing and big beautiful orcas everywhere around the MV Sea Lion.

The highlight for me though, was when J1 "Ruffles" and his side of the family floated to the top and one of them vocalized above water. At first I thought one of the boys that was standing in the bow of the boat was making rude noises, but soon Capt. Pete stuck his head out of the wheel house and exclaimed that the whales were vocalizing. Those razzberry noises took on a whole new meaning at that point and instantly became crystalline notes.

A grand finale of orcas moved across our bow then, with multiple blows and tail slaps and a big cartwheel right in front of us. We waved farewell to the indulgent giants and motored home in the afterglow of a stunning sunset and a magical, musical night spent with orcas.

So, from all of us at San Juan Safaris to all of you music lovers out there, thank you and we will...

See You In The Islands!
~Tristen, Naturalist


Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©

Orcas February 6 near San Juan Island

Ken Balcomb of the Center for Whale Research reported
thatall three Southern Resident Killer Whale pods were seen:
J, K and L pods around 2:30 PM off of Victoria.

Researcher Ken Balcomb was out on the water doing research.

Northern Orca and Southern Orca

The most contaminated wildlife on Earth­­--killer whales in the Pacific Northwest—are picking up nearly all their chemicals from Chinook salmon in polluted ocean waters off the West Coast, according to a new scientific study.

The whales, which feed in coastal waters from British Columbia's Queen Charlotte Islands to the San Francisco area, were declared an endangered species in the United States and Canada after their numbers shrank.

These killer whales, called southern residents, live in waters straddling the U.S.-Canada border and spend summers hunting salmon around Washington's Puget Sound and Vancouver Island. A healthier population, called northern residents, feeds on salmon off more remote parts of British Columbia.

The two populations are only about 200 miles apart, but it makes a world of difference: The southern whales are up to 6.6 times more contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) than the northern ones.

"Southern resident killer whales are really urban whales compared to their northern counterparts," said Peter Ross, a research scientist at the Canadian government's Institute of Ocean Sciences who led the new study. Ross is one of the world's leading experts on contaminants in marine mammals.

Their summer habitat around Puget Sound is "a hot spot for PCBs" as well as "lots of other contaminants," including dioxins and chlorinated pesticides, Ross said. The Chinook salmon they eat inhabit ocean waters and rivers polluted by agriculture, pulp mills, other industries, military bases and urban runoff.

Ross and his colleagues discovered that 97% to 99% of contaminants in the Chinook eaten by these whales originated from the salmon's time at sea, in the near-shore waters of the Pacific. Only a small amount came from the time the salmon spent in rivers, although many of the rivers are contaminated, too, Ross said.

"Salmon are telling us something about what is happening in the Pacific Ocean," Ross said. "They are going out to sea and by the time they come back, they have accumulated contaminants over their entire time in the Pacific Ocean."

The southern resident killer whales also have to eat about 50% more salmon because the salmon around Puget Sound have a lower fat content. That means they are hit with a double whammy -- not only is their prey about four times more contaminated, but they have to eat more of it. Combined, that means they are 6.6 times more contaminated than their northern counterparts. The males carry almost 150 parts per million of PCBs, the highest concentration recorded in a wild animal.

People eat the same salmon consumed by the killer whales. But the whales eat immense volumes -- more than 500 pounds per day -- so their exposure is much higher. The state of Washington has issued some local fish advisories, including a recommendation that people limit eating Chinook from Puget Sound to one meal per week.

The new study "underscores the global nature of contaminant dispersion," the authors wrote in their report, published last week in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. PCBs and other pollutants come not just from local sources on the West Coast; they also move globally via oceans and winds. Air carrying soot, metals and chemicals from Asia takes just eight days to cross the Pacific and reach the North American coast.

"It's increasingly clear that salmon acquire the majority of POPs (persistent organic pollutants) during their growth period at sea and that more research is needed on the extent of Pacific Ocean food web contamination," they said.

Killer whales are perched at the very top of the food web, which makes them susceptible to pollutants in the ocean. Industrial compounds and pesticides such as PCBs, DDT and brominated flame retardants build up in food chains, their concentrations multiplying each step up from prey to predator.

The three pods of whales that make up the southern resident population are an icon of the Seattle/Vancouver Island area and a popular tourist attraction around the San Juan and Gulf Islands. Their numbers dropped by 20% between 1996 and 2001.

They were declared endangered under Canada's Species at Risk Act in 2004 and under the U.S. Endangered Species Act in 2005. The U.S. government acted four years after conservation groups filed suit seeking protection of the whales.

Eighty-three whales are now in the southern population, down from 99 in 1996, while the northern population, which lives largely in the Straight of Georgia, has more than 200. Seven of the southern whales, including some breeding females, died last year.

The cause of their decline is unknown, but U.S. federal biologists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say reduced salmon supplies, pollutants and disturbance from ships and recreational boats are possible causes.

Ross said each one of those factors is "significant enough to reduce the population." Chinook populations have declined. Also, PCBs are known to suppress immune systems of marine mammals.

The amount of PCBs found in the southern killer whales is higher than the levels that damage immune systems in seals and probably contributed to a massive die-off of European harbor seals killed by a virus epidemic in the late 1980s. Seals, however, may be more prone to mass mortalities than killer whales because they collect on rocks in large groups.

Deaths of the southern whales cannot be blamed on a specific chemical or pathogen but it is likely that immune suppression plays a role, Ross said. Some of the whales have died from infections. In many cases, they die at sea and their carcasses are never found.

The northern killer whale population -- which the Canadian government has designated as a threatened species -- also is contaminated with PCBs that exceed the amount known to harm immune systems.

PCBs were banned in the late 1970s but they persist in ocean and river sediments. A projection by Canadian scientists shows concentrations won't fall below the amount that suppresses immune systems until 2063 for the southern residents and 2030 for the northern ones.

NOAA's recovery plan for the species, released last year, includes cleaning up old pollution and reducing new pollutants, enhancing salmon populations and evaluating whether to regulate vessel traffic in the region.

In October, Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans was sued by six environmental groups for deciding not to protect the whales' critical habitat.

Marla Cone is the editor in chief of Environmental Health News

Souther Resident Orca Count

From the SanJuanJournal:

Six orcas have apparently disappeared from the Southern Resident orca pods this year, dropping the population to 83, the lowest since 2003.

The Center for Whale Research and others are blaming marine pollution, depleted salmon runs, and acoustic impacts from dredging, seismic testing and military sonar for the decline in the population. The Southern Resident orcas are listed as endangered in Canada and the U.S.

Three Southern Resident orcas didn't show up with their pods at the beginning of the season — K7, believed to be 98 years old and the oldest of all the orcas; J43, a calf born late last fall; and L101, a juvenile male that had been photographed in Monterey, Calif. Jan. 27.
By Sept. 30, when the Center for Whale Research concluded its annual survey of the Southern Resident population, three more were missing: L67, the 30-something mother of L101; J11, a female born in the early 1970s; and L21, a female born in 1950.

More. . .
L67 appeared to be malnourished the last time center staff members saw her; she had "peanut head," a term for a depressed area behind the blowhole that normally stores fat.
In addition, L111, a calf born in August to L47, is believed to have died. (Calves are not included in the population count until they survive a year). All told, L47's last four calves have died, according to Ken Balcomb, executive director of the center.

Close Encounters of the Cultural Kind

Photo Below: Male orca taken by Christophe Paulbert from the Sea Lion this summer.

Today was probably one of the best opportunities for our guests to see the difference between Residents and Transients and what happens when they're in close quarters.

We left today out of Friday Harbor heading up San Juan Channel toward members of J, K, and L pods. However, we turned around when word surfaced that some L Pod members were near Fisherman's Bay on Lopez Island. We decided to head to them and encountered the L4s along with who we believe were members of the L21s. The animals were tightly grouped and backlit, which made a positive ID difficult. They appeared to be milling around and socializing until they decided to move up San Juan Channel and possibly toward the northern group we heard about earlier. However, we got word shortly after this behavior change that Transients were in Griffin Bay, just a few miles south of us! Upon further investigation, we found it was the T18s. They also made their way up San Juan Channel in the same direction as the Residents!

We were really able to observe the differences between the two cultures. We saw how they travel differently in different sized groups and in different patterns all together. We could see the physical differences in dorsal fins and saddle patches as well as different hunting techniques. Throughout most of our encounter the Residents and the Transients were roughly 1/4 mile apart!!! However, they were never in physical contact that we could see. In fact, they appeared to mostly ignore each other. We stayed with the Ts for the second half of the trip and ended our encounter with a nice Harbor Seal kill near Yellow Island... again Transients showing us just how different they are.

The weather was great and the whales were spectacular! We still have spots available for tomorrow's trip. Call for a reservation!

Megan Young, Naturalist

Check This Out

Check out these photos that our guest Gina Dawson took of our Residents yesterday!

Above: The RV Starlet, a Center for Whale Research Boat with a member of J Pod

Whale Watch Season is not over yet! Make your reservation for September today: fewer crowds, beautiful weather, same great crew! 1-800-450-6858.

T Party

This summer has been amazing for transient orca encounters. We've gone over two weeks seeing orcas EVERY day... that's pretty incredible for this time of the year.

Today we met up with the T18s as they headed east in Boundary Pass near Saturna Island in Canada. There are four animals in this family group: T18, T19, and T19's two offspring T19B and T19C. T19B is a big boy for his age, thirteen, and we got some really great looks at him as he and his family made close passes to the shoreline. Most of their behavior appeared to be simply traveling because there were multiple seals in the area and they even buzzed past Boiling Reef on their was into the Strait of Georgia without any known or obvious kills.

We had a great time paralleling Saturna Island with them and then we stopped to check our Harbor Seals and Bald Eagles before heading back to Friday Harbor in time for the 5:00 Ferry.

***Lately we have been seeing the Transients. There are three commonly identified distinctive groups of orca cultures: Resident, Transient , and Off-shore. The main factors which set each species apart are - social behavior, physical appearance, preferred food, and vocal dialects. We most commonly see Southern Resident Orcas and Transient Orcas in the San Juan Islands, however some Offshore sightings have occured in the past but are incredibly rare.***

Megan Young, Naturalist

Marine Mammal Extravaganza

Below: J16 with year old calf J42 taken by Adam U on June 3, 2008 aboard our boat the MV Sea Lion.

Today was mirror calm as we headed out from Friday Harbor to South Beach, on southwestern San Juan Island. We got word the Southern Residents were back within range and were moving south down San Juan Island.

When we arrived on scene, we got a few decent looks at some females, but they weren't arching at all and it was difficult to see the saddle to get a positive ID. We continued to parallel the animals, but moved north to meet up with the larger groups ahead. We had some great looks at L74 (Saanich) a 22 year old male as he moved down island with other members of L Pod. L74 has an interesting family group because there are no longer producing females in this matriline (aka the old L9s). The only female is L5 (Tanya) who is 44 years old and her youngest calf (that we know of) was born in 1986 and is a male named Flash. Flash and Saanich are cousins and there were reports of Flash and Tanya in our vicinity, but we paralleled Saanich so as not to get stuck in a bad position. We allowed L74 to move on and stopped to get a nice look at L67 (Splash) as she logged at the surface near the Center for Whale Research boat. We watched her logging for a few minutes and then she seemed to become more active and gave us a nice look at her saddle and nicks, this was great for our group because she's an easy animal to learn what to look for in the identification process. We did not see her youngest calf, L101 (Aurora) in the immediate vicinity and are unsure whether he's been seen this year. We will have to keep our eyes peeled and our ears open for any reports of L101. Splash was the mother of Luna (L98) the orca who found his way to Nootka Sound of the west side of Vancouver Island. Let's hope she has better luck with L101.

Not only did we have an incredible orca encounter, on our way back to Cattle Pass, we saw a Minke Whale lunge feeding in a bird ball! (See the drawing of a Minke Whale above.) Minkes are the smallest members of the "finner" whales and often get overlooked because of the charismatic orcas. It was nice for our guests to see orcas (Dolphins/toothed whales) and a Minke, which is a baleen whale. We got a few good looks as the Minke as it headed towards Cattle Point and then moved on to see a group of FOUR male Steller Sea Lions playing near Whale Rocks! They were rolling around and splashing over each other, which was quite the show.

We had an incredible trip in which we got great looks at many of the marine mammals that call the San Juan Islands home... at some point during the year.

We still have space available for tomorrow. Call in for a reservation: 800-450-6858.

Megan Young, Naturalist